<p>Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland plays a stroke from the No. 1 tee during a practice round prior to the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Monday, April 06, 2026.</p>
Tom McKibbin will make his Masters debut this week, but rather than dreaming about becoming the first rookie winner since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, his only thought is about making the drive down Magnolia Lane a yearly pilgrimage.
The Newtownabbey talent (23) will become the 18th Irishman to tee it up in the game's most exclusive Major, and he doesn't want it to be a one-and-done experience, but a regular occurrence as he looks to follow in the footsteps of Rory McIlroy and don that coveted green jacket someday.
The overwhelming desire to come back hit him on Monday and Tuesday last week, when he played the course for the first time with his LIV Golf teammate, Tyrrell Hatton.
"I was sort of like, wow, this is cool," he said after playing nine holes on Monday this week with the Englishman and former Masters champion Jon Rahm, another of his Legion XIII teammates.
"I think it was one of those moments where you say to yourself, I'll try and work really hard to make sure I play a lot more of these."
It says everything about Augusta National and the spiritual experience golfers have when they walk in the footsteps of their heroes that McKibbin felt genuine nerves when he stepped onto the hallowed turf for the first time.
"It was probably the first time in a long, long time that I'd been nervous playing a golf course," McKibbin admitted. "With nobody here, nothing on the line, I was like, this is so cool, and I didn't want to play the round like an absolute idiot the first time.
"It was definitely a little bit daunting with nobody here but even coming back today, there are a lot of people around, and the fairways look a little bit narrower off the tee and they are on the par threes and stuff."
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That he's here at all is thanks to Augusta National's decision to award Masters spots to the winners of more national opens, and McKibbin's second win as a professional in last year's Hong Kong Open also earned him his third start in The Open.
"It's phenomenal," he said. "The reason I went there and played was to be able to have this opportunity to come and play the Masters. It's something that I've watched for countless years, and to finally be here and see it in real life is pretty cool.
"This is the one that I've watched since I was nine years old. It's probably the first, sort of like, I would say, pinch me moment, I've watched it so much.
"I've always wanted to play here and play the Masters. And to have that dream come true is really cool."
It speaks volumes about the size of McKibbin's talent that if he plays all four rounds this week, he will have made the cut in all four Major championships before his 24th birthday.
The only blemish on his Major CV came in his second appearance in The Open at Royal Portrush last year, where he missed the cut on a course he knew better than almost anyone in the field.
"I don't know, I mean, as you say, to be able to say, 'I made the cut in all four of them,' would be nice," he admitted. "The thing that's tricky here, from what I've heard, is how different the course changes from today until Thursday. So I don't know what to expect.
"It's such a difficult golf course, especially around the greens, that one bad hole….. It's tricky. "But I mean, I'd love to play four rounds and put four solid scores together. I think that would be a nice first Masters appearance."
He's clearly a single-minded youngster, and apart from the chance to set up his family financially for life, one of the reasons why he opted to sign for LIV Golf was that it would give him the chance to play every week alongside Major winners like Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, two of the hot favourites this week.
He knows Rahm better than most and absorbs any nugget of Masters knowledge the Spaniard is willing to give away.
"A lot of it is around the greens and getting used to seeing how much some of the putts break and how fast some of them are," he confessed.
"It's been good, getting to go out and play with someone that's won here very recently, and is playing very well. And I'm sure he'll be up there this week as well.
"Just to get to spend some time with him and see the course and try and take little bits here and there has been good."
They say it takes as many as 40 competitive rounds to build up the course knowledge required to win the Masters and McKibbin has already started that learning process.
"I think you definitely develop it the more you play," he said. "When I came here 10 days ago with Tyrrell, he was showing me some of the putts, and I'm like, I do not see that (break) at all.
"The more I've hit them and the more I've played, you can definitely remember it and see it. The more knowledge you build up, it definitely means there's a little bit less guesswork.
"Honestly, it's a lot of precision golf into the greens. What I find tricky is that my depth perception is really weird. It looks like the ball goes absolutely nowhere off some of the tees.
"But besides that, I've really, really enjoyed it, and I think the more I played it, the more comfortable I've gotten and I now know where to hit it a little bit more."
What makes Augusta National different is the weight of history and with every corner of the golf course holding a Masters memory, McKibbin now has an even greater appreciation for the past champions.
Amen Corner — that magical run that starts with the vertiginous approach to the water-guarded 11th and those heart-stopping shots at the 12th and 13th — has had a massive effect on him.
"I think that stretch from the second shot on the 11th to the second shot on the 13th—all those shots I was looking forward to hitting," McKibbin said.
"I definitely came to appreciate some of the shots you see on TV and how good they are, especially in some of the pressure moments that these guys are playing. I definitely have a lot more respect for some of them."
Article Link: "This is the one that I've watched since I was nine years old" - McKibbin at the Masters - News - Irish Golf Desk