This week, for the fourth time in 5 years, the perfect beginner girls’s gamers on the planet will descend upon Augusta, Georgia, forward of the fourth installment of the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Newbie.
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In only a brief time period, the ANWA has turn out to be a premier showcase of the abundance of expertise within the girls’s beginner recreation and one of the crucial anticipated occasions of the golf season. From 16-year-olds able to win to a deep worldwide subject to viral bucket hats and the perfect beginner participant on the planet, this occasion has loads of returning gamers and a plethora of storylines.
Listed below are a number of that we’re wanting ahead to.
Can Anna Davis be the primary to defend her title?
The woman with the bucket hat is again, and he or she is ready to defend her shocking win eventually yr’s occasion when she was 16 years outdated. Davis admitted earlier this week in her information convention that, though being aware of the event and the programs (the primary two rounds are performed at close by Champions Retreat) shall be useful this time round, the lack of some naivete about your complete expertise could be a problem.
“Going into final yr I did not actually know any of the historical past, I did not know a lot about it, and I believe that gave me a bonus on the sector, simply not likely feeling the strain of being at Augusta Nationwide,” Davis mentioned. “I believe it is a bit completely different this yr, as a result of now the highlight goes to be on me taking part in on that golf course. So I believe it could be a bit of an obstacle, however I do not suppose I can let it get in my head.”
Davis spoke to the media final week from her room at Champions Retreat, the place she stayed and practiced earlier than the event. The timing was lucky. She was finished with midterms throughout her first yr at Auburn and heading into spring break, permitting her time to observe on the course the place she might want to carry out properly twice to make it to the ultimate spherical at Augusta Nationwide.
“I believe it is missed within the media how arduous this golf course is,” Davis mentioned “It is mentally very difficult to play this golf course, figuring out that you must play properly right here simply to get to play Augusta on the ultimate day. There’s simply not a single gap on this golf course you can lose give attention to.”
From being a junior golfer and one of many youngest eventually yr’s event to sounding like a seasoned veteran, life has come at Davis fairly quick since she gained the ANWA and have become a viral sensation for her bucket hat. It hasn’t affected her efficiency, nonetheless. The eighth-ranked beginner golfer on the planet is coming off a win on the Sage Valley Junior Invitational, a top-five end on the Dustin Johnson World Junior and a win on the Junior Orange Bowl Invitational.
Davis mentioned she had discussions about turning professional after taking part in in some LPGA occasions final yr, however she in the end determined it wasn’t the time and that she needed to expertise school, too.
“On the finish of the day I made a decision I wanted extra expertise in numerous conditions, you understand completely different sorts of strain conditions,” Davis mentioned. “I’ve by no means actually had that earlier than the place I’ve to win, or I’ve to make a putt to win. Or I’ve to come back again and win, stuff like that made me determine that I wanted extra expertise within the beginner facet of golf. And you understand, have a life for a number of years exterior of golf.”
As for this yr’s title protection, Davis did say she’ll have her bucket hat in tow, however her temper will decide whether or not she wears it. One factor she won’t be having no matter her temper? Pimento cheese sandwiches.
“I do know the pimento cheese is a extremely large factor,” Davis mentioned with amusing, “however I simply can’t recover from how gross it’s.”
Is the fourth time the attraction for Rose Zhang?
All eyes are on Rose Zhang — and for good motive. The highest beginner participant on the planet is in solely her second yr at Stanford, however at 19 years outdated, her résumé can already fill a small e-book.
Zhang gained the U.S. Girls’s Newbie in 2020, the U.S. Women Junior championship in 2021 in addition to each the group and particular person NCAA championships in 2022. Her particular person accolades embrace profitable the McCormick Medal (the highest beginner on the planet) three completely different instances, the ANNIKA award (prime girls’s beginner) twice in addition to a slew of different Pac-12 honors.
She has additionally made the lower in any respect 4 majors she has appeared in, together with a T-11 end on the Chevron Championship in 2020. You get the purpose. Zhang is not simply good — she has gained almost all the pieces attainable as an beginner. Besides the ANWA.
In three appearances on the event, Zhang has completed tied for seventeenth, tied for third and tied for twelfth. She has carried out properly, but it surely’s a testomony to the depth of the sector (and the game as an entire) that she has but to win at this occasion.
It is unclear what number of extra instances Zhang will play at this occasion — she opted to return to highschool after her freshman yr and does not look like in a rush to show skilled. Nevertheless it’s additionally arduous to think about her having a greater shot the way in which she’s taking part in. Zhang has completed first in six of her previous seven occasions. There isn’t any doubt she’s prepared for the professional recreation, however including a win at ANWA to her intensive résumé can be the becoming crown jewel on prime of her dominant beginner profession.
Remember about Ingrid Lindblad
Whereas Zhang could be the main target of many, a 23-year-old from Sweden taking part in in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, ought to garner consideration, too. Nobody with a number of appearances at ANWA has performed extra persistently than Ingrid Lindblad.
In 2021, Lindblad tied with Zhang and her Stanford teammate Rachel Heck for third, one stroke behind the leaders (Japan’s Tsubasa Kajitani went on to beat Emilia Migliaccio in a playoff). Throughout final yr’s event, the LSU senior fell one stroke wanting Davis and completed tied for second.
Regardless of the loss, the outcome appeared to gas her for the remainder of the season. Two weeks after ANWA, Lindblad gained the SEC title and completed third within the NCAA championships. Then, she went to the U.S. Girls’s Open at Pine Needles and proceeded to hover across the prime of a leaderboard stuffed with the sport’s finest execs all through the week. She ended up ending eleventh however took house the event’s 18-hole beginner document in addition to a number of latest followers of her recreation and affable demeanor on the rostrum.
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“I do not suppose I ever realized what occurred,” Lindblad mentioned a day after breaking the document on the U.S. Open in June. “I do not suppose I notice how large it’s. It is like everytime you come to a giant beginner event, like after I performed Augusta for the primary time final yr, I used to be like, I did not notice how large that is till you get there and all the eye you get.”
The eye hasn’t stopped for Lindblad, as a result of she has solely continued to play higher. Since being within the U.S. Open highlight, the LSU Tiger who — as her coach mentioned, famously ordered child again ribs on her recruiting go to — has had seven top-10 finishes and one win. All of it led to her changing into the No. 2-ranked beginner on the planet and one of many names to observe as she will get one other crack at including the ANWA title to her beginner profession.
Worldwide expertise, homegrown stars
Past Lindblad, the crop of worldwide gamers on this yr’s subject at Augusta is stellar and deep. Greater than half of the gamers within the subject — 41 of 72 to be actual — are from exterior the USA, led by 10 gamers from Japan, essentially the most from any nation within the occasion’s brief historical past.
Japan’s Tsubasa Kajitani returns to ANWA after a one-year hiatus. The then-17-year-old gained the 2021 event in a playoff regardless of not having a single win over two years heading into the occasion. However maybe the largest identify from Japan is 17-year-old Saki Baba, who’s recent off profitable the U.S. Girls’s Newbie final yr at Chambers Bay in dominating vogue. Baba took down her opponent 11 and 9 within the last match because of aggressive strategy play and the great old school technique of creating each single putt.
Baba is a star within the making and although she’s more likely to set her sights on the skilled recreation ultimately, a much-anticipated ANWA look for the teenager from Tokyo may see her lifting the trophy by Sunday.
On the American facet, one may wager on any of the members of the profitable 2022 Curtis Cup group. All members of the group that features Zhang acquired invitations to the event. Zhang’s teammate Rachel Heck won’t be able to compete due to a shoulder damage, however standouts like USC sophomore Amari Avery (who completed tied for fourth final yr and is No. 9 on the planet), Stanford freshman Megha Ganne, Wake Forest’s Rachel Kuehn (No. 4 on the planet) and the aforementioned Migliaccio all have the expertise to be on the prime of the leaderboard this week.
Then once more, if this event has proven something up to now, it is that the favorites do not often find yourself profitable and underdogs have simply nearly as good a chance to make a run. Between Kajitani and Davis (who was ranked one hundredth going into final yr’s ANWA), the door will as soon as once more be vast open for any participant within the subject to sew collectively three nice rounds of golf and are available out on prime.
