AUGUSTA, Ga. (PA) -- The biggest day of Irish golfer Brian McElhinney's life is just around the corner -- and he has had a notable victory as the Masters approaches.
Winning the British Amateur title last June entitled the 23-year-old from County Donegal to a dream trip to Augusta, and last week McElhinney beat Italian Edoardo Molinari, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, in the Georgia Cup at the Golf Club of Georgia in Atlanta.
On greens as fast as they will encounter at the Masters, McElhinney won by 3 & 2 in the one-on-one match-play showdown, even though he was approximately 5-over when the contest finished.
"It's definitely going to be exciting, but nerve-wracking as well," said McElhinney.
"It was unreal," he said of his first look at Augusta National. "Very tough, very long. You have to be accurate off the tee and hit the fairways to give yourself a chance."
The par-4 seventh is one of six holes lengthened since last year and McElhinney needed a 4-iron approach into a slight wind -- and could not hold the green with it. Unreal indeed.
"I've been nervous before, but it's supposed to be a different kind of nerves," he added. "I just want to enjoy it and play as well as I can. It's an experience more than anything."
On Sunday night, he stayed in the Crow's Nest at the top of the clubhouse, but for the rest of the week he is staying in a house with his parents and brother. Molinari's plan is to be in the Crow's Nest all week -- providing it's not too hot there.
"I want to get the whole experience," said the 25-year-old, whose brother Francesco, is flying out to caddie for him.
As the U.S. American champion -- he was the first Italian to enter the event, let alone win it -- he already knows one of his partners for the first two rounds next Thursday and Friday. Defending champion Tiger Woods.
"I watched him on the driving range at the Open last year (where Molinari made the halfway cut) and I'm hoping we might practice together one day," said Molinari. "I aim to ask him, and Sergio Garcia said last September he'd play a round with me, too."
Molinari, from Turin, has already made two visits to Augusta and played five rounds each time. Last October two of them were 70s, but the greens were soft and slow then. Relatively slow, that is.
Copyright 2006 PA Sport. All rights reserved.
