Masters, junior version

Canadian Ryan Blair qualified to join an elite group of seven-to-15-year-olds competing at Augusta National Golf Course

When Jeff Blair, a golf-pro-turned-physiotherapist, saw his toddler son using his sister’s fairy wand to knock a plastic ball around the basement, he went out and bought Ryan a couple of plastic golf clubs. By the time Ryan was four, he and his dad were a familiar duo at the golf courses in Oakbank, Manitoba.

In April 2015, Ryan—now 11 years old—participated in the Drive, Chip & Putt Championships for 10- and 11-year-olds at the annual Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia. You can catch glimpses of Ryan in the first video, “Dreaming Big,” on the Drive, Chip & Putt Championships homepage. Such golf luminaries as Mike Weir, Condoleezza Rice and Billy Payne were on hand to encourage the young golfers.

“The fact that Ryan is one of just three Canadian kids who got to go to Augusta, out of 40,000 competitors, is no small thing,” said Jeff. “He had to go through three stages of qualification and win each stage.”

While Ryan’s parents are proud of his golfing skill, they don’t want Ryan to experience the stress and intimidation that can occur with frequent competitions, so they don’t allow him to play in a lot of tournaments.

“I’m more proud that he’s able to get up in front of a crowd of 350 people and talk than I am about him being able to hit a golf ball 250 yards,” Jeff said. “I know that confidence and skill will serve him when he has to make life decisions.”

For Ryan, a day at the golf course is not only about birdies and par and keeping score. He enjoys lots of other things, too: getting to drive the cart when he’s out of view of the clubhouse; getting to buy a Gatorade from the beer cart when it happens by; getting to feed the fish in the stocked pond with fish food he stashes in his golf bag.

Ryan's character, including some natural sweetness, shone through in his answers to our questions.

Can you tell me a bit about what it was like to play at Augusta?
It was a big experience. We got to practise on the facility before the actual event happened, and Martin Kaymer was hitting balls beside where the driving competition was, so that was pretty cool.

I didn’t do too well in the chipping competition, but it was really cool with everyone watching. At first I felt intimidated, then I realized that even if I didn’t do well, it was still amazing to be there. I’m pretty competitive, but if I lost or, like, came in last place, I don’t think I’d flip out at myself. I would get a little upset, though.

Are you nervous during competition?
I’ll get nervous before, but when I’m hitting it, I’m in the zone and there’s nothing around me, just the ball. Most golfers have that.

Do you prefer organized tournaments or playing with your friends?
I don’t think it’s good to play in competitions all the time, because it gets you stressed and then you don’t want to play any more. I think if you play with your friends all the time, you’re not improving enough to get to the level you want. So I think some of both is the best.

Your younger brother, Adam, plays golf too—do you think he’s got talent?
He’s very skilled. When we practise he’ll always try to beat me, but he’s also quiet and he observes a lot. He will hit chip shots for hours and hours, and he’ll be hitting the ball to almost the exact same spot. It’s crazy.

I understand you play hockey in the winter—are you pretty good?
I made the double-A team, so I guess that’s good. Hockey teaches me to be competitive and aggressive, and golf teaches me to lay back and have more fun, but it’s also challenging to not get frustrated at yourself if you hit a bad shot. It’s a game where you have a good round and a bad round, but the good round is what you try to remember.

Do you have any ideas about what career you’d like to have?
If I’m not a golfer, I’d like to be an actuary, which is like a super accountant. I think it’s a really cool job. An example would be that actuaries estimated the damage costs after Hurricane Katrina, and then they told the government. It would be pretty cool to get to do math all the time.