As the runner-up to James Piot in the U.S. Amateur at Oakland Hills last summer, Austin Greaser, from Vandalia, was invited to compete in the Masters Tournament at Augusta National in April.
“I realized that I’m now standing on the first tee at Augusta, playing in The Masters. This is what The Masters nerves feel like, this is what The Masters first tee feels like with all the people, and this is what the atmosphere feels like.”
Although a member of the University of North Carolina golf team and a former Ohio Amateur Champion, walking the rolling hills of Augusta National will give anyone chills. 
“That was the number one highlight, taking a deep breath there and walking down and trying to soak it in before getting into the competitive mindset and understanding all the late nights and early mornings and extra work made it all worth it. That was a highlight, to fulfill one of my highest goals of being a golfer.”
For a college student it was a humbling experience.
“It was a lot to swallow leading up The Masters. Being twenty-one and trying to juggle college, golf, school, and also trying to prepare for The Masters was quite a bit. Trying to get all the details ironed out. I really learned a lot in terms of how to delegate things to other people,” Greaser said. “Sometimes you have to say “no.” You only have so much time in the day. It was a tough lesson to learn.”
Greaser will need to use his experience at Augusta National to compete in the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Boston next month.
“I need to focus a little bit more on me before the U.S. Open. Let the details be ironed out by somebody else, just focus on golf. Everyone else will take care of the little things and I’m the only person that can go play,’ Greaser said. “I’m the only person that has a tee time. I need to focus on the golf side of things and have some of the closest people around me focus on the rest.”
None of the six amateurs made the cut in the Masters, but Greaser’s two-day score of seven-over par was the best among the amateurs.
Greaser has one more year of college remaining at North Carolina. Taking the lessons he learned this year from the Masters and the U.S. Open he should be ready to turn professional next year.
