Thompson will be paired with two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw in the first and second round but should be over his case of nerves after playing a practice round with Phil Mickelson on Tuesday.
"It was just good to see where his game is right now and for me to kind of see where my game can potentially go," Thompson said. "He played very, very well and hit some shots that were very impressive. And it just made me look forward to getting out and playing professional golf and practicing more. He was a great guy and we had a lot of fun."
Thompson, an All-American who is one of 20 Division I golfers on the Jack Nicklaus Award watch list as the collegiate golfer of the year, earned the invitation a year ago after finishing second in the U.S. Amateur. He left for Augusta on Saturday and is one of three amateur golfers competing in the event, along with Virginia Tech junior Drew Weaver and Trip Kuehne.
"I'm thrilled," said Thompson, who plans to wear his Crimson Tide golf gear each day in his first professional golf tournament. "It's an honor to be in this situation, to have an opportunity to play in the Masters, a tournament I grew up watching on TV, playing with the guys I see on TV week in and week out."
Participants are allowed to practice on the course leading up to the event and Thompson has made five previous trips to Augusta National before he arrived at the course last Saturday. Since then, he has shared accommodations with Weaver and Kuehne in the famed "Crow's Nest," a dorm-style room located on the third floor of the Augusta National Clubhouse that is reserved for the amateurs.
On Monday evening, the amateurs were treated to a dinner in their honor.
"It was really special," Thompson said. "They had a whole bunch of Augusta National members, members of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club and from the USGA. It didn't hit me until when they started giving the speeches that that dinner was for us, the three amateurs. It was kind of surreal. It was just really cool because all of those people really want us to do well and that kind of support you don't see a whole lot in golf tournaments from the hosts."
Thompson got an additional taste of the surreal atmosphere on the course when he went through his first practice round on Monday. He said there were about 40,000 fans out on the golf course, who were all waiting in anticipation out on the No. 16 hole.
"The crowd tries to get the players -- after they hit their regular tee shots on this par 3 -- to skip a ball across the water and try to get it up on the green," Thompson said. "Then you hit off of a little down slope like at the front of the tee box close to the water, and you just try to skip it up there. When I went up to do it, I hit a 3-iron to begin with and chunked it into the water. There had to be 10,000 people on this one hole. And so everybody's going crazy, and when I chunked it, everybody booed me.
"I kind of walked to my bag with my head down and kind of sulking, kind of being dramatic and pulled out a 5-iron and a new ball. And everybody started cheering when I pulled out a new ball because they wanted to see me do it again. And so I stepped up, put the ball down and I hit a 5-iron and I skipped it along the water and it hopped up onto the green to about 15 feet and the whole place went nuts. It was just like I'd made a hole in one. It was unbelievable."
Thompson has played in front of big crowds before, but today he will be teamed with Crenshaw, who won the Masters in 1984 and 1995 and finished as runner-up in 1976 and 1983, and Nick O'Hern, who is making his fourth appearance at the Masters.
"To me, being out here feels normal," said the Arizona native. "This has been my dream for so long that I've really started to believe that being out here with these guys is where I want to be and where I'm supposed to be in terms of my career and my destiny. I haven't been very nervous just because when I go out and play I'm just telling myself, 'This is the same game you've been playing all your life. Just make a golf swing.' And more often than not, I hit it pretty well."
Alabama coach Jay Seawell isn't surprised. Thompson transferred from Tulane after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the New Orleans area and has helped elevate the Crimson Tide golf program to a No. 1 ranking this spring. Thompson was voted all-Southeastern Conference last year in his first year at Alabama and finished fourth individually at the NCAA Championships in 2007.
"Physically, he's just a great putter," said Seawell. "That's a trait you'll see in the successful PGA golfers: they putt extremely well. Mentally he's a very golf-smart guy. He's a smart guy anyway, but he's a very smart guy on the golf course."
Caddying for Thompson will be Tom Shaw, his former golf coach at Tulane who encouraged him to transfer to Alabama to play for his friend Seawell. Thompson's gallery in Augusta will include his parents, Mike and Beth Thompson, his younger brother Zach who attends the Air Force Academy, his sister and her family, his swing coach Susie Meyers, family friends, childhood friends, former teammates from Tulane, several of his Alabama teammates and Seawell who'll get back from coaching Alabama in the Morris Williams tournament in Texas just in time to see Thompson tee off in the first round.
The senior has set some simple goals for his first Masters appearance.
"No three putts, be completely committed to every single shot that I have and to make the cut," he said. "Other than that, I don't really care how I finish. I know if I do those, then I will play well and I will finish well."
