Kieran Pratt's stroke of luck

It was dream come true time for young Melbourne golfer Kieran Pratt last weekend.No sooner had Pratt, 22, signed the papers to turn professional than he was striding the Victoria Golf Club fairways alongside Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy at the Australian Masters.Pratt is one of a number of promising young Australian golfers who recently turned pro and will be playing in the NSW PGA at Wollongong Golf Club starting tomorrow."I signed with IMG and they run the event and they were good enough to give me a start (in the Australian Masters)," Pratt said before having a practice round at Wollongong Golf Club yesterday."Getting a start first of all was exciting. To play like I did also was pretty good."Pratt shot an even par 284 with rounds of 69, 72, 70 and 73 in Melbourne.He tied for 22nd and picked up $13,000 prize money together with 1.65 world ranking points in his first event as a professional golfer.On the Saturday Pratt carded a round of 70, one less than his playing partner Woods.Then on the Sunday he partnered fellow Victorian Ogilvy and gained so much from the experience of playing next to these two marvellous golfers."Unbelievable," Pratt said of partnering Woods and Ogilvy."I got the chance to play a practice round with Geoff Ogilvy on the Tuesday."I played pretty well Thursday/Friday and I got in just after Tiger on the Friday and realised I was on the same score. I had a reasonable idea almost straight away that we were a chance of playing together. And I found out a couple of hours later ... got a couple of text messages and, yeah, it was an unbelievable feeling."I was pretty shocked actually to start with, just to know that I'd be playing with him on Saturday."We had a great day out there on Saturday, and Sunday as well with Geoff."So the weekend was a lot of fun."Both Woods and Ogilvy impressed the rookie pro who tried to focus on his own game in such elite company in front of massive galleries."To play with Tiger ... I'd always seen him on TV and he's got that sort of aura around him," Pratt said."I saw him earlier in the week on the Monday or Tuesday walking to the range and it was just bizarre seeing him. It was like something out of a movie."But to play with him, finding out how normal he was, he's just a normal guy. He's a really good bloke."He was pretty encouraging. Obviously he had his own thing to worry about, on the Saturday he wasn't at the top of his game so he was struggling a bit."To play with him and finding out how good a bloke he was I guess was kind of cool."To observe Woods playing golf at such close proximity was a special lesson for the young Melburnian."He just backs himself completely," Pratt said."He's one of the most aggressive players I've played with, like he goes for everything. Within reason. Obviously his course management's pretty good. He never believes he's going to hit a bad shot."I guess that was a good thing for me to see him do."Geoff was the same."The best players, you find that out about them. They just back themselves the whole time."So that was pretty cool and that was, I think, a big thing I picked up from them."To play his first professional event in his home city - and such a prestigious event - was something special for Pratt."It was great playing in Melbourne. To get the opportunity to play in front of family and friends with Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy ... I think there were a lot of people that envied me on the weekend and wanted to be in my shoes," he said."The way the draw fell and stuff like that, it was so much fun being able to do that in front of a massive crowd and a lot of family and friends."Whilst Woods has a huge international profile as well as being a sports superstar, Ogilvy is a top golfer in his own right and Pratt was pleased to be partnering his fellow Victorian.