Quigley Blog: My first round as a dad was awesome

Brett Quigley spent his first-ever round in the Masters floating on air, in part because he was thrilled to be playing at Augusta National. Mostly, however, what made his day so special was thinking about his brand-new daughter. 

Editor's note: Brett Quigley came to Augusta National this week to play in his first Masters. He had to make a quick trip home to Jupiter, Fla., on Tuesday, though, when his wife went into labor. Quigley made it in time for the birth of his first child, Lillian Sage Augusta in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, and he still was able to make his 2:03 p.m. tee time for the first round on Thursday.

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Hollywood couldn't have scripted this better. The last 48 hours have been unbelievable for our family. My mom said when she dropped me off yesterday it's amazing that you can love something that much that wasn't even here yesterday. You'll never remember what your life was like before your child was born, and I know exactly what she means now.

I didn't even want to leave the hospital to go home and shower. I just wanted to stay there with them. I never thought that I would experience that emotion. Never. Never. Never. I've heard people talk about how it changes your life. Just to go through it and see the baby and see the two of them sleeping there together, it just made my life.

We knew this was a possibility when we found out the due date in October. It's funny, we called my grandmother, who's 93, and told her we were pregnant. She said, when's the baby due? We told her the week after Augusta, and she said, 'Couldn't you have planned that a little better?' That was the first thing out of her mouth.

It was beautiful. You know, I didn't think it would impact me this way. I didn't think I would be this overwhelmed with the whole experience. I didn't think I'd ever change a diaper. I didn't think I'd be anywhere near the delivery room. I thought I'd be the guy who's waiting out in the lobby, and to be there the whole time was incredible.

Amy was incredible. She pushed for more than four hours. She had blood blisters in her face, and they thought her eyes were going to turn black and blue today because she was pushing so hard. She was just unbelieveable. No epidural. No nothing. And then to find out the baby's head turned a little and she's not coming out and we have to do a C-section -- well, that was the last thing Amy wanted to do. At that point, though, it was obviously the only way. And I was there the whole time. I'm certainly surprised I handled it. I didn't think I had it in me.

When Lilly was born, she just started wailing. I mean wailing -- crying, crying, crying. They cleaned her up and put her in a little blankie and brought her to me. I said, 'Hey, how are you doing?' When they put her in my arms, she stopped crying. I said, 'I've been talking to you for eight months now so I guess you recognize my voice.' I think I've been crying ever since.

I got tears in my eyes several times today thinking about them while I was out there playing. I had two pictures in my yardage book and I saw them -- at least the tips of them -- every time I opened it up. I'm still wearing my hospital bracelet, too. It says: Quigley, Amy. Female. And as for adding Augusta to her name? It was Amy's idea. She said we had to do it. It will be a nice story for her as she grows up.

I got back to Augusta around 8:30 on Wednesday night and everyone was still around the house. As I pulled in the driveway, my sister came running out to the car. She didn't even say hi to me. She just said, 'I want to see the pictures.' Everybody there was just so excited.

I finally did get some sleep last night. But I was up at 5:30 like usual, so I had to make myself go back to sleep until 7:30. It was tough just waiting around today for my 2:03 tee time. Everybody was so supportive, though. They were all saying congratulations and shaking my hand. Obviously, I haven't seen TV or seen the newspaper coverage, but it's been phenomenal from what everybody told me. The company that my uncle Dana's with, Teamo, sent 150 cigars with 'It's a girl' on them. Calc (Mark Calcavecchia) and (his wife) Brenda left baby clothes in my locker -- a little bib and something else that said Augusta on it. There were a couple of notes in it, too. I really appreciated everything.

It seemed like people said something to me about the baby on every hole today. It was awesome. It kept a smile on my face the whole day. I told my dad (who is caddying for him) that I don't know what happened between the time they announced my name on the first tee and we were walking off. I know I didn't hit a great shot. But I literally kind of blanked out. This was the biggest day of my life, career-wise. It was such a great feeling to finally get into the Masters. A couple of times today on the golf course I said to my dad, 'We're here. We're at Augusta National.' Walking down the 15th hole, we were talking about laying up and I said, 'We can't lay up here.' It was such a great day. It was unbelievable how everything came together.

I want to stay around now. I am going to do my darndest tomorrow to shoot under par and get back in the tournament. I was a little sloppy today. I hit it over a couple of greens and didn't get it up and down. I struggled with my short game, but that's from two days of not playing.

Overall, I played pretty well. I hit a great tee shot on the 18th hole. I knocked it on the back of the green at the 12th -- and I have to admit my mouth was a little dry there. We had just watched someone in the group ahead of us hit it in the bushes. You can't hit it short and you can't hit it long on that hole, so there was a little bit of cottonmouth there, for sure. But overall, I am pleased with the way I played, and I actually was very at ease today.

I wasn't as sharp as I would have liked. I wouldn't say it didn't matter, but it was so nice. I was at peace out there. It was probably the only way I could have really enjoyed my first round in the Masters. Go out, hit the shots and have fun. And the last two days have been a blast.