Patience is a virtue in golf, but it is not often a characteristic found among pre-teenagers and early teens. Yet having or developing patience was a must for the 80 players who will participate in the seventh staging of the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals on Easter Sunday at Augusta National.
With the list of qualifiers finalized in the fall of 2019, the field has waited through cancellations of the event in April 2020 and November 2020. Approximately 18 months after qualifying, the group will parade down Magnolia Lane and onto the grounds of Augusta National.
That trip came after a Saturday night celebrating the competition at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Augusta with the heads of United States golf organizations hosting the players and their immediate family members. A group photograph preceded the early-evening gathering, where a panel discussion was moderated by Steve Sands of NBC and the Golf Channel. He was joined by Augusta National Golf Club Chairman Fred Ridley, United States Golf Association President Stu Francis and PGA of America President Jim Richerson.
Ridley discussed his love of the game as a photo from the 1976 Masters Tournament was shown with Ridley, the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, paired with Jack Nicklaus, the 1975 Masters champion, in the first round.
“I would just encourage all of you to enjoy the game, to enjoy the people you meet and to really consider how you might find a stake in the game,” Ridley said. “You might go off and do something else in your lives, but come back to the game if you do, because there are so many rewards.”
Golfers age 7 to 15 will begin arriving at Augusta National before sunup on Sunday and make their way to the Tournament Practice Area for the driving competition and to a practice green for the chipping contest before moving on to the 18th green on the opposite side of the Clubhouse for the putting finale.
The competition will be televised live on Golf Channel beginning at 8 a.m. and concluding in the early afternoon. Thanks to the tandem of the Drive, Chip and Putt and the Saturday final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur – whose competitors range in age from 16 to 23 – the weekend before the Masters has become a motivational youth movement.
“I met Tiger Woods at the 2019 Masters,” said Alexandra Phung, a returning Girls 7-9 competitor from New York whose older sister, Amiele, is debuting this year in Girls 12-13. “One of the Augusta National members asked security to let me behind the ropes on the putting area. Tiger gave me a golf ball along with Jason Day.
“I also met Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, while they were having lunch in New York City,” she added. “We discussed how we’re all looking forward to coming back to Augusta National.”
Alexander Leskovansky of Houtzdale, Pa., was just happy to get the opportunity, expressed via his favorite motivational phrase:
“Don’t worry about whether your glass is half full or half empty — be glad you have a glass!”
Drive, Chip and Putt participants compete in four age divisions for national championships, accumulating points in three skills: driving distance, chipping and putting. The latter two categories are measured by proximity to the hole. The highest composite score determines the winner.
In a nod to the future of golf, in 2014 the Masters Tournament joined in an initiative with the United States Golf Association and PGA of America to create the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship.
The 2021 field includes 80 boys and girls representing 31 states – California has the most representatives, 11 – and Canada. The first non-North American participant, Ryan Nana Tanke of Paris, France, returns after participating in 2019. Sixty of the participants will be making their first trip to Augusta National.
You might go off and do something else in your lives, but come back to the game if you do, because there are so many rewards.
There are 17 returning competitors in all, including four-time finalist Kasey Maralack from Snoqualmie, Wash. She joins previous four-timers Megha Ganne, Treed Huang and Vanessa Borovilos as four-time National Finalists. Ganne competed in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur for the first time this week.
The returnees include: Brady Barnum (2018 National Finalist), Dublin, Ohio; Luke Coyle (2017 National Finalist), Campbellsville, Ky.; Lance Hollingshead (2018 National Finalist), Basking Ridge, N.J.; Maye Huang (2017 National Champion and 2019 National Finalist), Katy, Texas; Chase Hughes (2019 National Finalist), Oklahoma City; Cole Kim (2018 National Finalist), La Crescenta, Calif.; Maralack (2014, 2018 and 2019 National Finalist); Ali Mulhall (2018 National Finalist), Green River, Wyo.; Phung (2019 National Finalist), Forest Hills, N.Y.; Andrew Ramos (2018 National Finalist), Blaine, Minn.; Mateo Rascon (2017 National Finalist), Mediapolis, Iowa; Miles Russell (2018 National Finalist), Jacksonville Beach, Fla.; Howard Shu (2017 National Finalist), Saratoga, Calif.; Tanke (2019 National Finalist); Sam Udovich (2016 and 2018 National Finalist), Inver Grove Heights, Minn.; Yana Wilson (2019 National Champion), Henderson, Nev.; Lucy Yuan (2017 National Finalist), San Diego; and Avery Zweig (2016 and 2018 National Finalist), McKinney, Texas.
Local qualifying for the seventh season began in May 2019 and was held at 300 sites around the country through the summer and early fall. The top-three scorers per venue in each of the four age categories for boys and girls advanced to subregional qualifiers in July and August. Two youths in each age and gender division then competed at the regional level in September, held at some of the top courses in the country, including several U.S. Open and PGA Championship venues.
The top finisher from each regional site’s divisions earned a place in the National Finals. All local, subregional and regional qualifiers were conducted by the 41 Sections of the PGA of America, with PGA Professionals providing on-site support.
