Tom McKibbin will hit a significant career milestone this week when he tees up at the Masters.
At the age of 23, the Co Down man - a member of the breakaway LIV Tour - will have played at all four of golf's majors, earning his ticket to Augusta by winning last November's Hong Kong Open by seven shots.
He takes his first stroll down Magnolia Lane the same year fellow Holywood golfer Rory McIlroy defends the title he so memorably captured a year ago.
"I mean it's phenomenal," McKibbin told RTÉ Sport's Greg Allen. "It's the reason I went (to Hong Kong) and played. To be able to have this opportunity to come and play the Masters, something 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, I wouldn't say 'pinch me' moment, but I've watched it so much and I've always wanted to play here and play the Masters. To have that dream come true is really cool."
"What I find tricky is, my depth perception is really weird."
McKibbin admits trying to navigate Augusta is a unique and daunting challenge. He has made the cut at every other major, and getting to the weekend is the target here - though it won't be easy.
"It's obviously a lot of precision golf into the greens and you have to be good around the greens and stuff like that," he said.
"What I find tricky is, 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've played it, the more comfortable I've got and I know where to hit it a little bit more.
"To be able to say I've made the cut in all four of them would be nice. I think the thing that's tricky here... is how different the course changes from today until Thursday. So yeah, I really don't know what to expect. I mean, it's such a difficult golf course, especially around the greens. One bad hole, and it's tricky. I'd love to play four rounds and put four solid scores together. I think that would be a nice first Masters appearance."
McKibbin admits the butterflies have been fluttering in his tummy the last few days and he'll no doubt feel the nerves when he begins his tournament on Thursday.
However, he does have a few familiar faces to turn to, particularly his LIV Legion XIII team-mates Tyrrell Hatton and Jon Rahm, who won the Masters in 2023.
"Getting to go out and play with someone that's won here very recently and is playing very well... I'm sure he'll be up there this week as well," McKibbin said of Rahm.
"So just to get to spend some time with him and see the course and try and take little bits here and there. It has been good."
McKibbin added: "I came up last week and I was sort of like, 'wow, this is cool'. I think it was sort of one of those moments where I was like, 'I'll try and work really hard to make sure I play a lot more of these'.
"So yeah, that would be a lovely plan, to try and get myself back here more often. 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 at all'.
"The more I've hit them and the more I've played, you can definitely remember it and see it. So I think it's one of those things, the more you play it, the more knowledge you build up and definitely there's a little bit less guesswork."
