Rickett diary: Masters' first day 'awesome'

Friday, January 1, 1904

Read moreGreeson: Fox shakes butterflies for memories

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Former UTC golfer and assistant coach Ben Rickett has volunteered to provide a first-person account of his daily activities as caddie at the Masters for UTC senior and U.S. Amateur champion Steven Fox.

To: Chattanooga area golf fans

From: Ben Rickett

Subject: Competition counts

What he said: We didn't go to Starbucks this morning because I wanted to go look at the flags. I was in the caddie hut for an hour and half and got the pin sheets and wrote what we needed in the book. I talked with a local caddie and talked about places you need to be and where you can't be on each hole.

Fox turned up about 9 and he went through his routine, and the coolest thing was when Tiger came and hit behind him.

The environment was very different. There was a lot more tension. It was like that inside the caddie hut as well as out on the range.

After Fox went through his routine, we went over to the main putting green. There were people everywhere. There was just a small gap for caddies and players to walk through.

Walking to the first tee was better than that. It was a pretty special moment, and I'm talking from a caddie standpoint.

There might have been some nerves there with Steven. He minimized the damage very well on the first couple holes. He walked off the first two holes 1 over, and it could have been 2 or 3 or 4. He hit some fantastic shots. He turned at even, which was a good front nine. He had some very good chances coming down the stretch.

The first few holes were very surreal. I was walking on a few holes like, what is going on here, I'm caddying at the Masters. Then you look back and there's Tiger behind you. It was very surreal. I absolutely loved it. I had a great time doing it. Between the two of us we made some great decisions.

It was awesome.