Luke's Masters blog

"My earliest memory of the Masters at Augusta was being allowed to stay up late to watch the tournament when it was shown on television. Now, I'm part of it all.

There genuinely is a very special feeling about the tournament and everything that surrounds it. It's very exciting to go there, and it elevates your game just to be one of the participants.

But I don't just want to be a participant. As with every tournament I enter, my goal is to win. And I have to say that I do rate my chances for the Masters this year

I've had some good performances at Augusta in the past and I had a realistic chance of winning last year until I took a seven at the ninth. I still managed to finish tenth and, of course, I was third on my debut in 2005. It's a tournament I love to be part of, and I have some great memories of it already.

My year so far has been going pretty well and I had a good chance to win at the Honda Classic, where I eventually finished second to Ernie Els. I also had a nice finish at the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles to end up in third.

My game has slowly been getting better and I've been working hard with my coach Pat Goss on becoming more solid and consistent.

When you are preparing for a major tournament such as the Masters, you perhaps practise more intensely. You put in a little bit more time on the practise areas, and work on a few specific things which you know you will come up against at Augusta.

For me, it's been very important to practise for what will inevitably happen on and around the slick Augusta greens. I am lucky that I have been practising at The Bear's Club – Jack Nicklaus's course not far from my house in Florida.

They even deliberately speed up one of the greens there to make it nice and fast, so that I am able to practise my putting in Augusta-type conditions. It's stuff like that which gives me a taste of what is to come in The Masters.

And then, thanks to my sponsors RBS, Jack is always available to talk to me when I need him. It's good to be a member of a club where he attends quite often. I tend not to bother him for advice but it is good to know that one of the greatest golfers of all time is there for me if I need him. Incidentally, I watched him hit a 280-yard drive straight down the middle of the 18th at a charity event last week, proving that he has still got the shots.

If not me, who could win at Augusta this year? Well, Tiger Woods is always going to have a great chance of winning any tournament he plays in, and you only have to look at his record at Augusta where he has won four times and also finished second and third in recent years. He's in great form, undeniably the best player in the world, and will be hard to beat.

Zach Johnson showed last year that you don't have to be a 'bomber' to win around Augusta and he made good use of his short game to shoot ten or 11-under on the par fives which was a key to his victory. I am sure he'll be up there again. Geoff Ogilvy is also coming into form.

I saw Justin Rose practising last week and it looks as if his game is in good order. Of course, he had a great finish to the Masters last year. I feel all the British players can do well this year. It just takes one guy to start things off and obviously having Padraig Harrington win last year's Open was a good boost for the British contingent. Hopefully, one of us can follow in his footsteps. We have proved ourselves in the Ryder Cup and there's no reason why we cannot do so in the Majors."