THE AUGUSTA National brings back great memories for me. It was after playing in the Masters five years ago that I turned professional and it will be an experience that I will never forget.

After winning the British Amateur championship in 1999 it handed me automatic qualification to the golfing showpiece and I went on to create a little bit of history - although not intentionally.

My mother, Jane, caddied for me around the lush greens and it was believed to be the first time in the tournament's history that there was a mother-son partnership walking round the famous Georgia fairways.

It may not have been the perfect day, because I failed to make the cut, but those few days in the United States have always stayed with me and made me determined to improve year on year.

It all starts tomorrow and it's sure to be a close tournament this year with the world's top three - Vijay Singh, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els - fighting it out for the coveted green jacket.

My tip is Els, who hasn't been outside the top six at Augusta for the past six years.

The main European hope is Luke Donald. He will push hard to finish in the top ten, while you can always bank on Jose Maria Olazabal at Augusta.

IN my week off I had a couple of days away from golf before meeting up with my coach, Ian Rae, in Glasgow. I would like to think that it did me a lot of good because it's always good to meet up with Ian.

He always seems to keep me level-headed and keep my spirits up as well as focusing on my game. We seem to have been a good pairing and I'm looking forward to working with him for a while yet.

This time it just didn't have the desired effect for some reason as I missed my first cut of the year at the Estoril Open de Portugal. But it was more down to my dislike of the Marinha course than anything else in Portugal.

Looking back perhaps the fact I wasn't feeling good on the course didn't help me in any way, shape or form. And I missed the cut in style!

After having a bad first round of 77 I battled to come back and went out in two under par, but a double bogey at the 11th cost me dear and I just couldn't recover the shots lost over the Thursday-Friday rounds. I finished 111th and that certainly didn't go anywhere near to boosting the coffers.

INSTEAD of returning to the North-East I stayed in Portugal to work on a few things and prepare for the Madeira Island Open, which starts tomorrow.

It may be a far cry from the Augusta National but this is the bread and butter and it's these type of tournaments I have to try to win to make sure I have an outing at the Masters again in the future.

I'm sitting pretty in 35th place in the Order of Merit European Tour rankings, which I'm happy with on my first year back, but I would like to think I can improve on that - hopefully starting in Madeira.

TO close I would just like to use this space to wish my grandad, Bill Trueman, well.

He was the one who first introduced me to golf when he put a seven-iron in my hand as a youngster and I've never looked back.

During my week off before Estoril I visited my grandad in hospital. I have always felt close to him and, as I am quite worried about his health, I spend a lot of time thinking about him while I'm away, but hopefully he will be back to normal soon.

Published: 06/05/2005