Having the chance to play Augusta National is the ultimate dream for everyone who loves the game — even professional athletes like Harry Kane.
Kane — a 3-handicap — says he enjoyed a bucket-list round at Augusta National in 2022, the day after Scottie Scheffler claimed the green jacket. So what were Kane’s initial impressions of the storied layout?
“I teed off at, like, 10 past seven in the morning,” he said in a recent interview with GOLF.com. “The sun was just rising, the morning dew was there. I hit a really good drive over the bunker on 1. And it was just like, this is a pretty special place to be right now. So I think, just in terms of a moment in my golf amateur career, that was a pretty cool one.”
Kane said he had been briefed by others to look forward to seeing the course’s elevation changes and undulation on the greens, which don’t come across as dramatically when you watch the Masters on TV.
“A lot of people said that to me before I was going out. You don’t realize how big the hills are and the slopes on the green, and yeah, that was totally true,” he said. “You can’t really process it until until you’re there.”
Kane said he walked the course the day before he played, taking in the Sunday action at the Masters.
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“We went down, we were walking around the course, and we walked down to Amen Corner, and it was almost like a magical mist over the water,” he said. “And it was just everything you’d pictured, growing up, watching Augusta, playing on PlayStation or whatever it was. And it just almost seems magical, like you were in someone’s dream. So that was that was really special just see that part of the course, somewhere that you’ve seen for so long, but never been able to go. To actually go there was amazing.”
As for the round itself, Kane shared very relatable experience from playing the famous par-3 12th.
“I made a triple bogey, unfortunately,” he said. “I hit one straight in the water, and then I hit one long in the bunker. In a way, I was quite proud, because it just shows you how tough that hole is. But yeah, that was not the one I was excited about.”
Kane, ever the competitor, rebounded on the next hole.
“I bounced back with a birdie,” he said. “My only birdie on the next hole, on the par-5 [No. 13]. So, I just talk about that one now.”
For more from Kane, including why he’s investing in golf apparel company Reflo, check out the full video below.