Michaux: Wagner comes out of Shell with joy for Masters
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The greatest change the Masters Tournament has made in many years was on display Sunday -- in Houston, of all places.
In case Masters Chairman Billy Payne wasn't watching the conclusion of the Shell Houston Open and didn't get to see how amped up and grateful young PGA Tour pro Johnson Wagner was when his winning putt dropped, the 28-year-old came into the interview room at Augusta National Golf Club on Monday to deliver his feelings personally.
"First of all, I'd like to say thank you to the membership at Augusta National," Wagner said after earning a last-minute invitation into the Masters field. "This is a dream come true for me to be here and just such a treat for me to play at the Masters this week. I can't state it enough. This is a lifelong dream."
That is music to the ears of anyone who hated the Masters' rescinding the automatic invitation to PGA Tour winners in 2000. Payne gave the qualification back last year in the most popular restoration project the club has ever done.
Seven players were exclusive recipients of Payne's largess, including Brian Bateman, Nick Watney, Daniel Chopra, D.J. Trahan, J.B. Holmes and Steve Lowery. But none displayed as much emotion as Wagner.
"The putt dropped, the first thought was, 'Oh, my gosh, I just won on the PGA Tour,' " he said. "But immediately after that, I said, 'Holy cow! I'm in the Masters.' ... I'm sure I looked pretty silly getting crazy with it. You know, it was just what came out."
Wagner, of course, knew all along what was at stake as he nursed a lead through the final three rounds of the tournament. But he tried desperately to block it out. When you've only been on tour for about 16 months, it's easy to cave to the pressure of the moment.
"I think the brain can only hold one real thought in your head at one time, so I tried to think about something else real quick and get it out of my head and hit the tee shot, and it was kind of over from there," he said.
Wagner was supposed to be driving his RV cross country from Houston to his home in Charlotte, N.C. Then he and his wife, Katie, were headed to Kiawah Island on Monday to spend four days of R&R with his former Virginia Tech teammate Brendon De Jonge, a Nationwide Tour player. He planned to watch the Masters on television this weekend like always.
Instead, Wagner went through a whirlwind celebration and was whisked along with his wife and his caddie by private jet straight to Augusta. By midnight he was in a home his Sea Island management team had rented for just such a contingency. His RV will arrive today.
"It's just been crazy," he said. "I haven't really had a second to sit back and think about what's happened."
Not that Wagner slept. He went to bed at 4:30 a.m. and was up a few hours later weighing whether the neighbors would mind if he practiced skipping shots off the backyard pool.
"All I could think about was skipping balls across 16 and getting the gallery to give me a big roar."
Unlike most Masters rookies, Wagner is no stranger to Augusta National. His great uncle, Bob Berry, is a member and invited him five years ago for a weekend of golf. He stayed in the Eisenhower Cabin just off the practice putting green. His highlight was holing out for eagle on the 14th hole.
"It was as good as it gets," he said.
Until now. This is way better. It is hard to imagine a golfer more grateful to be playing in a major championship. Wagner's walking on clouds and says there is no way he could run out of gas.
"I can run on adrenaline at Augusta National for months I think," he said. "I'm so excited to be here, I don't think that's going to go away."
This is exactly what Payne had in mind when he reinstated the popular invitation last year on the eve of his first tournament as chairman.
"I can remember innumerable times where winners of tournament events would be more excited to hear that they had automatically qualified for the Masters than to receive the first-prize money check," Payne said then. "So it was an exciting component of golf that really only the Masters could offer, and we all thought it appropriate that we bring it back."
Johnson reaped a lot of rewards Sunday for his first victory, but he minced no words when he said what was the best.
"It's not just close -- it is the best reward for winning," he said. "Kapalua (and the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship) is nice; $1 million is nice; two-year exemption, everything that goes along with winning on the PGA Tour is incredible. But being able to come to a place like this, it's beyond belief. It's just a dream come true to be here."
Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.
