Matt Jones’s lifelong coach has no doubts his “unusually cool” charge can emulate more-celebrated Australian golfers Adam Scott and Jason Day and post a top-10 finish on his Masters debut.
And maybe even contend for the coveted green jacket.
No player since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 has won in their maiden appearance at Augusta National.
Day came awfully close in 2011, finishing joint runner-up with Scott, who was tied ninth on his debut as a 21-year-old in 2002 before finally breaking Australia’s Masters hoodoo last year.
But after seeing Jones snare the final spot in the 97-man field with what American commentators described as “the two best shots of 2014” to win the Houston Open on Monday, Gary Barter is convinced the 33-year-old won’t just be making up the numbers at the season’s first major starting on Thursday.
Barter, director of tuition at The Australian Golf Club in Sydney, has been coaching Jones for 17 years, since the world No.41 was only 15, and insists his gun pupil won’t be overawed.
“He’s an interesting guy. He plays very quickly and he’s unusually cool,” Barter told AAP before flying out for Augusta on Tuesday.
“Like all new experiences, I’m sure he’ll be nervous on the first tee. There’s no doubt about it.
“But he’s a lot more experienced and worldly with his golf than people give him credit for.
“He’s led Australian Opens.”
Indeed he has – twice, only to be denied by Geoff Ogilvy in 2010 and by Peter Senior in 2012.
But now he’s broken through on the biggest tour in the world, Barter believes Jones can challenge at Augusta.
“He’ll definitely be there to try and compete. The course suits him,” he said.
“I’d definitely back him to finish in the top 10, even though everyone tells you that you’ve got to have a lot of knowledge around there.
“He’s got a lot of game and he’s going there with a lot of confidence.”
He may not enjoy the attention that Scott, Day and even the likes of fellow US Tour players John Senden, Marc Leishman, Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby, but Barter knows Jones’ Houston Open triumph was anything but a fluke.
“He’s always been a very good player. He’s got a lot of respect inside the ropes with the other players who know how good a ball striker he is,” Barter said.
“He can play with the best. But ultimately he had to notch that win up because to get real credibility out there, you’ve got to win championships.
“This win will really give him a lot of self belief to get it done.”
Barter suspects Jones – who made a hole in one at age six – is relatively unheralded in Australia because he moved to the US at just 18 to take up a golf scholarship at Arizona State, where he was a first-team All-American in his final year of college.
“He sort of went under the radar,” Barter said.
“He hasn’t attracted the publicity. Maybe because his nature is like that too. He’s pretty quiet.
“But he’s pretty self-assured and he’s quite a driven guy. His work ethic is phenomenal.
“He’s one of those guys who’ll be chipping in his hotel room or putting in his hotel room til 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock at night.
“He’s always trying to improve his craft and trying to be a better player.
“And we always wanted to try to make him better every year and I think mentally and physically it’s starting to come together right at this time.”
