Dear Joe,

To my great delight, I have just found on my desk your letter to Cliff Roberts saying that you will play in the Masters this year.

Please be assured that it will give us all, especially me, much pleasure to welcome you. I hope you will have your game in the best possible condition and that we may be able to cause you to have a good time.

With best regards,

Sincerely,

Robert T Jones Jr.

On January 4, 2017, a businessman called William Porter Payne from Atlanta, Georgia, sent a typewritten invitation to a professional sportsman in Dublin called Shane Lowry. Mr Porter Payne - better known as Billy - is the Chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club. Mr Lowry - better known as Shane - is a former Irish Open golf champion and has won tournaments on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Board of Directors of the Augusta National Golf Club cordially invites you to participate in the Two Thousand and Seventeen Masters Tournament to be held at Augusta, Georgia the sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth of April.

William Porter Payne

In the 50 years between the two letters, more Irishmen climbed Mount Everest than played or caddied at the Masters. This is the story of Irish golfers’ quest for the Green Jacket.

Rory McIlroy: I've never seen any of my invites for Augusta. They've always been sent to the office and not my home address. I'm not sentimental like that. I knew I was eligible to play and that's good enough for me.

Paul McGinley: I've no idea where my first invite is. I've no recollection of it at all. I was top 50 in the world and that was validation for me. I understand people are different, but for me it meant nothing.

Graeme McDowell: My mail went to Chubby's [his then agent, Chubby Chandle] office in 2005, so I don't remember physically getting the invite in the door.

Pádraig Harrington: Did I get one in 2000? I must have. You're going to find me out here.

Graeme McDowell: Fourteen Irishmen have played at the Masters. Really?

Pádraig Harrington: I'm surprised how few have played.

Graeme McDowell: You want me to name them?

Colin Byrne: I like a quiz.

Jude O'Reilly: The first Irishman to play at the Masters ... I should know that.

Graeme McDowell: Easier to start in reverse: Rory, myself, Darren, Shane, Pádraig ...

Rory McIlroy: Myself, Pádraig , Darren, Paul, Graeme, Shane ...

Graeme McDowell: Michael Hoey ... McGinley ... so that's seven ... Feherty ... Rafferty ... McGimpsey ... Jaysus, struggling here.

JP Fitzgerald: Once you get the amateurs - and we've had four I think - you'd get most of them.

Dermot Byrne: Brian McElhinney.

Colin Byrne: The guy from the North who won the British Amateur in the '50s.

Graeme McDowell: Did Paul Dunne get a knock?

Dermot Byrne: I'm guessing now. Bradshaw? O'Connor? Darcy? Struggling here.

Ronan Flood: Senior didn't play ... I don't think Junior played.

Graeme McDowell: Did the 'Waltz' play?

Shane Lowry: Jaysus! How many have I got? Eight?

Pádraig Harrington: That's nine.

Graeme McDowell: Ten.

Rory McIlroy: Eleven.

Paul McGinley: Twelve.

Dermot Gilleece: Fourteen Irishmen have played at the Masters; Joe Carr [debut 1967], Christy O'Connor Junior [1977], Garth McGimpsey [1986], Ronan Rafferty [1990], David Feherty [1992], Darren Clarke [1998], Pádraig Harrington [2000], Paul McGinley [2002], Michael Hoey [2002], Graeme McDowell [2005], Brian McElhinney [2006], Rory McIlroy [2009], Alan Dunbar [2013], Shane Lowry [2015].

Pádraig Harrington: I should have got Rafferty.

Dermot Byrne: I should have got Feherty.

JP Fitzgerald: I wouldn't have got Rafferty but I can't believe I left out two of the most obvious [McDowell and Lowry]!

Graeme McDowell: Alan Dunbar! Should have got that one. Jaysus! Grew up with the kid.

Rory McIlroy: I've googled [the two I'm missing], Rafferty and Feherty.

Dave McNeilly: I can't believe I forgot Rory and McDowell.

Colin Byrne: How could I erase Clarke from my memory?

Ronan Flood: I didn't think Junior had played.

Rory McIlroy: I had no idea JB Carr was the first Irishman to play at the Masters.

Paul McGinley: I knew Joe Carr was the first.

Graeme McDowell: Joe Carr? Jaysus! And I bumped into John Carr last night.

Pádraig Harrington: Joe Carr is kind of synonymous with the Masters.

Paul McGinley: I remember as a kid playing with the Hilary Society at Sutton with my dad and seeing a photo of him playing Augusta on the wall.

1 Man In Green

Now every pro who tees up the ball on opening day at Augusta is guaranteed a check of at least $1,000, which will cover a round-trip ticket from about anywhere in the world. Last year 29 invitations were sent to foreigners, and 24 of them showed up. This year the foreign invitations were cut to 25, and 23 were accepted. (Missing are England's Neil Coles, who does not like to fly, and Ireland's Christy O'Connor, who has a foot injury).

And finally there is Joe Carr, the popular 45-year-old Irish amateur who is making his Masters debut at long last. Carr, who won the first of his three British Amateurs as long ago as 1953, is now past his golfing prime, but there is not an amateur in the world with a more distinguished record than this tall, handsome Irishman. No matter how he performs, he is a stimulating addition to the Masters field.

Sports Illustrated, April 1967

There were three golf stories in the Irish Independent that morning: an 800-word feature, 'St Andrews - Home of the Game', by Barry Nolan. A story that Grange Golf Club, who had just become outright owners of the land "their fine course is laid out on," were to host a new event - a Scratch Foursomes. And the news that Christy O'Connor would participate in the Shell Wonderful World of Golf series at Royal County Down in June. Previous matches had been staged at Killarney and Portmarnock, but this was the first time the series had been brought to the North. "At a press conference in Belfast yesterday, the plans were outlined for the event, and a film of the match between Joe Carr and Californian Al Geiberger was screened."

It was the only reference to Carr in the paper on the morning - April 6, 1967 - when he would become the first Irishman in history to play at the Masters.

Joe Carr: I learned when I first got there that I was the recipient of a special invitation from Cliff Roberts [the chairman of Augusta National]. In fact I became a member of Augusta National in 1967 and I retained my membership for about five years. But the annual subscription was about $7,500 which I found difficult to justify, even though I could afford it at the time. It was a lot of money in those days for what was only an annual visit.

Roddy Carr: I think my father was the first Irishman who was invited to be a member, and as a member, you got a green jacket. I don't know if there was, or wasn't, a regulation [about taking it from Augusta] at the time but he wore it to Sutton Golf Club and around the house. So we were never really awestruck by it, nor was anyone else, because there was no real appreciation of what it was about.

Joe Carr: They gave me the honour of playing the opening round with the defending champion, Jack Nicklaus. This was a great thing. As we're going around with close on 5,000 people watching us, they're shouting, 'Go get him, Jack. Go, go Jack'. And, of course whoever played with him was supported as well. So they shouted, 'And you too, Irish'. But it transpires that I shot 76, 74 against Jack's 72, 79 which means that I qualify [make the cut] and he doesn't.

Roddy Carr: I was 17 when he played the first time. There's a lovely photo of him in Sutton making an eagle on 15 but there was no appreciation here for what he had done. To put it in context: here was a part-time golfer with a 9 to 5 job and six kids to raise [playing] after a long, hard winter in Dublin. And look at who he was playing against - Nicklaus and Palmer and Snead. It was incredible really.

Dermot Gilleece: I first met Joe in the '60s, in my capacity of covering tournaments here in Ireland. Augusta would have been a million miles from my mind when I met him at that stage. In fact, I don't think anybody was even aware that Joe had played the place. It didn't register. The Masters didn't exist for us. There might have been a paragraph in the paper that he had finished down the field. There was no consciousness of it.

England's early hero, Tony Jacklin, faltered in the final round with a 77 for a 292 total, nine strokes ahead of Welshman Dave Thomas.

[Gay] Brewer, who was beaten in a play-off for the title last year, netted £7,142 in prize money, while [Bobby] Nichols received £5,000, [Bert] Yancey £3,214, [Arnold] Palmer £2,330, Jacklin £760, Thomas £460.

Ireland's lone representative, the Walker Cup Captain, JB Carr, slumped to a final round 84 for a total of 313.

Irish Independent Masters report, April 10, 1967

Roddy Carr: He was using an old wooden-shafted putter and he wore a white cap with a green bobbin on the top - my mother used to knit them - and that was his signature. He was 'Joe Irish', the ambassador over there.

Joe Carr: The next year they paired me with Arnold Palmer. And Arnold's Army are doing their thing and shouting 'Go get him, Arnie'. And again I'm getting the consolation murmurs of 'And you too, Irish'. And I shoot 75, 73 as against 72, 79 from Arnold, with the result that I make the cut and Arnold doesn't.

Jack Nicklaus: Joe was a great friend. I'm certainly not alone in that assessment. He had a wonderful sense of humour and was a champion on the course. Joe was also a champion needler and full of fun, on and off the course. He was a cheery, fun-loving guy who was always willing to exchange barbs with you.

Roddy Carr: He always had his practice rounds with Nicklaus or Palmer or Snead; they all loved playing with him because they would have a bit of crack and always gambled. I was just tuning into golf at that stage, but there was no real appreciation of the spectacle, the awe or the respect he was held in America, and the fact that he could make the cut. It was a joke really when you think about it.

Jack Nicklaus: Joe, like many of us, never shied away from a friendly wager and I must have played about, I suppose, 50 practice rounds of golf with him, including for the British Open. It was almost as if Joe knew that at each Open Barbara wanted a new sweater, and he was always very accommodating to fund that purchase. But trust me, Joe still got in my pocket plenty of times.

Joe Carr, blending sixes and birdies almost at consecutive holes, finished in 78 for 295, and if he tailed the field in the end he could be well satisfied, indeed, to have stayed in contention in such company to the end.

Irish Times Masters report, April 15, 1968

Joe Carr: When we sat down to eat on the Friday night of the tournament, Cliff Roberts said: 'Well, now. We're thinking of inviting Carr back next year but who in the name of God will play with him?' So they gave me Sam Snead in 1969 and neither of us qualified.

Roddy Carr: I went to Augusta in '69 and watched him play and practise. They put him with Snead that year and they both missed the cut. I was a good player at that stage and played the course on the day after the tournament but I couldn't break 90. People had no conception of the greens - it was like putting on glass! So it's mind-boggling that he could compete on a course like that.

Dermot Gilleece: Given that he was 45 years old and a decidedly streaky putter whose best displays were behind him, Joe performed admirably on his Augusta debut. By 1969, however, the relentless strain on nerve ends had taken its toll. With rounds of 79 and 76, Joe missed the cut in the company of the 1967 champion Gay Brewer, Snead, Hubert Green, Peter Thomson and Michael Bonallack. In fact, the casualties also included Tony Jacklin, who would capture the British Open crown at Royal Lytham a few months later.

Joe Carr: I would love to have played the Masters in my heyday, instead of in my mid-40s, but I didn't get the chance. So I feel I'm entitled of the fact that I could go over there and play all four rounds on such a difficult course at my first two attempts, especially when so many of the great names failed.

2 Guess Who's After Winning The Masters?

On April 6, 1977, almost 10 years to the day after Carr's debut at the Masters, The Irish Times led their sports pages with a picture of a young golfer, Bill Mulcahy, and an 800-word report from the International Schools Championship (Leinster section) at Newlands. Buried on the same page was a short (300 words) preview of the Masters, and a brief reference to the first Irish professional to play in the event:

Ireland's Christy O'Connor Junior and Britain's Tony Jacklin, Peter Oosterhuis and Tommy Horton are among the 77 starters, including 55 American professionals and eight amateurs.

Dermot Gilleece: The message being pumped from the Masters at that stage was the 'Bobby Jones tradition'. Now, with the greatest respect to Bobby Jones, this simply didn't register with people here, nor would you expect it to. Ask anybody now what they think of the Masters and the first thing they'll tell you is: 'It must be a wonderful place to visit. I believe it's far hillier than it looks.' They never talk about anything other than how it looks. We didn't know any of that because television hadn't done its job at that stage. People didn't know what Augusta National looked like. A combination of two things - television and European winners - that changed everything in the '80s.

Shane Lowry: I knew Christy Senior never played, which is strange, because he was invited loads.

Rory McIlroy: I didn't think there was a way Senior could have qualified back then.

Dermot Gilleece: Starting in 1956, Christy Senior received at least 10 invitations, as a current Ryder Cup representative. Contemporary magazine reports indicate he was bowing to persuasion from Joe Carr in 1967, when the two of them could have travelled together. In the event, Christy withdrew shortly before their scheduled departure with a foot injury. His main argument for not going was that if he got invites to one or two tournaments associated with the Masters - either before or after it - he could then justify the expense of making the trip. But that wasn't going to happen, and he would have known that from people like Peter Alliss and Harry Weetman and Bernard Hunt, who did go. Without wishing to be unkind to him, I don't think he quite appreciated the significance of the Masters in the grand scheme of things. His focus didn't really extend beyond European tournaments and, of course, the Ryder Cup. Mind you, he was sorry afterwards he didn't play it. In fact, he once told me: "Maybe I should have gone."

Colin Byrne: I knew Junior had played.

Ronan Flood: Junior did play. How did he qualify?

Dermot Gilleece: In 1991, Ronan Rafferty walked out of the US Open and was fined £5,000 by the European Tour. The reason was very simple - it was very difficult to get European players into the American Majors. That's what made Junior's appearance unusual. He was invited as joint-winner, with Tommy Horton and Mark James, of the Braid Memorial Medal, awarded to the highest British or Irish finisher in the British Open of 1976 at Royal Birkdale.

Jude O'Reilly: For a lot of players in Europe when I started caddying out here, the Masters was such a far-off thing. And such a rare thing to even get close to getting into. I caddied for Junior in 1990 and remember his face lighting up around Masters time when he talked about it. It was something special for him to be able to look back on it and relive it.

Britain's Peter Oosterhuis, who had 73 in the opening round, had a 75 for 148 and also qualified. Those on 150 or more were eliminated. Christy O'Connor junior was well down the list with a 79 to his first round of 78.

The Irish Times

Two years later, at precisely 1.26pm on April 12, 1979, a young Englishman called Nick Faldo made his debut at the Masters with a birdie at the first and an impressive front nine. When he drove from the 14th, he was on the leaderboard. In The Rough with the Smooth - his first autobiography - he describes what happens next:

"On my card, I had it as being 140 yards to the middle of the green - an eight-iron shot for me. But my local caddie insisted it was 160 yards and that I needed a six iron. I was confused but, considering that this caddie had been working Augusta for 12 years, and this was my first visit, I decided to split the difference and take a seven.

"It air-mailed the green. The ball finished 10 yards behind the back of the putting surface. What can you say? So, unhappily, I accepted a bogey five and dropped another at the next where the caddie had another 'black-out' and handed me a five-wood and my approach finished in water. At the end I added the score up to 73. I felt disgusted. I had played well, but I was seven strokes off the pace."

Four years passed before Faldo returned to Augusta in 1983. It was the first time players had been given the option of using their own caddie and Faldo's was a man who, two years previously, had been working the late shift at a cigarette factory in Carrickfergus. Now he was making history. Dave McNeilly would become the first Irishman to caddie at the Masters.

Dave McNeilly: I was amazed by the attention to detail and the way the golf course was prepared. I had never seen anything like it. There wasn't a weed on the whole golf course. And there were a lot of rules. We had to wear these boiler suits and share facilities with the local caddies who resented us being there taking their jobs. So the atmosphere was ... well, I wouldn't exactly call it friendly. And the challenge was inexplicable - you walked in the gates and it was as if a mist suddenly settled over your eyes. In other tournaments you would step up, give the yardage, and step away again. But because of how severely you were penalised here for getting it wrong, you were double-checking everything. The secret to the golf course is that there is no bail-out, but I didn't know that in '83. I was standing there thinking: 'Is this right? Is this wrong?' It was just impossible.

On April 6, as McNeilly was preparing for his first round at the Masters, Dermot Gilleece was driving home from Sligo after filing a report from the West of Ireland championship: Colin Glasgow experienced one of those marvellous days when a demanding game treated him like a favoured son as he beat Ulsterman Garth McGimpsey by 2 & 1 in the final to clinch the Ulster Bank-sponsored West of Ireland championship at Rosses Point yesterday.

Dermot Gilleece: That year, as every year, we found ourselves as Irish golf writers having the arse blown off us by Atlantic winds in Rosses Point. We'd say to each other: 'Do you know where we should be now? We should be in Augusta. That's really where it's happening.' But there was still no appetite for it here. Though it was being televised, the Masters still hadn't caught on. So it was more of a longing than a sensible appraisal of our function in life. When [Bernard] Langer won his first Masters in '85, I was in Albarella - an island off Venice in Italy. It was the European qualifying zone for the inaugural Dunhill Cup, and Des Smyth, Eamonn Darcy and [Ronan] Rafferty were representing Ireland. I came down to breakfast on the Monday morning and I said to the boys: "Guess who's after winning the Masters?" And Des Smyth said: "I'm going to surprise you - Bernhard Langer." And I said: "Bang! You're absolutely right." And we all sat down: "Jesus! Isn't that something. Langer is after winning the Masters!" And there I was in Italy, writing about qualifying for the Dunhill Cup. That's the way it ranked. It was something you talked about rather than experienced.

In 1986, Garth McGimpsey was invited to Augusta - a reward for his triumph in the 1985 British Amateur. The third Irishman to play at the Masters, he was one of only four players - Seve Ballesteros, Bernhard Langer and Sandy Lyle - from this side of the Atlantic in the field that year. Dave McNeilly was also present, but was now working for the Zimbabwean, Nick Price.

Price broke the course record (it had stood for 46 years) with a 63 on Saturday and went out in the final group on Sunday a shot behind the leader, Greg Norman. The chasing pack was pure stardust: Langer, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Watson, Tom Kite, Jack Nicklaus. It would be a Sunday to remember.

Dave McNeilly: That was probably the greatest Masters ever. All the big guns were there. It was going to be a shoot-out. It was one of the best experiences I have ever had on a golf course.

Dermot Gilleece: Where was I for one of the most memorable Masters of them all? Actually, I was at Goffs in Co Kildare, reporting on the Irish Masters snooker final between Willie Thorne and Jimmy White. Jesus!

Dave McNeilly: The thing I remember most when Nicklaus started doing his stuff is the noise. We were on 13 when he eagled 15 and I remember thinking: 'What on earth has happened here?' It was the biggest volume of noise I have ever experienced. We got to 15 and there was about 40 people on the left-hand side of the fairway, and about 10,000 people on the right-hand side of the fairway, watching Nicklaus on 17.

Garth McGimpsey: In a frame hanging on the wall of my home in Bangor are three precious items - a cheque from Jack Nicklaus, a simple, personal letter from him and a picture of the two of us preparing to drive off the third tee. All three were the result of a fourball I played with him in practice on the Tuesday of Masters week in 1986.

Dave McNeilly: Nicky was having a bad day with the putter but Norman was still going well. He birdied 14, 15 and 16 and then snap-hooked his tee-shot on 17, way down left. Then he hit this unbelievable second shot to about 15 feet and holed the putt. You should have seen the look in his eyes. They were on fire. It was unbelievable. And then we went to the 18th, and I'm not sure whether he was still thinking about his tee shot on 17 but he didn't appear to have a clear vision of what he wanted to do. Pete Bender, who was caddying for him, said: "It's a three-wood, leave yourself short of the trap." It was a fair enough play, and you can see the logic, but the drawback was that it left him hitting a four-iron into a very narrow green. And of course that was the one he blocked.

Garth McGimpsey: I played with the American amateur Peter Parsons against Jack and his amateur partner in what was termed a $1 nassau. Effectively, it worked out as a fourball match with $1 on the front nine, $1 on the back nine and $2 overall. Peter and me won all three bets. I was so thrilled to have played a round with Jack Nicklaus that the idea of being paid never occurred to me.

Dave McNeilly: It was a fantastic experience to be there and I will never forget the noise. It's one of the things that people don't realise about Augusta. You get these roars going all around the golf course and echoing around the trees. Roars that you never hear anywhere else. And it's terrible for the players. You can see why the rookies have a real problem with it. And that's why Nicklaus was so great around there.

Garth McGimpsey: Sam Randolph won the amateur award that year with an aggregate of 293 and on my return home I was really full of the whole thing, especially with Jack winning the title. As an amateur, it was a tremendous thrill to know that I had practised with the greatest player in the history of the game, five days before he won the last of his 18 professional Major titles. But there was more to come. On the Thursday of that week, a mere four days after he had shot that glorious back nine of 30 to win by one stroke from Tom Kite and Greg Norman, I got a letter from America. Inside was a note and a cheque for $4. The cheque was drawn on the joint account of Jack and Barbara Nicklaus and written on it was "for getting beat at Augusta National".

Dermot Gilleece: Let me guess: you're going to ask me where I was in '87? I've looked it up: How does Ravenhill sound? Ards against Bangor in the Ulster Senior Cup final.

Garth McGimpsey: At that time, the winner of the [British] Amateur was accorded the privilege of two successive Masters appearances. This meant that I was back at Augusta in 1987, when the most amazing thing happened on the Monday. As I was out on the course practising, Nicklaus happened to see me and immediately came over and recalled the game we had in practice the previous year. For a man who meets so many people from week to week, I was stunned he would remember me, though considering the way he thought of sending the cheque, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised.

A year later, McGimpsey was back at Rosses Point when Sandy Lyle stormed Augusta. So was Gilleece. But in 1989, the golf writers - Gilleece (The Irish Times), John Redmond (Irish Press) and Colm Smith (Irish Independent) - were sent to cover the Masters for the first time. In 1990, they were joined by Charlie Mulqueen (The Examiner).

Dermot Gilleece: What changed? I've often wondered if it had to do with the Tallaght Strategy and the fact that the economy had turned at that stage. There was a growing awareness of us as a nation of committed Europeans, and remember, this was the '80s of Seve winning the Irish Open three times, Langer winning the Irish Open three times and Faldo was a regular competitor. And we considered these guys very much our own. Anyway, for whatever reason, it was decided we should go.

3 The Marriage of Figaro

"Given Ireland's interest in promoting democracy in Central America, I hope that when you see general secretary Gorbachev at Shannon you will urge him to support diplomatic efforts to bring peace to the region by stopping the shipment of weapons to the region. Thank you for dropping by to see me on St Patrick's Day. I enjoyed your visit very much and look forward to other such pleasant occasions."

A letter from George Bush to Charles Haughey, March 1989

On April 2, 1989, the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev stopped over at Shannon on his way to Cuba, for a meeting with then Taoiseach Charles Haughey. Dermot Gilleece was also in Shannon that afternoon.

Dermot Gilleece: I flew from Dublin and the plane - a Delta flight to Atlanta - stopped in Shannon for a couple of hours to take on passengers, only to be told that there was going to be a major delay because President Gorbachev was landing there for a meeting with Charlie Haughey. So it was late when I got to Augusta.

Paul McGinley: I'd had a number of offers to play there before 2002 but I had always politely refused: "No, I'll go to Augusta when I play the Masters." I didn't want to go there and watch. So it was a very big deal driving in there for the first time.

JP Fitzgerald: It was the Saturday or Sunday because there was nobody around. I had always dreamt of getting there as a player, that was always my ambition. So I was like Paul, I couldn't wait to see it.

Shane Lowry: The town is not the nicest place in the world, and Washington Avenue, but then you whip a right into Magnolia Lane and it's like you've just gone to heaven. It's hard to describe.

Dermot Byrne: It was a Sunday. Shane was driving and there were three of us in the car. I couldn't believe how small Magnolia Lane was. I expected it to be longer but before you know it, you reach the little roundabout and the clubhouse is there. I'm not a romantic but it was exciting ... the hallowed ground of Augusta.

Jude O'Reilly: The first day we made a point of driving down Magnolia Lane. There were five of us in the car - Shigeki [Maruyama], his manager, a friend Bob Turner, and one of the Bridgestone staff. We drove slowly. Nobody said a word. Everything seemed so perfect.

Colin Byrne: I arrived before [Anders] Forsbrand [in 1993] and didn't get to see Magnolia Lane. I actually struggled to get in and had to show my passport. It was a Sunday morning and I went straight to the caddyshack where there was a sign above the door saying: "No weapons allowed on the property - guns, knives must be left outside." Four black caddies were playing cards in the corner, there was no door on the toilet, and there was chicken-wire behind where they served the food. So it was fairly raw. They gave me my painter-and-decorator suit for the week and I walked up to the clubhouse. The contrast was unbelievable. I'd seen well-groomed courses before but nothing like this, the greenness of it, the detail of the way everything was cut. It was unique, pristine, a heaven.

Dermot Gilleece: It's the overall impact of the place that has always stayed with me. I'm quite emotional about beauty. I'll cry looking at a movie if it moves my spirits. A scene in the Shawshank Redemption has always resonated with me - the Soprano duet from the ‘Marriage of Figaro’ wafting over the exercise yard, and the extraordinary impact it had on the prisoners as the beauty of the music reached into their souls. That's what Augusta National did it me. It reached into my soul.

David Feherty: Like most people, I was shocked when I first saw the course. Television didn't prepare me for those dramatic changes of elevation and the wide open spaces. I remember walking out there thinking, 'This is surreal, like a Dali picture.' I expected to see a clock hanging from a pine tree. So perfect.

Paul McGinley: I went straight into register in this little building adjoining the clubhouse; they give you a number based on when you arrive that's worn by your caddie for the week. The top line is reserved for the defending champion - he gets number 1 - so I signed on the second line and JP had the number 2 for the week, that's how early we were. He got his boiler suit and off we went to the driving range to hit a few balls. We were only 10 minutes. We couldn't wait to get to the golf course.

Dermot Gilleece: The first thing I did when I arrived there - and I did it every year subsequently - was to walk down the tenth fairway and on to Amen Corner.

Shane Lowry: I remember McGinley saying to me: "The first thing you're going to want to do is go down to Amen Corner." And that's what I did. I hit a few quick balls on the range and went straight to the 10th tee.

Pádraig Harrington: I started on the front nine but couldn't wait to get to the back nine. I was probably thinking: 'I don't want to break the rules and go to the 10th.'

Paul McGinley: We didn't want to start on the first because the 10th was the course we knew from watching it on TV. We played 10 and played 11 and got to the 12th hole. JP had the yardage book and gave me the number and it was nothing. I felt like I could throw the ball to the green it was so short. I said: "JP, we're on the wrong tee here. There has to be another tee!" But we weren't. That was it. But it was everything I thought it would be; incredibly beautiful, aesthetically stunning.

Dermot Gilleece: I remember Pádraig 's first year. He was collected by a courtesy car and as the driver turned into Magnolia Lane, he turned to his wife Caroline and said: "Shhh. We're here." He wanted to absorb every detail of a place he had seen only on television.

Pádraig Harrington: I told Caroline to shush! Are you sure? (Laughs) I don't think so.

Caroline Harrington: You did.

Pádraig Harrington: And I made it in there? (Laughs)

Caroline Harrington: Yeah.

Pádraig Harrington: There was obviously special dispensation given that day.

Caroline Harrington: You wanted to soak it all in.

Pádraig Harrington: You have to understand ... we had just flown in from [a tournament in] Brazil. It's Monday and I'm late. It's my first time in Augusta and I'm in a panic. I want to get to work. Then the car turns into Magnolia Drive and you go through the gate and everything changes: you go from this world of running around and madness to this place that's peaceful and serene. You go into the clubhouse and out to the terrace on the far side and I see it for the first time, the vast space of it, and I'm awestruck. The first person I meet is Paddy Murphy, the president of the GUI, and he's sitting with Sam Snead. So I'm confronted by all this and my senses are just going nuts. I want to practise and I want to be a spectator. And I have just been introduced to Sam Snead.

Rory McIlroy: Johnny Harris, who owns Quail Hallow, was the first guy I played Augusta with. We went up there a week before my debut in 2009 and played with a friend of his from Charlotte, Mike Malone, and [my coach] Michael Bannon. It was great to play it with Michael for the first time.

Graeme McDowell: I'd been there once as an amateur before I played in 2005. We'd been at an Augusta State College tournament and they gave us practice round tickets for the Monday in, I think, 2001. So that was my first time to see it. It's one of those places that always lived up to my expectation levels, and not many golf courses or experiences in golf do, but it's a special place.

Rory McIlroy: The happiest I've been on a golf course not playing in a tournament would have to be the first time I played Augusta with my father. It was March 2015, and we did a father-son trip for two days with two members and their sons. Thirty-six holes each day, and I remember the sun was going down on the first evening and we were walking up to the 18th green. My dad and I both were exhausted but probably would have gone for another 18 if we could have. It's such a special place, especially when it's not Masters week. So serene and peaceful. Sharing a moment and setting like that with my dad is something I'll remember for the rest of my life.

Pádraig Harrington: There are a lot of people there during the week but you still get a sense of it being the most beautiful park in the world.

Ronan Flood: My first trip was as a spectator in 2002. I remember walking in with a bottle of Gatorade and the security guard took it off me and poured it into a Masters Cup: "Sir, there's no advertising at Augusta." I was amazed how hilly it was, and how different it was because of the rules. It exceeded my expectations.

Dermot Gilleece: The only thing I had ever experienced prior to Augusta that was better than I imagined was Niagara Falls. And Augusta National was the same.

Pádraig Harrington: It surpassed my expectations. It's very rarely in life that you have expectations for somewhere and it's actually better. Nobody can comprehend what Augusta is like ... the beauty of it.

Dermot Gilleece: That was essentially it. The beauty was the first thing, and then of course it was a cruel beauty when you saw what it could inflict on people. These were the conflicting images in your head: 'This place can do dreadful things to people.'

*****

"Sure, it's a great experience. The international players had their dinner on Monday night which was very enjoyable." Then he made a very telling comment. "I don't believe, however, you can really appreciate what Augusta is all about until you win here.

Playing is fine, but it's the winning of the Masters that makes it special. It's the wearing of the Green Jacket that makes it special. It's the wearing of the Green Jacket, the changing in the champions' locker room, and attending the champions' dinner which is what the Masters is all about."

Ronan Rafferty reflects on his second (and final) appearance at the 1991 Masters with Dermot Gilleece

Monday morning at Augusta National. Sandy Lyle is standing on the practice green to the left of the first tee. He changes in the champions' locker room. He attends the champions' dinner. He has made more Masters appearances (35) than any player in the tournament; 32 years ago he won the Open at Royal St George's. So there are few better qualified to answer the question: Green Jacket or Claret Jug?

Graeme McDowell: Jaysus!

Pádraig Harrington: I think you could argue, that while the Open has more tradition and is more 'open', the Masters is the toughest one to win. It asks the ultimate questions coming down the stretch. Oh! You want me to choose?

Shane Lowry: I'd take both.

Graeme McDowell: It's a toss-up.

Paul McGinley: The Open is our home Major but there's something different, something elevated, about the Masters.

Colin Byrne: The Claret Jug - it's links, real golf. The Masters is Disneyland.

Dave McNeilly: The Claret Jug - it's older.

Ronan Flood: I love the Open but the Masters is just special. It would be the one I would most like to caddie for the winner.

Dermot Gilleece: The Claret Jug, because of its history and the overall variety of the challenge.

JP Fitzgerald: The Open would be my number one.

Roddy Carr: The Claret Jug.

Pádraig Harrington: The Claret Jug is still the biggest trophy in golf, but I think the Masters has stolen the glory when it comes to the actual prize. The Green Jacket is iconic because it can be taken away and worn. When you win at Augusta you're in the champions' club and change in a different locker room. I've never been in there.

Dermot Byrne: I find it hard to choose, but the Open at St Andrews.

Shane Lowry: I'd love to be the first Irish person to win the Masters.

Sandy Lyle: The Masters will never overtake the Open in terms of history and tradition but you get more bang for your buck with the Green Jacket. I've been to Asia and around the world and if you tell people you've won the Open it often doesn't register. Tell them you've won the Masters and its "Ahh! Greeen Jack-et!"

4 Cruel Beauty

The Masters Tournament's new Press Building opened to rave reviews Sunday. Constructed in less than a year, the building offers state-of-the-art technology and space for the media covering this year's event. The building is a far cry from the tournament's early days when the press used the wraparound balcony at the clubhouse as its headquarters. That gave way to a tent with flaps in the 1940s, then the Quonset hut was erected in the 1950s.

The Augusta Chronicle, April 3, 2017

Larry Dorman, an award-winning journalist with The New York Times is staring at a portrait of Cary Middlecoff, the 1955 Masters champion, on the first floor of Augusta National's new media centre. "Those were the days when you dressed to go to work," he smiles. Middlecoff is balancing a cigarette imperiously between fingers and holding court to reporters in the old Quonset hut.

Most of the reporters are wearing sports jackets; several are smoking; five are tapping on typewriters at the back of the hut … exactly how Dermot Gilleece remembers it during his first visit to the tournament in 1989.

Dermot Gilleece: That was the last Masters in the old [Quonset] hut. There was certainly nothing flash about it. In fact it was as basic as it comes and we seemed to be all huddled in a corner. But the thing I remember most was the noise and rattle of typewriters and the pall of smoke under a corrugated roof. And I made a contribution to both as I filed my first report: "It's not easy to make an impression at Augusta National, unless you can claim a blood relationship to Bobby Jones or you happen to be among the wealthiest or politically powerful men in the US. All of which made it a rather special experience for me to witness the buzz of excitement around the clubhouse yesterday as Severiano Ballesteros strode, almost regally, through one of the most heavily secured portals of world golf."

Dermot Gilleece: Seve rarely disappointed at Augusta in those days and finished fifth - two shots shy of the play-off between [Nick] Faldo and [Scott] Hoch. Ben Crenshaw tied with [Greg] Norman for third and was brought into the media hut as the play-off was underway. It was a dark, wet, evening at 7.0 - midnight back in Dublin. I was under serious pressure with my deadline and watched it on a TV in the corner. On the 10th - the first play-off hole - Faldo did well to make par but Hoch had a 30-inch putt for birdie to win the Masters. He was fiddling around and walking back and forward over this putt and I heard this voice behind me shouting: "Jesus! Hit it!" I turned around and it was Crenshaw, who straight away recognised what was going on. He could see that Hoch's body language was all wrong.

Nick Faldo: Even when I hit my second shot into the bunker at the 10th, I still felt I was destined to win. That feeling remained with me as Scott stood over a two-foot putt for the title. It wasn't an easy one insofar as it was downhill with a right to left break. I began to suspect that he might be in trouble when he went around the hole to have a look at it the second time.

Scott Hoch: Well, I'm glad I don't carry a gun with me.

Dermot Gilleece: It was reminiscent of the terrible miss by Doug Sanders at St Andrews in the Open of 1970, his nervous hands steered the ball disastrously offline. And my first sense of the cruel beauty of Augusta, and what it could inflict on people.

Pádraig Harrington: The great thing about Augusta is that you go back to the same course every year. You remember all the good shots, and all the bad ones. So you carry everyone else's baggage. It's not just, 'Oh, I remember hitting this shot here'. You remember all of the bad shots everybody has hit here.

JP Fitzgerald: Scott Hoch.

Jude O'Reilly: Greg Norman.

Colin Byrne: [Jordan] Spieth.

Ronan Flood: Norman.

Dermot Byrne: Rory.

Dave McNeilly: Ed Sneed bogeying the last three [holes] in 1979.

Pádraig Harrington: Seve dunking it in the water on 15 [in 1986].

Dermot Gilleece: The capacity of the back nine at Augusta to cripple you mentally is absolutely huge.

Graeme McDowell: I remember my first round there in 2005. There was a big storm that morning and they went with a two-tee start in the afternoon, and I teed off on the 10th for my first hole ever at the Masters. I hit this really good drive around the corner and walked down there and thought, 'Holy shit! Really?' I had about 218 yards to that front-right pin off this hanging lie on the down slope with a three-iron in my hand. I thought, 'Wow! It doesn't get any more difficult than that.' In terms of difficulty, it was up several notches from anything I had ever experienced.

Jude O'Reilly: Augusta tests the nerves and focus more than anywhere else. Anything over six inches is a pressure putt, or a pressure shot, and there's not many places where you can say that. The consequences of missing from there can be pretty drastic, and that can really shake a player and test their nerves on the next shot, and on the next hole. Players have a love/hate relationship with it. Everybody says they love it but at the same time it beats so many of them up when they go back there.

Dave McNeilly: The thing I like least about the week is the pedantic nature of the golfers and their preparation. The practice rounds are just brutal. They're firing balls into bunkers, taking chip shots, putting from all over the place and trying to cover every square inch. I've had practice rounds around there and they've taken six hours.

Ronan Flood: There's a lot of stress involved. You notice it most on Wednesday, fellas tweaking their clubs, working with their swing coaches … everybody is a bit on edge.

Graeme McDowell: We're definitely on a thinner edge Wednesdays than normal. Pete Cowen [coach] calls it PMS - Pre-Major-Stress.

Jude O'Reilly: Everybody is just happy to be there when they arrive, or to be returning there, but then suddenly the test is coming. The exam is about to begin. Anything that may be slightly off is going to be shown up. And shown up severely. That's why you have that shift.

Ronan Flood: There's stress at all the Majors but the Masters is different. It's the first Major since the end of August, so they've spent the whole time preparing for it.

Graeme McDowell: Augusta is my favourite golf course in the world. I love Augusta, I love the Masters, but it's an unrequited love. I could play it every day and be very, very happy, but from a competitive point of view I've just never settled into it. I go there and I try to be too perfect. I'm standing there thinking that I have to hit the perfect shot, on the perfect flight, and land it in a three or four-yard radius or I'm going to make bogey or worse. That's kind of how of I feel over every iron shot and it makes me uncomfortable.

Dermot Gilleece: I remember talking to Graeme after his debut in 2005 and he was crushed, really. I imagine he had great ambition for himself and, though he would never say it to you, there was a sense that he knew immediately it wasn't for him. Augusta does that to you. It gets into your head. It convinced Lee Trevino that he could never win it.

5 ‘I Blame Seve’

Early morning sunshine was filtering through the ubiquitous pines as Darren Clarke made his way to the practice ground at Augusta National yesterday. By being first to report for work before 8.0 and clad in a windcheater against the chill Georgia air, he was acknowledging a rather special event.

Clarke played practice rounds last Saturday and Sunday with his coach, Peter Cowen. So, what did he think of the course?

"The front nine, which you don't see on television, was much more difficult than I had imagined," he replied. I suggested that perhaps he had the fourth (250-yard par three) and fifth (435-yard par four) in mind? "Yes - and the sixth, seventh, eight, and ninth," he said with a grin.

Darren Clarke gives Dermot Gilleece his first impressions of Augusta

On the first Saturday of April 1998, a 29-year-old Dungannon man arrived at Augusta National to surprising news. "Really?" he said. "I'm only the sixth Irishman to play in the Masters?" His caddie, an amiable Yorkshireman called Billy Foster, had worked at the tournament six times before - five with Seve Ballesteros and once with David Frost.

Billy Foster: There are millions of people around the world who would love to get through the front gates. And I'm not saying I don't enjoy the tournament because apart from the Open, it's probably the one every European would most like to win. But as a caddie you are on a hiding to nothing around here. The first year Clarkey played in '98 I was like a guide dog. He was listening to everything I said. In the first round he did everything right until 17, when he hit a soft sand-wedge that pitched five yards short of the flag and bounced over the back. Then he chipped up and four-putted. I was absolutely gutted - you switched off for a second and had a seven on the card.

Darren Clarke: It was the one serious mistake I made all day and I paid dearly for it. Now I know what they mean when they talk about having experience around here. I'd never attempt that shot again. But I'm not out of it yet.

Three days later, Clarke shot a 67.

Dermot Gilleece: It was the lowest round ever by an Irishman at the Masters. Of the 26 tournament rounds played by Joe Carr (10), Christy O'Connor Jnr (2), Garth McGimpsey (4), Ronan Rafferty (6) and David Feherty (4) at Augusta, Rafferty was the only player to break 70, with a third round of 69 in 1990.

Clarke finished eighth in the tournament - the best ever finish by an Irishman. Five years later, with a new caddie on his bag, he became the first to lead the Masters in 2003.

JP Fitzgerald: There was bad weather that year and they cancelled play until Friday. I think it took about six hours to play the first round and then we had to go out again about 20 minutes later. He had a three-shot lead but we had no time to enjoy it. I think we played about 27 holes before play was suspended. He was out of shape and got really tired.

Dermot Gilleece: Clarke got to play 10 holes of his second round, completing the day with two successive bogeys. But the real damage to his prospects was done the following [Saturday] morning when, setting off to complete the second round, he knocked his approach shot at the 11th into water, running up a double-bogey six. That led eventually to a 76. Worse was to follow later on Saturday when he carded a horrendous nine on the 13th, en route to a third round of 78. Sunday was less painful, but a final round of 74 for a share of 28th place contrasted sharply with his elevated position of two days previously.

Paul McGinley: Did we really believe we could win the Masters back then? I certainly didn't think so. The guy who changed the mindset and broke that barrier down was Pádraig.

Shane Lowry: Pádraig had a chance to win - that's my only memory of the Irish at Augusta.

Dermot Gilleece: It always struck me that Pádraig was the one likely to do it because he had the overall game, in my view. Ultimately, Augusta is all about the short game. Ben Crenshaw used to hit it sideways but was a great putter. [Bernhard] Langer was arguably the greatest long putter in the game and was a terrific pitcher and chipper of the ball. [Jose Maria] Olazabal had a wonderful up-and-down game. So for me, Harrington fitted the bill perfectly as a likely Irish winner.

On April 7, 2007, at precisely 2.05pm, Harrington walked off the first tee in the final round of his seventh Masters. He had finished fifth in 2002 (and had led briefly through 11 holes) but had never truly contended. Now he was close - one shot behind the favourite Tiger Woods and two shots behind the 54-hole leader, Stuart Appleby.

Pádraig Harrington: You know you're in contention at Augusta when you're nervous on the back nine. And I was nervous. I stood on that 10th tee and it was like entering a different world: 'Oh my God! I'm here! This is my chance!'

Ronan Flood: I was more nervous on the first tee than I was on the 10th. The front nine hadn't gone great for us and we were a few back.

Pádraig Harrington: I par 10 and bogey 11 and now I'm four shots behind. It's a reminder: 'You're not winning this Pádraig unless you do something special.' So I go for the pin on 12.

Ronan Flood: It's my favourite hole - perhaps the best par three in golf - but as a caddie it's the most stressful hole we play all year. You pick the club, he's standing over the ball, and you're just hoping that it stays dry, or doesn't pitch in the bushes at the back. I don't know what it is about the wind in that corner but three guys will hit the same club and they'll all hit it in different spots. But it's always the caddie that pays the bill: 'What happened there?'

Graeme McDowell: ESPN did that thing four or five years ago where they put all these drones in there to check the wind in and around the green, and apparently there's a vortex in that little corner. You look at the flag at 11 and it's doing one thing, and you look at the flag on 12 and its doing another, and you look at your map of the course and where the wind is supposed to be and it's doing something else. It's a real head-scratcher. You've got to just pick a number and try to commit to it as best you can.

JP Fitzgerald: In my very first Masters with Paul [McGinley] we played a practice round with Tom Watson. I asked questions the whole way around and when we got to the 12th he said: "You find out where the wind is, or where it should be, and you don't let your player hit until that wind is there. For example, if it's a north-west wind and in off the left, you wait until it's in off the left." I've done that with every player since and passed it on to Rory. And I'd say his record on the hole is pretty good.

Ronan Flood: We had always played the 12th by hitting the tee shot over the middle of the bunker and taking our chances with the putt. We talked about it, but after the bogey on 11 we had to hit at every pin and try to make birdies. I can't remember what [club] he hit but he went straight at it and it finished a couple of feet. Then he made the putt.

Pádraig Harrington: I decided to go across the corner on 13 - a new play for me. Then I hit it on the green and made eagle, and now I'm really pumped. I'm two shots off the lead and have to seriously settle down.

Ronan Flood: Was I excited? Well, it's not my job to be excited but he now has a genuine chance to win the Masters, so I was probably more excited than I have been on a golf course at any other time.

Pádraig Harrington: On 14, I've hit driver and tried to draw it but it goes dead straight. And I'm so pumped up I've probably hit this thing 340 yards into the trees. We go down and as Ronan is doing the yardage and trying to work an angle, I'm walking up [towards the green] to get a feel for the shot.

Ronan Flood: I think we had 98 yards to the pin or something. I'm standing by the ball, close to the ropes, and as Paddy is walking back I feel someone tapping me on the right shoulder and my heart just dropped. I thought, 'It's a green jacket [an official]! What have we done wrong? It's a penalty!' I turn around and it's a guy - an Irish lad - and he looks at me and goes: "How far has he got? What's he going to hit?" And I'm just flabbergasted.

Pádraig Harrington: A friend of ours, Mick Turley, is standing behind this guy and reaches in over the back and literally grabs him by the collar and lifts him out of the crowd. (Laughs) Your man just couldn't contain himself. I hit lob wedge and made par and walked to the 15th tee.

Dermot Gilleece: There are certain holes in golf - the 18th at Carnoustie is certainly one - that Harrington doesn't like. Now he won't tell you he doesn't like them because he's very conscious of the psychology of these things. David Feherty was once asked what was the toughest shot at Augusta, and he said the third into the 15th. That surprised a lot of people who would automatically figure that you'd be going for the 15th in two. But if you lay-up there for whatever reason, you're playing probably a wedge shot from a downhill lie to an elevated green with a pretty shallow landing area. And Harrington, despite having a wonderful short game, just didn't like it. And he rarely played the hole particularly well. I remember it being a no-go area with us - you just didn't talk to him about the 15th.

Pádraig Harrington: It's such a tight tee shot. You have half a fairway to aim at [or be blocked by the trees on the left] and you have to hit it. And I do. I hit a great drive back into the wind and I'm far enough down - maybe 220 down the hill. So I'm hitting a hybrid to the back right pin - a nice, generous pin, a pin where you can make an eagle. And I hit a beautiful shot straight at it.

Ronan Flood: In the air, it looked like it could come down in the hole. It never left the flag.

Pádraig Harrington: In my head I could see it finishing within a foot. It was stone dead. It pitches on the front of the green and jumps forward maybe three or four yards and then stops and rolls back into the water.

Ronan Flood: Neither of us thought it was short - you would have said it was plenty of club - it's probably pitched ten yards short of the flag, where we thought it was pitching up there. So you're in disbelief looking at it. And that it was it, right there. The Masters was done on that hole.

Pádraig Harrington: I don't know how many people said to me afterwards, 'Zach Johnson laid up on all the par fives and played them in 11 under par. Why didn't you do that?' Because I don't play golf that way.

Ronan Flood: Do I remember how we played the 15th that week?

Pádraig Harrington: I've no idea. I remember the six on Sunday.

Ronan Flood: I'd say about five over [triple-bogey, birdie, double-bogey, bogey].

Pádraig Harrington: Really? Wow! People say I never figured out how to play the hole, I'd say I never felt comfortable on it. I blame Seve.

Dermot Gilleece: It was a bit of a surprise that Zach Johnson should have won a Major at that stage. He played in The Heritage Harbour Town the following week, and when I asked him, as an Irish journalist, what he thought about Pádraig's Major prospects, he replied: "Pádraig will win a Major pretty soon, you won't have to wait long." And sure enough, four months later, he had captured the Open at Carnoustie.

6 Crash

Rory McIlroy stood head and shoulders above the rest at Rosses Point yesterday, but the 17-year-old Holywood star still wasn't happy with his game despite cruising into the last 16 of the Radisson-SAS West of Ireland Championship.

After a casual performance in the second qualifying round on Saturday, when he shot a four-over-par 75, the reigning champion came out firing on all cylinders and left Portmarnock's David Kelleher on the receiving end of a 2&1 first-round defeat.

On the morning after the 2007 Masters, on the same page as the news of Harrington's demise, The Irish Times carried a report about a 17-year-old wunderkind: 'McIlroy juggernaut rumbles on.' Four months later, when Harrington lifted the Claret Jug, the kid finished tied 42nd on his debut at The Open. Two years after that, he finished tied 20th on his debut at the Masters. And two years after that, on the morning of the final round, he led the Masters by four shots …

Dermot Gilleece: Harrington's win at the Open in '07 changed everything vis à vis Irish players. He influenced Clarke and McDowell but he didn't influence Rory, and it would be silly to suggest he did, because Rory was Rory. He paid a visit to Harrington's house that year and there was no deference - he was respectful, but there was absolutely no deference.

Stephen Watson: We had been following him since the start of the year for a documentary we were making [for BBC Northern Ireland]. So when we followed him to the Masters and he was leading by four shots going into the final day we thought, 'Jeepers! What a programme we are going to have here!'

JP Fitzgerald: He played with [Jason] Day on the Saturday and they matched each other shot for shot. Then Day made a mistake on 13, and Rory holed a good long putt on 17, and all of a sudden he was leading by four. It was like you had left the TV for a cup of tea and come back and he has a four-shot lead. It happened very fast.

Graeme McDowell: I watched him playing nine holes on Saturday - perhaps the one and only time I have spectated as a professional golfer. I'd missed the cut, so I got a pair of sunglasses and an incognito hat and had a couple of beers to blend in with the crowd. We would have been particularly close in those days.

Rory McIlroy: Graeme was out watching me. He sent me a text [that evening] and told me he loved me … I don't know if that was him or the beer talking. (Laughs)

Graeme McDowell: I flew back [home] to Orlando that evening and watched the final round with Ricky Elliot. (A year later, Elliot would be the ninth Irishman to caddie at Augusta).

Pádraig Harrington: I missed the cut that year but stayed over and watched the final round in the house we were renting. Did I leave Rory a note? No, I'm not that sort of person …well, I've changed - I tried wholeheartedly to leave a note for Shane last year at the US Open - but I wouldn't have done that in 2011. It's not that I didn't want Rory to win but he was very much a competitor of mine at that stage. I didn't see him as the number one, I saw me as the number one.

Ronan Flood: We missed the cut but I stayed on with Pádraig, and watched the final round with him.

Shane Lowry: I was living in [an apartment] in Carton House at the time and watched it on Sunday night.

Pádraig Harrington: Was I interested? Absolutely, I was drawn in like everybody else. I saw no other winner but Rory. I thought he couldn't fail.

Graeme McDowell: I thought he was going to win.

JP Fitzgerald: I expected him to win.

Shane Lowry: I thought he would win.

Ronan Flood: I couldn't see anyone else.

Dermot Gilleece: We were seriously buzzed up about it, there's no question about that, but by that stage I was sufficiently familiar with the course to know there were huge dangers lying in wait. There are no soft options on any hole. There is no way you can defend a lead as such. You can lay up on the par fives but even at that you're still gambling because you've got to decide what route you're going to take on 13, for instance. The 12th is so difficult … the 11th is so difficult …

Jude O'Reilly: You can make a double [bogey] on any hole without having a disaster, and if another player birdies that's a three-shot swing. So when are you safe at Augusta?

Pádraig Harrington: I remember Lee Westwood talking once about when he led [in 1999] and how his world changed when reached the 10th tee. I've been there. I know how it feels. It's like the Lotto ad: 'It could be you!' Maybe Rory got drawn into that.

Dermot Gilleece: I'd seen so many collapses on the back nine … you remember Floyd, you remember Hoch and we'll never forget Norman. With Rory I thought: 'He's comfortable.' But you never know. And then he snap-hooked it into the trees.

Shane Lowry: I couldn't believe it. He's the best driver of a golf ball in the world. And you won't understand it until you've stood on that tee. The fairway is wide and easy to hit but you're trying to leave yourself a good second shot into that green: turn [the tee shot] around the corner and you'll be hitting an eight-iron from a good lie. Hit it straight and you'll be hitting a five-iron off a down-slope.

Ronan Flood: I suppose, like everyone, I thought: 'Why didn't he hit three-wood?' Because it's easier to turn a three-wood than a driver. But he had hit driver for three days and hit it well, so I could understand.

Shane Lowry: A little low pull and that can happen.

Pádraig Harrington: It's easily done. We've all done it. I could hit that shot and go: 'This happened last week as well.' But for Rory it was unfamiliar territory.

Ronan Flood: He was 70 yards off the tee box beside a cabin! He had made the game look easy all week and turned the Masters into a procession. Now the whole world was looking at him - we'd never seen that shot on TV before - and he was embarrassed. I don't know if he even walked out to see where he was going to hit it. From what I remember, he stood by the ball and JP went out and looked.

Rory McIlroy: It was like being hit by a punch. I was literally in a daze. I'm [standing] between these two cabins and I don't know what to think. I'm like, 'What the f**k is going on?' That was the start of it, but I think when it really [unravelled] was … I hit two great shots into 11 and three-putted from what, 12 feet? And then I four-putted on 12 and was just completely flustered.

JP Fitzgerald: He hit a great shot into 11 to about seven or eight feet behind the hole and I thought, 'Make this and we're right back in it.' He three-putted. Then he hit a really lovely shot into 12 and four-putted.

Dermot Gilleece: I became seriously worried at 12 and 13. It wasn't so much the way he played them - and he didn't play them well - it was his body language. His body language had changed utterly. And you can only assume there was some understanding that made JP stand off. I don't know what went between them but clearly Rory was very rattled. You could see that in his face. He looked like a lost child.

JP Fitzgerald: As we were walking towards the 13th tee he said - and I'll never forget it - "I didn't think I was going to finish the hole." No matter what you say to him - and I was saying everything - he feels he can't hit a shot. He was totally gone. It was just horrible.

Shane Lowry: I remember feeling really sorry for him.

Pádraig Harrington: I don't ever feel sorry for golfers but that was one of the few times.

Graeme McDowell: It was a crazy day, one of those moments in golf when you just felt sick to your stomach.

Pádraig Harrington: I was shocked. It was car-crash TV.

Shane Lowry: The next morning I was driving-up to play Royal County Down and was stopped for speeding. The guard started asking me about it. "Did Rory blow it?"

Rory McIlroy: I went to bed obviously very disappointed but not feeling as bad as I could have. The next morning [I phoned my mother]. I was outside the driveway and remember leaning on the Mercedes car that they gave us for the week and she started to cry and it was bad, really tough, and that's when it all sort of hit me.

Stephen Watson: We filmed him when he went home, and the thing that always struck me was that he didn't seem that bothered about it. He was, of course, upset that he hadn't won but he also said: "I'm going to learn from this. I know I will." I told everybody at the time that I believed him and they all just laughed: "He's had a meltdown. He'll be lucky if he ever recovers from this."

Dermot Gilleece: A lot of the American commentators were saying that it would take him a long, long time to get over it and my feeling was, 'No, he'll be fine.' He was 21 years of age and because of his youth, and the huge talent he had, I couldn't see lasting scars. I wrote as much at the time.

*****

It's Thursday afternoon at Augusta National. The first round of the 81st Masters is underway. Colin Byrne is on the course with Rafa Cabrera Bello. Pádraig Harrington is in the media centre thinking about lunch. Dermot Byrne and Shane Lowry have taken to the chipping green. Stephen Watson and his cameraman, Gary McCutcheon, have secured a position to film on the driving range. It is 12:40pm.

Rory McIlroy is on the premises.

It's been a good week for the World number two. On Sunday, he announced a $100m extension to his sponsorship deal with Nike. On Monday, he warmed up at home in Florida as the state of Georgia was being battered by storms. On Tuesday, he played a practice round at Augusta National with a golfer called Luck and birded his first hole.

"Go Rory," the fans cheered as he exited the green.

Fifty years have passed since JB Carr became the first Irishman to play at the Masters. What if Rory McIlroy was the first Irishman to win it? What if this was his year?

Stephen Watson: People keep saying, 'You must hope this is the year that he wins it.' And I say 'Absolutely.' But we hope that every single year.

Pádraig Harrington: I would love to be the first Irishman to win the Masters but I can't control that. And if Rory were to do it I'd be delighted for him. Only five people in history have won the Grand Slam. Tom Watson never did it. Phil Mickelson never did it. It would be an incredible achievement.

Paul McGinley: An Irishman winning the Masters is nowhere near as big a deal as it might have been ten years ago. Pádraig winning in Carnoustie broke all of those barriers so for me, the ripples would be bigger than an Irish context. He would be the first European to ever win the Grand Slam. Think about that: Seve never did it. Faldo never did it. Lyle never did it. It would be huge … and he's still in his 20s!

Ronan Flood: He's already a member of an elite club of golfers who have won Majors, but to win all four would cement his name as one of the all-time great players.

Dermot Gilleece: It would represent a coming of age for Irish golf. From a nation once content with moral victories, we would become an improbable powerhouse of the game, represented by the career Grand Slam.

Footnote: Two more golfers have since joined the Irish quest to win the Green Jacket, James Sugrue (2020) and Seamus Power (2022), and this year Antrim’s Matt McClean will become the 17th Irish golfer to play in the Masters.