Fred Ridley, Chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament, found his way to Augusta National 50 years ago, playing in the 1976 Masters Tournament via an invitation earned as the 1975 U.S. Amateur champion. Ridley was a graduate of the University of Florida, where he had been a member of some exceptional Gators golf teams. At age 23, he had finished one year of law school and had been playing for about a decade, introduced to the game by tagging along with his father, a school administrator and bogey golfer.

No one was expecting this young golfer from rural central Florida to beat the other 199 amateurs gathered at the Country Club of Virginia, with its snarling rough and wicked greens. Ridley’s career ambitions were for a law degree, not a PGA Tour card. But playing the best golf of his life, he seized the week and its long, final day. He won.

Seven months later, he was bound for Augusta.

By Masters tradition, the U.S. Amateur winner is paired with the reigning Masters champion, and the reigning Masters champion that April was Jack Nicklaus. His win in 1975 was already his fifth. To Ridley and the golf-watching world, Nicklaus was one of the game’s gods.

In Thursday’s opening round, Nicklaus and Ridley were both 1-under par through eight holes. Ridley had the honor on the ninth tee, which was packed with patrons, there to see Nicklaus in all his greatness. Ridley stepped in, driver in hand, and launched his shot deep down the fairway. As he pulled his tee from the springy April turf, Ridley made unintentional eye contact with the Golden Bear. The moment might have lasted a half-second. Nicklaus half-smiled at his young playing partner, then drove his ball 30 yards past Ridley’s.

Nicklaus made a birdie on nine en route to a first-round 67. Ridley shot 77. Back then, the players were re-paired for the second round. On Friday, Nicklaus played with Ben Crenshaw, who ended up finishing runner-up. Nicklaus finished in a tie for third. Ridley shot a Friday 81 and spent the weekend at the course as a keenly interested observer.

When Ridley arrived for the ’76 Masters, one of the first people he saw around the Big Oak Tree was Augusta National Chairman Clifford Roberts, who co-founded the Club alongside Bobby Jones and served as its longest-tenured Chairman. They shook hands and, alluding to the beloved Par 3 course, Mr. Roberts said, “Don’t forget to practice for the Par 3 Contest.” The exchange lasted for a minute, if that.

Who could have guessed then that Fred Ridley would someday become Augusta National’s seventh Chairman, the last one ever to have met the first one? The 1976 Masters was the final one for which Mr. Roberts served as Chairman.

Each year, the Masters celebrates amateur golf throughout the week. There’s a dinner for the amateur contestants, and on Sunday night, the Low Amateur for 72 holes of the Tournament is awarded the Silver Cup. For years, the host of the Amateur Dinner was Charlie Yates, an accomplished amateur himself who was close to Mr. Jones. On four occasions, Mr. Yates had been the Tournament’s Low Amateur. In 1976, Mr. Yates invited E. Harvie Ward, a beloved legend of amateur golf and a three-time Low Amateur himself, to speak to the 10 amateurs competing that year. A framed photo from that night now hangs on a wall in Chairman Ridley’s office at the Club.

Amateur contestants are encouraged to arrive early in Augusta, play and practice as they wish, take meals in the Club’s dining room and stay in the Crow’s Nest, the living space above the Champions Locker Room. Ridley did just that, staying in the Crow’s Nest with, among others, Jay Haas and Curtis Strange, both star players from Wake Forest with PGA Tour dreams.

Going up and down the spiral staircase from the first floor of the Clubhouse to the second, these denizens of the Crow’s Nest could see photos of founding members. They may also catch a glimpse of Tournament legends coming and going from the Champions Locker Room. Beside it is the Library, where the annual Masters Club Dinner is held on Tuesday night. Nicklaus, as defending champion, was the host in 1976.

Ridley and the other wide-eyed amateurs were living large, no matter what scores they made. Strange was one of two amateurs to play four rounds that year, finishing in a tie for 15th.

At the ’75 Amateur, Ridley defeated Strange, a son of Virginia, in the round of 16. Few saw that coming. In the semifinals, he beat Andy Bean, a fellow Gator bound for an outstanding pro career himself. Even fewer saw that coming. In the final, Ridley faced Keith Fergus of the University of Houston, one of the best college players in the country. Their Sunday finale went the distance with Ridley winning, 2-up. Practically nobody saw that coming. That win paved Ridley’s path to a 12:32 p.m. tee time with Nicklaus in the first round of the ’76 Masters.

Golf, like life, is a series of steps, all of them important and some of them monumental.

In May 1975, Ridley had driven from Florida to Columbus, Ohio, to see Jack Grout, Nicklaus’ lifelong golf instructor and mentor, after meeting him the previous year. Grout arranged for Ridley to play nine holes with Nicklaus, and after their last session, Ridley asked Mr. Grout what he owed him. Mr. Grout knew his pupil was half-broke, in that still-a-student way.

He said, “Well, you’re going to have a busy summer of golf, going to all these amateur events. It’ll get expensive. How about $25?”

Ridley left Muirfield Village driving the ball better than he ever had, but the most important lesson he left with was an appreciation for the power of generosity.

“Golf, like life, is a series of steps, all of them important and some of them monumental.”

Three months later, Ridley won the U.S. Amateur. Seven months after that, he played in his first Masters. In the next two years, he played twice more. He played on one Walker Cup team and captained two others. He was invited to join the USGA Executive Committee, later became chairman of the Championship Committee and, ultimately, president of the USGA. He was invited to join Augusta National. He succeeded Charlie Yates as the host of the Amateur Dinner. He was the Chairman of the Tournament’s Competition Committees through Billy Payne’s years as Club Chairman. He then succeeded Mr. Payne as Chairman.

Would this have been his life’s path without that win in the 1975 U.S. Amateur? Not likely. Would he have won that event without getting lessons from Mr. Grout? Not likely. All of those steps. As you take them, you don’t know where they’re going to lead. You just take them.

On a Thursday in April 50 years ago, Fred Ridley stepped off the ninth tee at Augusta National and into Jack Nicklaus’ eyeline. A half-second that, for Ridley, has had mighty staying power. On Tuesday night of this year’s Masters, Rory McIlroy will host the Champions Dinner in the Library, one flight down from the Crow’s Nest, a new collection of amateurs bunking in it. Jack Nicklaus will be at the dinner, of course, and Ridley, the Club’s Chairman, will be sitting at the head table, just a few seats away from the only six-time winner in the Tournament’s history.

All these years later, they are still linked by the game, the Club and this rite-of-spring Tournament.

Michael Bamberger is a senior writer for Golf Magazine and Golf.com.