How first-time players are preparing for the Masters - ESPN

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Andrew Novak can see Masters videos in his sleep. The YouTube highlight reels, old final-round broadcasts and shot compilations, they have all scanned through his eyes countless times.

Fanatical obsession. Aspirational education. Novak likens it to watching football tape, a hobby he has turned into a budding podcast, but says this reaches an even higher level. He challenges the general, Masters-obsessed public: no one has watched more of the tournament than him.

«I would put my time watched up against pretty much anybody,» Novak said. «The sheer amount of hours I've watched.»

The break of specific putts on certain greens, Novak can rattle them off with ease. Flashes of watching players — from Tiger Woods to Fred Couples to Jordan Spieth — hit shots both memorable and not, Novak has committed them to memory.

Every April, Novak cracks his knuckles and sets up a sanctuary for his favorite week of the year. Multiple feeds on multiple televisions, alternate casts galore and the Masters website after the round to watch players' every shot, Novak wants it all.

«I'll go through guys' rounds and see what they were doing. I noticed certain pins where you can't be, how to play certain shots,» said Novak, before taking a pause. «Obviously, that's not… That's not the true experience. Yeah, I haven't been there and done it.»

When we speak, at the Players Championship in March, Novak has just missed the cut and calls the state of his game «kind of crap,» but the result does not prevent him from looking at what's ahead. He still can't fully wrap his mind around it just yet, that this April he won't be on the couch but on the first tee of the course he knows like the back of his hand.

«I just feel like I do know the course