Luke's Masters blog

"The strange thing about golf is that sometimes you learn more from failing than from succeeding. I had a disappointing Masters, without a doubt, but I'm not the kind of person to ignore the lessons I have learned. I always emphasise the positives, of which there were many at Augusta. Put it this way, I'm still looking forward to the rest of the year.

It was especially disappointing to miss the cut by one stroke because I had put in a lot of hard work before the tournament. What really let me down was that I didn't have full control on my drives and my irons, which was annoying given that I had worked hard on those aspects of my game. But sometimes things just don't go your way – any player will tell you that can happen in golf.

I did have an interrupted preparation, though I'm not using that as an excuse. My coach, Pat Goss, suffered the tragic death of his mother just a few weeks before the Masters, and obviously I wasn't able to do as much work with him as I would have liked. It says a lot for Pat that he was able come to Augusta at all. We did the best we could but going into the tournament I have to say that I was not entirely comfortable with my swing. After final practice, however, I had high hopes – though I still wasn't driving as well as I can.

I started off in great fashion. To be three under after six holes was amazing, and I couldn't have imagined anything better. But I was trying to keep a level head and not get too far ahead of myself. It was my fourth Masters and I've seen how up and down a tournament it can be

That point was duly proved as I dropped shots at the seventh and the ninth. Although I got decent birdies on 13 and 15, the real turning point was taking a five at the par-three 16th. Suddenly, from being two under and challenging for the lead, I was back on level par, and then I promptly bogeyed the next. Had I taken three pars for the last three holes rather than drop three shots it might have been a whole different story for me.

Though it was deflating finish, I felt I did a lot of really good things in the first round and I was very encouraged that I was still in with a shout even at one over par. But Friday was a little bit different. I just didn't hit the ball well enough from tee to green and I think I only hit eight greens in regulation. I was scrambling well, but you can only scramble so much on that golf course.

There was no great agonising wait to find out whether I had made the cut. I pretty much knew my fate as soon as I made bogey on the last. I had had a feeling that three over was going to be the figure.

Overall I would say that I concentrated too much on a few too many specific things in my game, which made it difficult for me to play steady golf. My short game was very good, and my putting was good, but Augusta in recent years has really become a course where you need to drive well, and I didn't do that.

I'll now have a few days rest at my parents' home in High Wycombe before I go to the Byron Nelson and then the Players Championship.

Then, all too soon, we will be off to Torrey Pines for the US Open, which is a tournament I would love to win on a course where I've had some success. The Open at Royal Birkdale follows soon after, and I'm reminded that it was 1969 when Tony Jacklin was the last Englishman to lift the Claret Jug in England. That's far too long ago, and I'd certainly like to change that statistic."