OOLTEWAH, Tenn. – Forced to win a playoff to secure her spot in the 2019 Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club next April, 10-year-old Elle Marie Reisner was understandably full of smiles late Sunday morning.
But what the Atlanta native was really happy about was what her parents had promised if she made it to Augusta.
“A pet,” Reisner exclaimed. “A hamster. At least it looks like a hamster.”
Yes, there are other thoughts among pre-teens and teens aside from rubbing elbows with the best golfers in the world at the dawn of Masters Tournament week, driving down Magnolia Lane or driving, chipping and putting on golf’s most famous course. Eighty youngsters converged on The Honors Course Sunday to take the final step.
“No, that’s what we’re thinking about,” said Elle Marie’s father, Josh, with a grin. “We’ve (Josh and Elle’s mother, Elizabeth) never gone to the Masters before.”
Two of The Honors Course winners this time around have gone before, both Patmon Malcom (Boys 10-11) and Sara Im (Girls 14-15) repeated as regional champs over the same course where they qualified for Augusta National a year ago.
And both Malcom and Im expect that experience to benefit them next spring.
“The first time I was just going for the experience,” said Malcom, who was named the player of the year by U.S. Kids Golf last season, receiving the award in February at The Honda Classic. “This year I’m going there to win.”
Said Im, who, like Malcom, calls suburban Atlanta home: “I was more nervous than excited last year. I’m more excited this time. I know what’s going to happen.”
Though Boys 12-13 winner Hudson Wilt hasn’t been to Augusta National for Masters week before as a Drive Chip and Putt National Finalist, he’s been there often as a guest of his grandfather, Toby Wilt, a member of Augusta National who serves on the Masters Tournament Committee that annually announces the Masters participants before they tee off on the course’s opening hole.
“I’ve gone to the Masters four times, but never like this,” said Hudson, whose older brother Toby finished third in the Boys 14-15 division. “What I like about Drive, Chip and Putt is that you don’t have to be amazing in everything all the time. You just have to have one good day.”
More than half of the competitors were wondering just a few days earlier if they’d even be able to have a day on The Honors Course due to the threat of Hurricane Florence. A total of 50 participants called Georgia (20), North Carolina (17), South Carolina (12) or Virginia (1) home and all those states were under serious storm warnings at one time or another during the past week.
Though the last remnants of Florence showered the course with light to moderate rain through much of the day, the wind blew only occasionally and play was never threatened.
“We were going to evacuate our family here (Chattanooga),” said Paula Walmet, whose son, Luke, competed in the Boys 14-15 division. “We live in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., near Charleston, and it looked like we were going to take a big hit. But it went north of us. We are blessed.”
Yet even that blessing caused the Walmets to drive an extra 200 miles through Georgia to make sure they avoided the storm’s path.
Nevertheless, the Walmets’ story seemed far more the rule than the exception for those living in either the Carolinas, Virginia or Georgia.
“Our home seems to be OK,” said Rad Nimmo of his West Columbia, S.C., residence. “The wind and rain weren’t as bad as they’d predicted. But we’ve got lots of friends and family along the coast that we’re afraid got hit pretty hard.”
Nimmo’s son, Jonathon, was taking not winning the Boys 12-13 division pretty hard when event volunteer Elizabeth Clossin walked past.
“You are the most polite young man I’ve met all day,” she said with a warm smile. “You’re going to be fine.”
Said Jonathon’s dad a few minutes later, “That was pretty special. I’d rather hear that and have him not win than have him win and find out he behaved badly.”
Some of the winners were astounding in the scores they registered to win. Boys 7-9 winner Conner Ford of Mt. Vernon, Ky., struck a 245-yard drive on his way to 124 points, which was just enough to nose out Grayson Baucom’s 123.
Girls 12-13 winner Victoria Kuranga totaled 138 points, including the striping of three drives that went 220, 220 and 240. Asked what she most wanted to bring back from Augusta National, she said, “Tiger Woods’ signature.”
Then there’s 9-year-old Gabriella Moorehead, the Girls 7-9 champ from Burlington, N.C., whose father, Matt, said, “We put a club in her hands at 4 years old.”
And what does his daughter know about the Masters?
“She knows," he said, "that’s where she can be on TV.”
All eight winners will be on the Golf Channel more than once between now and the Masters.
But they’ll also be in school and dreaming of getting Tiger’s autograph or a new pet and hoping that no more hurricanes threaten their lives or the lives of their family.
Maybe that’s why Honors Course head pro Henrik Simonsen was so excited for a second consecutive year.
“We host a lot of events, but this is our favorite,” he said. “You get it all. It’s kids. It’s competition. It’s emotions, both the highs and the lows. We absolutely love this event.”
