AUBURN, Ala. – When Jovan Rebula tees off Thursday at The Masters, he'll be in the same group as Vijay Singh and Billy Horschel. The two have combined for 39 PGA Tour victories, and Singh won The Masters back in 2000. Rebula, a junior at Auburn, will be making his first appearance in the tournament as an amateur.
The mindset, though, is no different.
"I'm a big competitor," Rebula said. "So the main goal is to go out and compete with all those guys because I firmly believe that I can do that. Stepping on the first tee box of any golf tournament, winning is on your mind.
"On the other hand, you don't want to jump the gun. You don't want to come in as an amateur there for the first time and expect to win. There's definitely a little bit of humility going through my mind, but we can conquer in a humble way."
Rebula earned his spot in The Masters field when he won the British Amateur last summer. In fact, he earned an invite to all three majors with the victory. The junior already played in the Open Championship last summer, and in June, he will have the opportunity to take part in the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.
But this weekend, it's The Masters. It's a tradition unlike any other, and after playing a practice round at Augusta National last month, Rebula now understands why this tournament is like no other tournament in the world.
To sum it up in one word? "Perfection," Rebula said.
"People make such a big scene about Augusta and sometimes people take it a little bit overboard with the comments that they make about it, but it truly is like that. There's not a pine needle that's out of place on that golf course. You walk out through the clubhouse and you see the whole premises, and it's something that's just out of this world. It's heaven for a golfer. The condition of that place and the tradition that goes around it is something truly special."
There's one minor difference between Rebula's practice round last month and the opening round on Thursday. The second go-around, he'll be competing against the likes of Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose, currently the No. 1 player in the world.
"It's all the guys you looked up to when you're a little kid and you're dreaming of playing in The Masters," Auburn head coach Nick Clinard said. "The Tigers Woods of the world and all the guys he's going to see there. Jack Nicklaus will be there. I just told him to take it all in and embrace it."
Rebula's group is expected to tee off at 11:42 a.m. CT on Thursday while former Auburn golfer Patton Kizzire, who is also in this year's field, is scheduled to tee off at 10:26 a.m. CT alongside Sandy Lyle and Michael Kim.
Though his teammates won't be with him, Rebula will still be representing Auburn this week.
"I'll be representing Auburn no matter where I go," he said. "I think it's something that people from Auburn are very proud of. I'm going to try and be an ambassador for the university, and I'm going to try and promote the university as much as possible. I'm going to try and be the best possible Auburn man there is this week."
Greg Ostendorf is a Senior Writer for AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @greg_ostendorf