These 2 amateurs are living the dream at Masters Tournament
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Masters Tournament is welcoming first-time competitors Justin Hastings and Hiroshi Tai.
Hastings earned his invitation with a victory at the Latin America Amateur Championship in January, while Tai’s invitation is a courtesy of his win at the NCAA championship last May.
“I don’t know that it’s totally hit me that I’m playing in the Masters,” Hastings said at a news conference Monday, “but it’s obviously super exciting and I’m super grateful to be here.”
Tai made history as the very first player representing Singapore to compete in the Masters Tournament.
That historical significance means a lot to him as he prepares.
“I’m obviously proud of where I’m from and have a lot of friends and family that live there,” he said. “My parents still live there. It’s been a really cool experience so far, and I’ve really enjoyed everything about it. I’m really honored to be here, as well.”
Seeing Augusta National, Hastings is impressed by “how grand the property is and just how big and perfect and the attention to detail is just – there’s never anything out of place.”
No detail is missed at Augusta National, he said.
“I think that just goes into what makes this place so historic and so amazing to be here,” he said.
Hastings has been fascinated with the Masters since he was a kid.
“I was always a big Masters nut as a kid. I guess I shouldn’t say I don’t know what drew me to it, but I was drawn to it very early,” he said. “I don’t know exactly when it started. I would assume sometime in middle school, the Thursday of the Masters, I would come to my parents with a sickness, and it took them about two years to catch on before they started to be like, this is getting a little bit – it’s a little bit of a coincidence. I’d push pretty hard, and eventually that just became a thing in my household, that the Thursday of the Masters, Justin was going to be staying home to watch the coverage.”
Does the recent success of college golf maybe change their expectations for this week?
“I think it’s awesome to see other college players have a lot of success out there,” Tai said. “A lot of them are people you play with a lot in college events and some of their friends. I think – I’m not sure if it changes expectations this week, but I think for college players as a whole, I think it makes more of us realize that we might not be as far off as we think.”
They’re both living every amateur’s dream right now.
“I think it’s pretty cool doing a press conference. You don’t really do that in college golf very often,” he said. “The amateur dinner tonight I think will be something that all of us are looking forward to. Obviously there’s five of us here, and I think we’re all staying in the Crow’s Nest, as well. It’ll be a really fun Monday night. Definitely a little bit better than being in class today.”
Hastings said: “Just to add to that, just being in the presence of the best players in the world, the guys you grow up watching on TV and idolizing is – I think that’s super cool. You turn a corner and you see the No. 1 player in the world in your face, it’s like, wow. That’s kind of when little things like that hit you.”
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