Andrew Novak career path set him up for first Masters. The debut was disappointing

First date, first car, first kiss, first love. All things that are etched in the memory bank forever.

Andrew Novak will never forget his first Masters for a couple of reasons: His struggles on the course that led him to miss the cut and the overall experience that makes him thirst to return to Augusta National Golf Club again and again.

His on-course performance — 75-76--151, 7-over par — left him disappointed, and he chastised himself after Friday’s second round.

“I don’t think I’ve gotten worse at golf,” he said. “I don’t know why the scores are worse, but right now nothing is really working.”

But Novak always finds positives, his dad Ralph said this week in discussing his son’s career and citing an event 51 weeks ago. Andrew lost in a playoff to Justin Thomas for the RBC Heritage championship.

Considering the Heritage is a “home” tournament for Novak — he grew up in Mount Pleasant and forged a record-setting career at Wofford — the loss had to be excruciating. Right?

“Not so,” Ralph Novak said. “He was disappointed, not distraught. He took the positives from the experience. Remember what happened the next week?”

Oh, yes. Andrew erased any demon of doubts by teaming with Ben Griffin to win the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.

“I think for both Andrew and I, it felt like it was only a matter of time out here (before we won),” Griffin told reporters after the New Orleans triumph.

Vic Lipscomb, Novak’s coach at Wofford, concurs with the “matter of time” observation.

“He really broke out during his junior year and I thought, ‘This guy can play with anybody,’” said Lipscomb, now retired.

Novak’s route to “playing with anybody” started in his then hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina with a set of plastic clubs that Ralph and Sarah Novak bought for their son.

“He must have been 3 or 4, and he wore them out in one day,” his dad said. “Neither Sarah or I played golf, but he just fell in love with the game.

“I remember taking him to a par-3 course in Raleigh, and he loved it. That’s where that short game came from, his working on it as a kid. But we didn’t see (the Masters). Our goal was for him to get out of the house and have fun.”

The family moved to Mount Pleasant and Andrew honed his game in the South Carolina Junior Golf Association competition. By the time he showed real potential, major college coaches had completed their recruiting. That led him to Wofford, where he set multiple school records.

“He had a good junior record, I took a chance, and I’m glad I did,” Lipscomb said. “I have never seen anyone work so hard. He loved all sports. He would be the first to practice and the last to leave. If we had a 2 o’clock practice, he would be there at 1.

“Maybe the biggest thing I taught him was how to practice. As I said, he works harder than anyone and getting his focus on the way to practice made a difference.”

Along the way, he won the South Carolina Amateur championship.

After college, he turned pro and steadily climbed the ladder. He reached as high as 30th in the Official World Golf Rankings and is now No. 48. He qualified for the Tour Championship a year ago and is eligible for all the Signature events this season.

Novak had an early tee time Friday, and he found the greens a mystery.

“I three-putted four times early today because I was not prepared at all the for how slow the greens were,” he said. “On the putting green, they were still rolling fast. I didn’t realize how much slower they are going to be this morning, and it took me a little too long to adjust to that.”

But he persevered, and birdies at Nos. 13 and 14 brought him back to 5-over par, within a stroke of the probable cutline. On the latter, he holed a 50-foot putt that hit the back of the hole, hopped out and spun back in.

“I hit it maybe three or four times in the practice round and never got it to the hole and I had left everything short all day,” Novak said. “I told myself to make sure to get it there, and I probably overcorrected a bit and just got lucky the hole ran in the way. I’ve never seen the ball hit the hole, pop up, sit on the lip, and then go in.”

However, the momentum he hoped for did not materialize, and his first Masters ended two days early.

His history says he was disappointed but not distraught, take the plusses and be ready for the Heritage on Thursday. And set a course to return to Augusta next year.