For Anthony Kim, this is not only his first Masters but also his first trip to Augusta National.

It is not, however, his first attempt at playing the golf course.

That came right after Doral this year, when he traveled to Augusta to play a practice round. Kim checked into his hotel at night and woke up the next morning to find it pouring rain. Pouring so hard, in fact, that he gave up any hope of teeing it up and went back to the airport.

Did he at least get a chance to eat breakfast at a Waffle House?

“No, but I did go to IHOP,” he says with a smile.

Things are working out better this time around. Kim got to drive onto the club grounds this morning with his mother, father and best friend in the car. And he was able to get in five holes of practice.

“I’ve waited a long time to get a tee time here and to be able to walk on the grounds,” says the 23-year-old star of last year’s Ryder Cup.

Not surprisingly, Kim liked what he saw on the golf course. “But TV doesn’t do it justice, and I’ve heard that from other guys,” he says. “I watched some of the tournament last year, and saw chips and putts rolling off the greens. I could not believe that some of the good putters and chippers were putting them off the green like that. So, I knew I was in for a big surprise.”

It was also a pleasant surprise, because it meant Kim was here at last.