Virginia Tech junior Drew Weaver became the first American since 1972 to capture the British Amateur Championship. The victory earned him a spot in the 2008 Masters Tournament. The High Point, NC native is writing an exclusive, web-only diary for masters.org on his first experience as a participant. Weaver was an on- campus witness to the horror of 32 Virginia Tech students being shot and killed last April. He rebounded to help lead his team to the ACC title. This is his second entry.

While I have actually been in town since Wednesday for a college tournament, it was great to finally get to Augusta National and get ready for the Masters.

I’ve thought about this for so long and have looked forward to this. It’s like a dream come true.

I checked in Sunday afternoon and got settled in at the Crow’s Nest where the amateurs stay.

It’s just me and Michael Thompson (U.S. Amateur runner-up), so we had a good time together.

We got up around 6:30 a.m.; believe me it wasn’t tough to wake up because we were ready to get the week started. We went down to breakfast, and I think we were the first players there. We saw some other players, but we were pretty eager.

I certainly didn’t take long to get my first Masters highlight. I walked out on the putting green about 7:45 a.m., and Tiger Woods was putting by himself.

It didn’t take much for me to go over and introduce myself. He was very nice and congratulated me on getting here and told me to have a great week and really enjoy it.

I was thinking, ‘what’s the coolest way to start off my Masters experience,’ by meeting Tiger Woods? It was a brief conversation, so I didn’t have a chance to ask him any secrets or questions about the course.

There were a lot of people around and our conversation was really quick, so it would have been awkward if I had tried to get an autograph.

After meeting Tiger, I went over to the practice range and had a nice long warm-up session. About 9 a.m., my friend Johnson Wagner from Virginia Tech came on the range.

He got into the Masters as the last person by winning the Houston Open over the weekend and I’m so happy for him. He’s in for the time of his life after winning his first PGA Tour event and to have two Virginia Tech golfers here is awesome.

Like I told him, I got the invitation first.

Johnson and I went out to play a practice round after that and I couldn’t believe all the people on the course.

I have to say that’s probably the most nervous I’ve ever been for a practice round. I was nervous for the British Open, but not like this.

I hit my first drive right down the middle, just below the bunkers in the fairway, and made par on the first hole. That really calmed me down, and I was fine after that, but I was really nervous to start.

At the turn, I went over to grab a couple of sandwiches for my caddy and Johnson’s caddy and ran into a little delay. We held up the group behind us on the 10th tee, so that was probably a rookie mistake.

When I finished my practice round, I was asked to come to the media center and talk to hundreds of journalists, another first for me. I talked for about 20 minutes, telling them how happy I was to be here, talking more about the Virginia Tech shootings last year, and other golf questions.

I was able to get in some more short game practice time afterward and then got ready for the big amateur dinner they hold every year in the clubhouse. It was very special to be there with other amateurs and officials.

I’m glad I can share this week with so many family and friends. I have my parents here along with my girlfriend, Elizabeth Bills, and her parents, my aunt, and a longtime family friend.

After the banquet, I watched a little (NCAA) basketball, but I want to spend time talking with my family and friends. This is a unique experience and I want to make the most of it.

My coach from Virginia Tech, Jay Hardwick, is here along with my mental coach and swing coach, Jim Brotherton, who is also my caddy. We have quite a support team for what should be quite a week.

I’ve played the course 14 times now, so I feel like I know it really well. I was able to help Johnson with questions during our practice round.

You can tell the course is getting fast. They had a lot of rain over the weekend, but it’s drying out quickly, and it will really be quick by the time the first round gets her Thursday.

Meeting Tiger and getting the week off to a great start is a pretty good Monday. I can hardly wait to see what happens next.