Julian Suri does not believe he would be teeing it up this week at the Trophée Hassan II had it not been for the trailblazing career of Masters Tournament Champion Tiger Woods.
The American ended an 11 year wait for a Major Championship victory at Augusta National Golf Club, stunning the world to claim a 15th win in one of golf's big four events and complete one of the greatest comebacks in all of sport.
A string of back surgeries coupled with some off course issues had many pundits writing off the 43-year-old but, as he has done so many times throughout his incredible career, Woods wrote his own script to once again take his place at golf's top table.
Suri had just turned six when Woods won his first Major in 1997, sparking a decade of dominance, and the 28-year-old is delighted another generation will now get to see his countryman at the top of the game.
"Tiger, he's the reason I started playing golf," he said. "If it wasn't for him, I don't know what I would be doing right now but I wouldn't be doing this. He made it cool, he made it exciting. What he did a couple of weeks ago was just another chapter of that sort of story.
"There's kids at the course where I grew up at and they were born after 2000 and that was just like mind boggling. Like, man, they never saw that. They only have these Instagram clips or YouTube to go off.
"It's pretty special that he was able to come back and - he's obviously a little bit older now and maybe not quite at the full capacity that he was - but just a glimpse of that at Augusta was incredible."
Suri is enjoying a mini comeback of his own after missing five months due to surgery on an abdominal hernia, finishing 20th in Malaysia and fourth in India in the two events before the season's first Major.
If it wasn't for him, I don't know what I would be doing right now but I wouldn't be doing this - Julian Suri
He returns to action after a three week break at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam and sees no reason why he cannot continue to challenge.
"I expected to be up there because I know how to compete but it's been a little while," he said. "I think more surprising was the consistency with my ball striking. I've always been able to kind of scrap it around, score and get a decent finish.
"But I essentially dominated that golf course in India for 90 per cent of the week and that's as tough of a golf course as you'll ever play.
"So that was a little bit surprising to me but obviously in a good way."
