April 3, 2008

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Friday afternoon Michael Thompson will slide behind the steering wheel of his car and take a five-hour drive. The road, which begins in Tuscaloosa, will lead him to the most remarkable destination he's reached so far in his 22 years of life. No one will accompany him on the initial journey, but the second he arrives, all that will change. He will no longer be alone. The eyes of a nation will be upon him.

Thompson, a senior All-American on the University of Alabama golf team is headed to Augusta, Ga., and the world's most famous golf venue, Augusta National. Thompson is competing as an invited amateur in the 2008 Masters Tournament, professional golf's most celebrated event and arguably one of the biggest events in all of sport. He is one of three amateurs competing, joined by Drew Weaver and Trip Kuehne.

"I'm thrilled," said Thompson who plans to wear his Crimson Tide golf gear each day in his first professional golf tournament. "It's an honor to be in this situation, to have an opportunity to play in the Masters, a tournament I grew up watching on TV, playing with the guys I see on TV week-in and week-out. I'm just going to go and have fun. It's going to be an awesome week."

The trip will be Thompson's sixth to Augusta National since January. Participants are allowed to practice on the course unlimited times, but a series of injuries kept postponing Thompson from making the trip, including a broken finger from tossing around a football with his teammates in the fall. He has played a total of seven rounds at Augusta National on those trips, taken photos, practiced, snuck a couple of range balls in his pocket as souvenirs for him and his dad, and he's even climbed the steep steps to peek at the famous Crow's Nest apartment where he and fellow amateur Drew Weaver, a Virginia Tech golfer who won the 2007 British Amateur, will share accommodations in the dormitory style room located on the third floor of the Augusta National Clubhouse. Reserved for the amateurs who compete, it's the same room that Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw and Tiger Woods all slept in when they were amateurs competing at the Masters. Thompson figures he'll give the place a try at least until Wednesday, reserving the option of leaving it to stay with his family who has rented a house in Augusta for the week.

His best practice round score there so far is a 73.

The biggest week of his young life will be packed with memories, many of which will somehow even eclipse the moment he first turned down Magnolia Lane to live a golfer's dream.

"It's weird," said Thompson who made the first trip with his swing coach, Susie Meyers. "You drive down this road and there are restaurants everywhere: Chick-Fil-A, Olive Garden, Circle K, all this on this one road. You see this huge hedge on the right and there's a small little turn off this main road that says, `Augusta National Golf Club.' You turn, and there's a guard there. And you see Magnolia Lane and you see the little hill where they have the Masters' logo done in yellow flowers. It's just really cool. You just sit and look around and you're like, `Oh, wow.' And then you drive up and see the grass, and it's just a different color green than anything you've ever seen. It was really cool. Really cool. I was a little nervous hitting range balls the first time I was there. Even that is special. The range balls are all Titleist Pro V's and they're all brand new, every time."

On Saturday, Thompson will report for registration. Already he's a familiar face to the Augusta National staff and members who now greet him by name. Even past Masters champions know him. On his last trip there he ran into two-time Masters Champion Phil Mickelson in the pro shop. Thompson approached and extended his hand to introduce himself. He had barely gotten his name out when Mickelson, a former Arizona State golfer, smiled in recognition and jumped in, saying he'd heard all about Thompson and invited Thompson to practice with him during Masters Week. And so on Tuesday, the Tide's Tucson, Arizona native and Eagle Scout will work on his game and trade small talk with the golf superstar in a foursome that will also include Hunter Mahan and Scott Adams.

"I'm very excited about that," said Thompson who has a 70.10 stroke average at Alabama this season and says he likes the "creativity" with shots that the course at Augusta National allows. "I'm excited to talk with those guys and get to know them a little bit and learn a little bit about the golf course from them."

On Wednesday he's playing in the Par 3 contest with Champions Tour player Jerry Pate who Thompson knows well. He passes a nearly four-foot framed photo of Pate every time he walks into the University of Alabama's golf facility which bears Pate's name. It's a picture of Pate receiving the 1974 U.S. Amateur champion trophy when Pate was a Tide golfer. A stroke here or there in the 2007 final last August, and Thompson's photo with the U.S. Am trophy could have flanked it. Pate designed Alabama's golf facility and its home course, Ol' Colony Complex, where Thompson practices daily. Playing with Thompson and Pate, the Par 3 Contest winner in 2005, will be another two-time Masters champion, Ben Crenshaw. Thompson's aunt ran into Crenshaw at a tournament, making a point to meet him to tell him her nephew was going to play at the Masters. Crenshaw delighted the proud aunt by telling her that, yes, Pate had told him all about Thompson and that he was looking forward to joining him at Augusta.

Following the traditional Amateur's Dinner on Wednesday night, Thompson's biggest step on a golf course will be on Thursday, April 10th when he plays the opening round. As of Thursday, April 3, he hasn't been told yet who he will be paired with.

"The experience at the U.S. Am, I think, is going to help me just because there were 4,000 people watching that final match, and that's the most people I've ever played in front of," said Thompson, "and I know it will be two or three times more this coming week. So that experience in terms of dealing with the crowds, trying to stay calm, it's definitely going to be a learning experience, but I feel pretty calm. I was calm during the U.S. Am."

Cecil Ingram, Jr., made that same drive from Tuscaloosa to Augusta when he was a University of Alabama golfer. The year was 1980, and Ingram, the son of former University of Alabama Director of Athletics Hootie Ingram, had qualified for the Masters, like Thompson, by finishing well at the U. S. Amateur. Ingram was a semi-finalist. Thompson was a finalist last August, finishing runner-up to 2007 U.S. Amateur Champion Colt Knost who turned pro shortly afterwards.

"The tough part is building up to it. You know you're going to play the summer before, so you've got nine months or so. Then when it gets there, all of a sudden it's there. You don't think it'll ever get there, then it's there," said Ingram, now a Birmingham resident who helped lead Alabama to its only Southeastern Conference golf championship in 1979. "When I look back on it now, I was just crushed I didn't make the cut because I'd worked myself back with two birdies on the back nine to make the cut line, and then I had a bogey and had to gamble on the last hole and try to make birdie and didn't make it. You're crushed then. But I played in 1980, so 28 years later, when people ask me about it, I don't have to say I shot 85-88 like some other guys did. I shot 74-75. You want to make the cut, but when you get 20 or 30 years down the road, you're just glad you didn't shoot in the 80's."

That Thompson has made it this far this soon in golf is no surprise to his Alabama coach, Jay Seawell. Thompson transferred to Alabama last season after opening his career at Tulane where he was a two-time All-Conference USA golfer before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and, in its wake, led Tulane to dropping several sports, including men's golf. Seawell's coaching friend, Tom Shaw, then Tulane's coach and now the head coach at Vanderbilt, saw Seawell and Alabama as a perfect fit for Thompson. Alabama had a scholarship open and a coach with an eye for talent, and Seawell recruited and signed Thompson who was immediately eligible despite the transfer since Tulane had dropped the sport. His game helped elevate Alabama to become the nation's No. 1 ranked college team and made Thompson a college ingénue of sorts as he's been all-conference in two different leagues. He was voted All-Southeastern Conference in his first season at Alabama last year. Thompson finished fourth individually at the NCAA Championships in 2007, the team sixth, its best finish in 32 years.

"Physically, he's just a great putter," said Seawell. "That's a trait you'll see in the successful PGA golfers: they putt extremely well. And he is a great putter. Mentally he's a very golf-smart guy. He's a smart guy anyway, but he's a very smart guy on the golf course. He understands what the game is and how it works, what golf is. It has peaks and valleys, and he has a great ability of making his valleys very low and his peaks not too high."

And Thompson, who his teammates nicknamed "Slick," is also infinitely patient and steady in his game.

"You have to be real patient with it, which Michael is," said Ingram of the pressure Thompson will face at Augusta. "He's a very patient and methodical player and he's an outstanding putter. And that's something that can get you rattled on the greens. He hits the ball high. I really expect him to play well. There's not anybody better in college golf than he is. I think he's got an outstanding chance to make the cut."

Caddying for Thompson will be Shaw, a man Thompson describes as equally calm and collect on the course. Thompson's gallery in Augusta will include his parents, Mike and Beth Thompson, his younger brother Zach who attends the Air Force Academy, his sister and her family, his swing coach Susie Meyers, family friends, childhood friends, former teammates from Tulane, several of his Alabama teammates and Seawell who'll get back from coaching Alabama in the Morris Williams tournament in Texas just in time to see Thompson tee off in the first round.

Following the Masters, Thompson will turn 23 on April 16, the same day he and his Alabama teammates will leave for Sea Island, Ga., to compete for the SEC Championship. Alabama will likely be a No. 1 seed for the NCAA championships in May. Thompson will graduate in May with a degree in accounting and will play in the U.S. Open, as an amateur, in June. He hopes to make the USA's Palmer Cup team in June as well and plans to turn pro in July.

"There was never an issue, never a question that I would turn pro before the end of this year," said Thompson who credits Seawell and his Alabama teammates and their talent for helping elevate his game. "We want to win the national championship. We want to win the SEC championship. And then I couldn't give up the experience to play in the Masters. The experience that I'm going to gain next week will last me for the rest of my golfing career. I'm going to come away with people that I've met, the experience of playing the golf course in a championship setting, things that I can use and relate to later on. Same as the U.S. Open. It's an experience that not many people have, to play two majors as an amateur. So it's something that I've got to take advantage of."

The goals he's set for his first major are simple.

"No three putts. Be completely committed to every single shot that I have and to make the cut. Those are the three main goals. Other than that, I don't really care how I finish. I know if I do those, then I will play well and I will finish well," said Thompson.

And if he does make the cut, when he makes the drive back to Tuscaloosa, he'll have to make a little extra room in his luggage. The low amateur in the Masters Tournament, if he makes the cut, is presented a sterling silver cup commemorating the feat.