When he defeated Marcus Fraser on the third playoff hole to win the 2008 Australian Masters at Huntingdale, Rod Pampling was entitled to expect to be feted on his return to Melbourne as the defending titleholder in '09.
But the 40-year-old has effectively slipped under the radar thanks to the participation at Kingston Heath this week of world No.1 Tiger Woods.
It's a situation that Pampling is more than comfortable with and saw coming a long way out.
"I had a joke with him at the start of the year - it took me 10 years to win in Australia and now I'm not going to get any press because you're playing," a relaxed Pampling told his media conference on Tuesday.
"We had a bit of a joke at that, but it doesn't matter what tournament you go to, if you're the defending champion and Tiger's in the field, certainly the attention is taken away."
"I was expecting the media hype to be taken away, it's nothing new and every week in the States it happens ... but, it's (the 2008 Masters title) on paper so he can't take it away."
It suits the understated Pampling to be left to go about his business with a minimum of fuss, but he's ready for the spotlight if, as he expects, he's paired to play with Woods on Thursday and Friday
"That's part of it, he's the best player in the world and you want to see what he does although I've learned over the year to try to not watch what he's doing on the golf course because it does distract you from what you're doing," Pampling said.
"I hope to play with him every day, because if I am I'll know I'm playing pretty good because you know that he's going to be right there."
Pampling hasn't played the 'Heath' since the course provided Aaron Baddeley with the second of his two Australian Open titles in 2000.
If Pampling is to emulate Baddeley and go back-to-back, he'll need to master a course that's hard and fast and likely to become harder and faster still as the week wears on in heatwave conditions.
"That's when it's at its best - you have to be precise with your iron shots and your tee balls," he said.
"It won't be 'whack it on the green and have it spin and stop near the hole'; you have to be very exacting to where you hit the ball."
"There will be a lot of pins you can't got for and that's obviously what we'll be doing this afternoon and tomorrow, working out where the pins are and where to hit the golf ball so that we've got a putt every time."
"That's where you can come undone around here is getting in the wrong spot - you can make a double (bogey) extremely fast and that's something that we have to be very careful of."
Asked what it would mean to win a Masters with Woods in the field, Pampling said: "It's a great honour to be the defending champion of the Masters, no-one can take that away but, going by field strength, yes, if Tiger's in the field it would make it a little bit more special."
"To make it two in a row is something that I'm definitely aiming for."
Pampling said his 2009 had been solid rather than spectacular,