Tag: Augusta University

Augusta University makes first trip to NCAA Championship thanks to strong play of freshman Mirabel Ting, whose father died not long after she arrived on campus

“She was in a really dark place. I had no idea what was going to happen.”

Malaysia’s Mirabel Ting celebrated her 17th birthday shortly after she arrived at Augusta University last fall. Her father, Thomas, believed she was mature enough to handle all that comes with moving across the world to chase a dream.

Mirabel couldn’t possibly imagine, however, just how much she’d grow as a college freshman, in ways no teenager should have to face.

Augusta coach Caroline Haase-Hegg can still hear her players saying, “Coach, Coach,” in the van as they drove to Statesboro, Georgia, last October for Georgia Southern’s home event. Haase-Hegg looked back to see a devastated Ting, who’d just received word from home that her father had died from a massive heart attack.

“It was horrible,” said Haase-Hegg. “We were right about to Statesboro, and I didn’t know what to do. Do we turn around; do we keep going?”

She called Georgia Southern coach, Mimi Burke, who, like Haase-Hegg, has Purdue roots. They drove to Burke’s home, sat together as a team and cried.

At first, Mirabel insisted that she wanted to play in the tournament. It’s what her dad would’ve wanted, she thought. But by the next morning, she’d come around to the idea that she needed to get home. They drove back to Augusta to collect her things and put her on a plane at the Atlanta airport.

“At that point, I didn’t know if I’d see Mirabel again, to be honest” said Haase-Hegg.

Ting came back a few weeks later and tried to assimilate back into college life, but it proved too much. She returned to Malaysia for a second time to grieve.

“My only concern was Mirabel’s health,” said Haase-Hegg. “She was in a really dark place. I had no idea what was going to happen.”

Thomas first brought Mirabel to the golf course when she was 3 years old as a tag-along with her older brother. She grabbed her brother’s driver, which stood taller than her, closed her eyes and took a swing. The ball flew 50 yards.

“My dad was like, ‘This girl can play,’ ” said Mirabel.

Back home in Malaysia, Mirabel knew her father would want her to finish her degree before turning profesisonal. It was a tough decision, leaving her mother alone to pursue college life in Augusta, Georgia, but Mirabel returned to campus with a renewed sense of focus and peace.

“Whenever I played bad, (my dad) would just ask me what happened and what goes wrong,” said Mirabel. “He would always say that I didn’t practice enough.

“I literally told myself when I got right back to Augusta – I need to work even harder, double the training that I did before. I woke up for workouts and then straight to practice – go to school and go back to practice again.”

That no-quit mentality, she said, mirrors her dad, and it paid off handsomely.

In her first college start that spring, Mirabel won in a playoff at the Moon Golf Invitational after carding rounds of 69-69-65.

“It was completely insane for me, shooting 13 under,” said Mirabel, who dedicated the victory to her father.

Augusta punched their ticket to the national championship after the Athens regional of the 2023 NCAA Division I women’s golf championships at the UGA Golf Course in Athens, Ga., on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. (Tony Walsh/UGAAA)

Haase-Hegg said Mirabel might be the best iron player she’s ever seen, high praise from a coach who has worked with several LPGA players over the years. A straight hitter who drives it well and holes putts under pressure, Haase-Hegg said Mirabel loves the game and keeps it simple.

“Even when things were going badly in her life, she’d still go out on the golf course and ho-hum it for a 68,” said Haase-Hegg.

Mirabel hasn’t finished outside the top 15 in seven starts this semester. At the NCAA Athens Regional, she shot 6 under on the back nine and closed with two birdies to lift Augusta into the fifth and final spot, giving the Jaguars their first trip to the NCAA Championship.

Haase-Hegg said Mirabel puts the team before herself. If some of her teammates are struggling with a drill, she’s the first to start shagging balls and cheer them on.

The Jaguars have five top-3 finishes this spring, including a victory at the Southland Conference Championship. Last month, Ting was named the Southland Conference Women’s Golf Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year. She’s currently 15th in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

Before Augusta headed to Scottsdale, Arizona, this week they gathered at Bodega Ultima with about 100 supporters from the community to celebrate an important milestone for the program.

The NCAA Championship gets underway on Friday at Grayhawk Golf Club with the first of four stroke-play rounds. Thirty teams will be cut to 15 after 54 holes. On Monday, an individual champion will be crowned and eight teams will advance to match play.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CsY428prjlN/?hl=en

Haase-Hegg still has her own college coach and former boss, retired Purdue coach Devon Brouse, listed as one of the favorites on her phone. He’s usually out gardening when she calls. She’s leaned on him often this year, recalling the hardships that have molded and strengthened.

“That’s what I see in Mirabel – she’s come out stronger,” said Haase-Hegg. “She’s more resilient. She’s got a perspective to life that not many 17-year-olds have.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=]

How one round of golf with three pros landed Dawson Booth — who is blind in one eye — a spot on Augusta University’s team

“I birdied four of the first five holes,” said Booth, “and they were like who is this kid?”

Brock Hoover had played golf with his Augusta University teammate and roommate Dawson Booth roughly 10 times before realizing that Booth was blind in one eye. Hoover had gone in for a routine fist-bump and had to call out “Dawson!” to get his attention.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Booth explained. “I’m blind in my right eye.”

Handshakes can get awkward for Booth, too, as the lack of depth perception means he sometimes misses the other person’s hand entirely.

Diagnosed with uveitis, an inflammation that impacts the middle layer of the eye, at age 3, Booth had cataract surgery two years later and was diagnosed with glaucoma at age 12. Juvenile idiopathic arthritis is the underlying condition that ultimately led to a lifetime of vision impairments that culminated with six surgeries during his junior year of high school.

During one particularly harrowing complication, Booth’s right eye had to be patched back together with a synthetic graft made in a lab.

“I call it the bionic eye,” he said good-naturedly.

A young Dawson Booth (Courtesy photo)

By the time it was time to pick a college, Booth, a former baseball pitcher, had given up on the dream of playing college golf and was set to follow the family tradition of majoring in mechanical engineering at Georgia. While in Athens, he played one round of golf with a friend who played on a women’s club team but had mostly moved on from the game competitively.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Booth moved back home to Augusta, Georgia, where his parents live at Champions Retreat. He started practicing again with a friend who played collegiately at USC-Aiken, and one day was invited to play a round of golf with PGA Tour pros Luke List and Henrik Norlander and PGA Tour Champions player Scott Parel.

“I birdied four of the first five holes,” said Booth, “and they were like who is this kid?”

All three pros individually called Augusta head coach Jack O’Keefe about Booth, imploring him to give the kid a look.

“He shot 68 I believe and beat or tied all of them,” said O’Keefe, a former PGA Tour player.

O’Keefe took them up on the idea, giving Booth a second chance at a childhood dream. Booth is now a sophomore athletically and a junior academically.

“He’s just been a wonderful young man,” said O’Keefe. “A true student-athlete who puts academics first. He puts his faith first as well … having to deal with what he’s had to deal with from an early age, a real inspiration really for a lot of these guys on the team and me as well.”

O’Keefe describes Booth as one of the most naturally talented players on the team. He hits it a mile but is learning to tone down some of that swing speed to eliminate big numbers.

Because of his vision impairment, Booth relies on his feet a lot to gauge the level of the ground and slope.

“What other people can see and feel and do,” he said, “I have to feel and do.”

Booth competed in four events for the Jaguars last fall, compiling a 75.83 scoring average.

“The biggest thing is just trying to settle him down a little bit,” said O’Keefe. “He wants it so bad.”

Augusta University golf team member Dawson Booth photographed at the J. Fleming Norvell Golf House Friday afternoon February 4, 2022. Photo by Michael Holahan/Augusta University.

The PGA Tour is Booth’s current Plan A, though he has switched his major to chemistry with medical school in mind. A mission trip to Jamaica opened Booth’s heart again to becoming an eye doctor, something he’d long ago considered but shied away from due to the number of years he’d be in school.

A chance conversation with a blind man in a Jamaican infirmary, however, changed that perspective. When Booth realized that the man’s condition could’ve been totally preventable had he been able to afford surgery, he knew that he had to help. Whether Booth makes it on Tour and one day starts a foundation or goes to medical school himself to perform the surgeries, the young man is determined to make a difference.

Booth wears glasses when he plays to protect his left eye. Blunt force trauma triggered the condition in his right eye to progress more quickly, but he knows he’ll likely lose vision in his left eye one day too, whether that’s in the coming years or when he’s 80.

It’s the reason why he rises early in the morning to make the most of every day.

Booth is intrigued by the USGA’s new U.S. Adaptive Open, which will debut this July at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 6. The field will include 96 players, with at least five male players and two female players per impairment category. Vision impairment is among the eight categories.

The biggest key for Booth, O’Keefe said, is tournament reps after taking so much time away from competitive golf. Most people wouldn’t have a clue that Booth is blind in one eye. An observant person could tell that something is wrong simply because his right eye is usually red and kind of swollen. Otherwise, it’s business as usual for Booth, a man with big plans and a bigger heart.

“He just fights through it,” said O’Keefe. “He doesn’t make any excuses, ever.”

[mm-video type=playlist id=01es6rjnsp3c84zkm6 player_id=none image=https://golfweek.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]