It is a good thing Co Donegal's Brian McElhinney almost certainly will not have read this before his dream of playing in the Masters at Augusta became reality today.

No European amateur has ever broken par in a round at the event in more than 100 attempts going all the way back to the inaugural tournament in 1934.

One way of looking at that, of course, is that 23-year-old McElhinney, who earned the chance by capturing the Amateur Championship at Birkdale last June, has nothing to lose when he partners Tom Watson and Michael Campbell.

"It's definitely going to be exciting, but nerve-wracking as well," he said after his warm-up victory over Italian Edoardo Molinari, holder of the United States amateur title, in the Georgia Cup at the Golf Club of Georgia last week.

A member of the North West Club in Buncrana, McElhinney played in the 2004 and 2005 Opens, but bowed out at halfway each time.

Belfast's Michael Hoey missed the cut by a single shot four years ago, while Gary Wolstenholme had the thrill of leading the Masters when he went to the turn in 33 in 1992  - playing with Arnold Palmer.

But that first sub-par round still eluded him. He came home in 39 for a 72 and crashed to a 79 the next day.

While McElhinney had to wait until Tuesday to discover with whom he would be playing Molinari knew straight after winning the US Amateur that that meant two days in the company of defending champion Tiger Woods.

Neither should believe they are bound to fail - if failure is measured by whether they play all four rounds or not. As British amateur champion Sergio Garcia finished 38th in 1999. And last year American amateur champion Ryan Moore came a brilliant 13th.