For Atwal, it's a day of work with Tiger

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- A person can learn a lot, standing beneath a long shadow. That was the purpose of Arjun Atwal's final practice round before his first Masters. It was all education, playing with Tiger Woods.

Atwal, the native of India who flourished as a golfer as a Long Island teenager, was totally unaffected by the electricity that surrounds Woods even in rounds that don't count. "I'm so used to playing with him so it doesn't really bother me or excite me or anything," said Atwal, who has succeeded Mark O'Meara as Woods' regular practice partner.

Wednesday, O'Meara joined Atwal and Woods for nine holes before big crowds. "They're two guys who are really experienced around here. They showed me where to hit it, where not to hit it. So it was basically about that. It wasn't about being excited or anything, it was just work," Atwal said.

That sort of focus has rubbed off from Woods, a neighbor in Windermere, Fla., and companion on the range at Isleworth Country Club near Orlando. Making it into Woods' tightly guarded inner circle was tougher than winning the PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship, which he did last August to earn his way into the Masters. Not that Atwal did anything special to get in Tiger's good graces.

"We get along real easy and that's it. We're just friends. He's a real easy guy to get along with," Atwal said. "I like to work hard, he's out there every day and we just hit it off."

Reporters naturally wanted to know all about Woods' game, considering that Atwal sees it more frequently than anyone else. Atwal said, "He's really close. Like he said, if he can just bring it out. It's time to bring it out. I think he's going to do just fine around here because it's like his home golf course."

Woods notwithstanding, this really is a seminal week for Atwal. He has played in all the other majors, but never the Masters. He is here as a PGA Tour winner, the first ever from India. These days, Atwal is known more for that distinction than for the 2007 speeding incident that left the driver of another car dead. (There was an investigation and Atwal was cleared.)

"This," a friend told him Wednesday, "is your moment."

The friend happened to be Vijay Amritraj, India's Davis Cup tennis star. Amritraj, an anchor for the international ESPNStar, has followed Atwal's development. The two played in a pro-am together four years ago.

"When I played with him that day, I realized what a great stroke-maker he is, all around the course. He just had to get it right between his ears," Amritraj said. "I hadn't seen a stroke-maker like him since Woods."

Atwal has always had an appetite for work. Long before he was practicing with the greatest golfer of this generation, he would go to the range alone at Cantiague Park in Hicksville and hit thousands of balls -- after practice for Clarke High and Nassau Community College.

Woods and Atwal are positive influences on each other. "Physically, I can't do the stuff he does," Atwal said. "But the mental side, he has definitely helped me a lot: how to approach a tournament, how to go about practice rounds. At this place especially."