Chipping and putting will be key to success at Augusta

It’s Masters time, once again and it is as lovely as ever. The course, the atmosphere, the field and in fact the whole package, as usual, is top class. To be here once again is indeed a privilege and I look forward to doing better than last year when I made my debut at the Masters.

There are so many things that I love about the place that it is hard to put a finger to one specific thing and I am not going to try doing that. I just want to enjoy myself, play the best I can and hopefully do well.

My wife, Ipsa, is here and so are some friends and my coach, Vijay Divecha, will be here over the weekend, but that is part of a larger plan. I am going to spend some time practicing after this event so that I can plan for more events later.

I have been busy for quite some time playing a lot of events, so there’s been no time for practice and working on the game. In fact I hardly had an off-season and my game was not where it was around the time of the PGA. But I have managed to hold on, stay around 50th in world rankings, so that gives me a lot of confidence and that included the second place at Indian Open at home.

Having said that, right now I am happy with my ball striking and if I can putt — and that alongside chipping is always crucial at Augusta — things could be good this week.

As anyone who has played this game will tell, this is a confidence game and that needs to be put alongside your ‘A’ game for the results to come. And I am hoping that it will happen soon. I know something good is around the corner and I am working towards it.

I came in here from Houston, a bit of an early arrival after having missed the weekend action there. At Augusta, I have played both the front and back nines and am looking forward to the Par-3 later on the eve of the main event. That is always a fun event and all the legends of the games — including Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player and many others are part of it.

I am really looking forward to that relaxed atmosphere and it puts you in a perfect frame of mind. Then these last two days before the event also means finishing the souvenir shopping at the Merchandise shop and choosing from all those Masters goodies.