THE WOODLANDS, Texas – Maye Huang was pacing as she waited on Sunday afternoon. Every time a score went up, she smiled. Another group and --- well --- maybe.
A few yards away, her older brother Treed shook his head and grinned. He knew she had it. Up by 14 points, he surmised that no one was going to catch her.
“I’m pretty proud of her,’’ Treed said. “She’s been an important part of my game and I’ve been an important part of hers.
“And, yes, I watched every shot she hit. I was nervous. It was crazy.’’
Not that crazy, really. She did exactly the same as her brother a few hours earlier when he opened the day with a three-point win.
Meet, perhaps, the best Drive, Chip and Putt siblings in the nation – Maye and Treed Huang. Maye is headed to the National Finals for the second time. Treed is going for a record-tying fourth time and his third trip in a row. His fourth trip ties the record set at last week’s Regional at Congressional Country Club by Megha Ganne (14-15 Girls) of Holmdel, N.J.
Maye, who is 9, won the Girls 9-10 division, while Treed won the Boys 14-15 division at The Club at Carlton Woods.
And did we mention that each Huang sibling won their respective divisions at the National Finals the first time they qualified? (Maye won the 7-9 Girls in 2017; Treed the Boys 7-9 in the inaugural event in 2014.)
Now six trips to Augusta National between them? Can you say DCP family dynasty?
“They’re good kids. . . Great kids,’’ said their mother, Yanmei Li. “Treed started to play at 4 and Maye was a 2-year-old wobbling around hitting the balls.’’
Both attend Katy’s Beckendorff Junior High – Maye is in sixth grade; Treed is in eighth – about 60 miles away from Carlton Woods. They play and practice at Meadowbrook Farms Golf Club. The siblings are first generation Americans. Their parents, now citizens, were both born in China.
Treed finished second in the 12-13 division last year prior to the Masters Tournament. He has grown 6 inches this year and is starting to make a name for himself. He and two other Regional finalists – Javir Pande and Breckin Franklin – are part of the Southern Texas PGA team that will compete in the PGA Junior League Championships in November.
“I’m pretty happy with what I did today,’’ Treed said.
He wasn’t the only one.
Ryan Ko, playing in her first Regional final, ran away with the Girls 14-15 competition. The freshman at Lebanon Trail High School in Frisco, Texas, who is playing on the varsity team, won by 13 points.
“I’m shocked,’’’ Ko said. “I’ve been longing to go to Augusta. I’ve been close the last two years (in the sub-regionals), but it feels good to get past that hump. My chipping today wasn’t what I wanted.”
But it was good enough.
Thanks to a strong putting effort, Ryder Cowan edged Tarun Anand to win the Boys 12-13. An eighth-grader at Cheyenne Middle School in Edmond, Okla., he said it was an experience just to be here and compete, let alone win.
“I can’t wait to get there and watch the pros,’’ Cowan said. “I want to watch Jordan (Spieth), Rickie (Fowler) and Justin (Thomas).’’
In the closest finish of the day, Chase Hughes from Oklahoma City edged Miles Cooper by one point to win the Boys 7-9 event. Hughes, who finished third in this summer’s U.S. Kids Nationals in Pinehurst, N.C., knew what he had to do with the final putt of the day – get it in the 15-point range. He did just that.
“I told him he won,’’ said his father, Nick. “I don’t know if he believed me or not.’’
The emotional moment of the day came when Ava McGoey of Metarie, La., won the Girls 12-13 by five points – on the strength of her putting and chipping, including a chip-in. But it was her coach, Craig Trahan, who broke down in tears. A couple of times.
“I can’t believe it,’’ said the seventh-grader at Academy of the Sacred Heart who is already practicing with the varsity team. “It doesn’t feel real.
“Going into today, I had no idea I was going to make it. I didn’t think I was going to make it. I knew I’d be nervous. I missed my first drive, but got the next one in and just kept going.’’
Her dad, Patrick, the only other golfer in the family, has a tradition of taking his daughters on a father-daughter trip when they turn 13. The oldest chose Beverly Hills; the middle daughter opted for the Women’s World Cup Soccer. Ava had settled on Augusta National and the Masters.
“Now,’’ she grinned, “I guess I get to pick somewhere else.’’
Sophia Giga, a third-grader at Tadlock Elementary in Frisco, Texas, won the Girls 7-9 division by 15 points. Aadi Parmar, from Olympia Elementary in Selma, Texas, won the Boys 10-11.
