Meet David Lynn, who is 4 under at the Masters

“It’s not a bad thing to see your name up there leading the Masters and something you could always look back on,” he said. “But you know, there’s a lot to be done for the rest of the week, and hopefully I can keep my name up there.”

Lynn used experience gleaned from watching the tournament on TV, texting with David Gilford and practicing with Thomas Bjorn, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam to post birdies on Nos. 1, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 15 with bogeys on 10 and 17, and an important eight-foot par-saving putt on 18. Not bad for someone who had never played a competitive round at Augusta National before Thursday.

“It’s taken me a golfing lifetime to get here,” he said. “You feel like you know the place because you see it that many times on TV. And even you find yourself standing on holes and you can recollect things you’ve seen on TV, people doing things and hitting shots.”

Lynn, 39, mostly is unknown to all but the most diehard fans. This is just Lynn’s third major in the past 10 years, but he is making the most of his chances. He finished second at last year’s PGA Championship after storming up the weekend leaderboard with a pair of 68s.

Groups following him Thursday in Augusta confessed they knew his name, but didn’t know much else about him other than he’s “hitting balls so well, almost perfectly,” according to Sydney native Bruce Monk.

Let his family fill in the details:

David and his brother, Simon, who is three years younger, were taught the game by their father, Ron. He would take them to a field at a local high school when they were 9 and 11 years old, where they learned how to swing by hitting balls at each other. Yes, they hit each other numerous times.

Ron didn’t let that stand, telling his sons that he wouldn’t take them to a course until they learned proper golf etiquette. They learned and began playing at Haigh Hall, a local municipal.

The family moved from Wigan to Stoke-on-Trent, where Ron joined Barlaston Golf Club, where the boys took the game up in earnest.

David Lynn turned pro in 1995 and within a few years earned a reputation as a “cash machine,” according to his dad. It seemed to be a characterization he didn’t like, born from Lynn making cuts, but finishing with only one victory on the European PGA Tour, at the KLM Open in 2004.

Things changed at Kiawah Island last year. He finished second and earned enough money to play on the PGA Tour. It wasn’t something he was interested in, but then decided it was an opportunity he shouldn’t let pass. It seems to have re-energized his game. He has two top-25s, including a top-10, finish this year. Lesley said her son has no home in the states. Instead, he’s living out of hotels or rented homes as he travels from event to event.

“He’s a lot more relaxed here,” said Simon, a PGA pro at Trentham Park in Stoke-on-Trent. “Past results have given him a lot of encouragement. Perhaps he was getting a bit stale on the European Tour. It brought a lot more enjoyment to something he’s been doing for 20-odd years.”

But it doesn’t entirely explain how a journeyman golfer has posted three consecutive spectacular rounds at the majors. Lynn said it comes down to experience and confidence.

“If you speak to more or less every golfer who is out here on various tours, they will all believe that they have performances in them, as good as the top guys,” he said. “I’ve always believed that I could perform well. I just don’t do it consistently enough. And why, I don’t know. I guess right place, right time at the PGA and everything going for me to put in a performance like that.”

Everyone in the family is taking advantage of David’s good fortune. Ron reveres Augusta National. He has golf gloves signed by all but four Masters champs since 1959 and praised the Augusta National course and staff as he walked up No. 18, saying it was more than he had ever dreamed. Lesley was visibly nervous following her son around, particularly after he moved to the top of the leaderboard, saying she’s not even sure how her son was doing what he was doing. But they are confident he can stay on the leaderboard.

“We’ll see where he finishes at the end, but he can do it,” Ron said.

Lynn hasn’t pulled any jokes this week, quipping that he wants to be invited back. If he were to do something, likely to his caddie, he said it would happen at Hogan’s Bridge.

If he wins, he may get the run of the place. Like his family, he, too, believes he may get the opportunity.

“I’m not going to sit here and say I’m going to be there Sunday night, but deep down, I know that I’ve got performances in me that could put me there Sunday night.”