AUGUSTA — On an impossibly beautiful Wednesday morning, Hiroshi Tai looked like he very much fit in at the Masters.
With a chill in the air, the Georgia Tech junior warmed up on the driving range at Augusta National Golf Club, sharing the range with stars such as Fred Couples and Sergio Garcia. Leaving the range to go to the first tee for his practice round, he bro-hugged a club member, chatted and posed for a photo before hopping on a golf cart with caddie and former Tech assistant coach Devin Stanton to go to the course.
He teed off alone, behind a group that included stars Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson. On the first few holes, playing as a single left him time to toss out balls and work on iron approaches, chip shots and putts. It had the air of a casual, breezy day at the local course.
From behind the ropes, his father Jacky Tai, mother Yuki Hirahara and sister Yoko Tai watched intently. Yoko, a member of the Columbia golf team, snapped pictures on a disposable camera. The gallery also included friends from Tai’s high school, Windermere (Fla.) Prep, a teaching pro, Singapore golf officials, his mother’s golfing circle from Singapore and Tech coach Bruce Heppler.
How could this day have been imagined when Hiroshi and Yoko learned the game at the Singapore Island Country Club, or later when the family moved to Shanghai or even when their parents granted their children’s wish to move to Florida before high school to enroll at a golf academy and pursue their passion?
How could Tai, whose father is Singaporean and whose mother is Japanese, become the first Singapore national to play in this singular tournament?
“Absolutely, it’s surreal and a real honor for us to be here with Hiroshi and all the coaches,” Jacky Tai said as his son’s practice round was beginning.
“Never even thought about it before,” Hirahara said.
Even if you had told Tai’s sister a year ago that she would be at Augusta National watching her brother play, “I wouldn’t have believed it,” she said. “I’m very amazed by all this.”
But the truth took its form in front of their eyes. Tai, who earned a spot in this field as an amateur by winning the individual NCAA championship last year for the Yellow Jackets, walked the course in a white pullover, navy pants and white golf shoes with pink soles, a nod to the azaleas that bloomed across the course. He wore a Tech hat and belt. Stanton carried his clubs in a humble Tech stand bag.
It seemed as if a permanent smile was plastered to Tai’s face.
At the third green, the threesome of Garcia, Brian Campbell and Ludvig Aberg caught up to Tai, and they formed a foursome. As Aberg and Tai shared a conversation as they walked off the fourth tee, Hirahara watched the scene unfold — a two-time PGA Tour winner and her son chatting amiably as they shared a round one day before the start of the most prestigious golf tournament in the world. What looked like a slight smile curled on her face.
The morning continued apace. At each hole, Tai took his deserved place among the four as they practiced putts to expected hole locations, at one point pulling out a notepad to jot something down. Walking to the seventh green, he twirled his sand wedge like a baton before taking his shot out of the bunker.
The ease did belie years of dedication.
“I took a bit more time to learn to love the game of golf, but he would be on the range for countless hours,” said Yoko, his sister and an All-Ivy League performer. “He would hit balls until he got blisters and his hands would bleed, and I would take a break after my lessons and go chill in the pro shop.”
Cyrus Janssen, the Tais’ teaching professional from when the family lived in Shanghai who now lives in Las Vegas, remembered Hiroshi’s work ethic and seriousness about the game.
“He just loved it,” said Janssen, who followed Tai on the course Wednesday while lugging bags of souvenirs. “He just loved to get after it every day.”
Janssen called Tai’s parents “amazing” for providing a balance of push to work hard at the game with love and support. He recalled when Tai made his first hole-in-one.
“I remember his mom was very funny,” Janssen said, “because she’s like, ‘He got a hole-in-one, but it wasn’t a very good shot. He hit it a little thin, and he got a little bit lucky.”
When his nine holes ended, Tai and Stanton, his caddie and former coach, went over to the practice green near the first tee. It was around 12:30 p.m. Shortly, he was scheduled to play in the annual Par 3 Contest with another past NCAA champion of note, two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw. Tai had given Heppler the honor of being his caddie.
It’s the moment of levity before the first round today, when Tai will tee off at 11:49 a.m. with past champion Charl Schwartzel and Denny McCarthy.
But before Wednesday afternoon’s fun and games, Tai worked on a putting drill, trying to hole putts from about 2, 3 and 4 feet from spots circling the hole. It appeared that the goal was to complete the circuit without missing.
At one point, it looked like he was close to a perfect finish before a putt barely evaded the hole.
He was smiling still.
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