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AAP
AAP
Sport
Darren Walton

Golfer Harrison Crowe and dad living Masters dream

From humble beginnings at Bardwell Valley GC, Harrison Crowe and dad Tony are off to golf's Masters. (PR HANDOUT IMAGE PHOTO) (AAP)

If you think Masters-bound amateur Harrison Crowe is living the dream, imagine how his dad Tony feels.

Barely three years after winning the A grade foursomes with Harrison at humble Bardwell Valley Golf Club in suburban Sydney, the two are heading to Augusta National together for one of the ultimate father-son sporting experiences.

"It hasn't really sunk in yet," Tony told AAP.

"I've been watching the Masters since well before Greg Norman was blowing them. I never go to work until it's finished.

"So to go and watch your son play it, yeah, it's very exciting."

A couple of Tony's best mates, plus Harrison's mother Shaunaugh, his trusted coach John Serhan and physio are also going and will share a house of 12.

"There's lots of blow-up mattresses but, don't worry, Harrison's got a bed," Shaunaugh said.

A seven-handicapper, electrician Tony has shelled out a small fortune providing opportunities not only for Harrison but daughter Ameliah too.

He's helping her get to Florida to compete at the world dance championships. Ameliah leaves for the US the day after Harrison returns from Augusta, hopefully with the famous green jacket.

Not surprisingly, after all the sacrifices, Tony plans on living it up on his trip of a lifetime.

Just like he and his drinking buddy did when Harrison landed his golden ticket to what compatriot Min Woo Lee this week branded "heaven on Earth" - Augusta National - by winning last year's Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Thailand.

Tony and his mate had a beer for every one of Harrison's birdies.

"Some days we were having five or six on the course. That was during the round," Tony said.

But it won't all be fun and games.

Harrison, who burst to You Tube stardom last year by flushing a ball from the pavement outside a St Andrews pub to the 18th hole at the home of golf, isn't planning to just make up the numbers at Augusta.

"Low amateur - and more," he said when asked of his goal.

"I want to play good enough to go back next year. Go as a pro. So that's top 12. That's the goal."

He knows very well that Fuzzy Zoeller won the Masters on debut in 1979, while countryman Jason Day - one of five Australians in this year's field - was joint runner-up in his maiden start in 2011.

There's no doubting 21-year-old Crowe is a special talent.

From first sleeping in a capsule under the table at the Bardwell Valley bistro when only weeks old and starting to play at four, Harrison was quickly identified as a prodigy.

He joined the revered St Michaels junior coaching program at 12, won a Jack Newton junior scholarship before arriving in the senior ranks in spectacular fashion last year by winning four tournaments on the bounce, including the NSW Open.

The plan was to turn pro this year, but not before taking up his Masters invite and sleeping in the iconic Crow's Nest at Augusta National on the Monday night of Masters week after the amateur dinner.

But regardless of how he fares, Harrison Crowe - in between earning $30 an hour working at Drummond Golf and playing money games with LPGA Tour star and St Michael's clubmate Steph Kyriacou when she's in town - is doing his father immensely proud.

So proud that Tony even shared a little secret about when he and Harrison won that foursomes title at Bardwell Valley.

"We had an 18-hole playoff and I didn't count for one shot in the 18 holes of the playoff," Tony recalls.

"And Harrison won by six shots."

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