Tag: Champions Retreat Golf Club

ANWA host club Champions Retreat being sold to Texas-based Arcis Golf

Arcis Golf expands on its portfolio of nearly 70 clubs around the country.

Champions Retreat in Evans, Georgia – the host club for the first two rounds of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur each year – is being sold to Dallas-based Arcis Golf.

Terms of the deal, slated to close Friday, have not been released. News of the impending sale was emailed to Champions Retreat members, as first reported in the Augusta Press. The impending sale was confirmed independently by Golfweek, although an official statement has not been released to news organizations.

The private Champions Retreat near Augusta consists of three nine-hole courses designed by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. The ANWA is played each April on Palmer’s The Island nine and Nicklaus’ The Bluffs nine before moving to Augusta National Golf Club for the final round the Saturday before the Masters begins. The club also features oversized and luxurious cabins with a top-notch food and beverage program. The club has opened its gates to guests during Masters weeks in recent years.

Champions Retreat was founded in 2005. Its reputation began to take off in 2014 when it was purchased by Bill Forrest, founder of the Connecticut-based private equity firm Tower Three Partners.

Arcis Golf, founded in 2013, owns or operates nearly 70 private, resort and daily-fee clubs around the United States. Its properties include TPC River’s Bend in Ohio, Cowboys Golf Club in Dallas, Grayhawk Golf Club in Arizona and Tijeras Creek Golf Club in California. Atairos, an independent private company focused on supporting growth-oriented businesses, acquired a substantial ownership position in Arcis in 2020. Fortress Investment Group LLC also maintains a significant ownership stake in Arcis.

Five things to know from the second round of 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur beyond World No. 1 Rose Zhang’s brilliance

There were plenty of highlights on a day when red numbers peppered the leaderboard.

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EVANS, Ga. — The Rose Zhang Show broke out early at Champions Retreat and picked up steam as the World No. 1 put together another record day at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. The Stanford sophomore broke her own course record with a second-round 65 and now leads Andrea Lignell by five strokes heading into Saturday’s final round at Augusta National.

Zhang’s 13-under 131 total also set a record.

While it almost feels like all that’s left is a celebration of Zhang, there were plenty of other highlights on a day when red numbers peppered the board for one of the most pressure-packed days in golf. A total of 31 players made the cut. Every player in the field, however, will tee it up on Friday for a practice round at Augusta National.

Here are five things to know beyond the Zhang headlines from Day 2 at ANWA:

Rose Zhang breaks her own record, runs away with five-shot lead at 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur

The world’s top-ranked amateur has shot rounds of 65-66 and set multiple tournament records so far this week.

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EVANS, Ga. — Rose Zhang has a knack for making golf look incredibly easy, and the Stanford star is up to her usual antics once again this week.

Over the first two rounds of the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, the 19-year-old phenom has made just one bogey at Champions Retreat — host course for the opening two rounds of the 54-hole event — and will enter Saturday’s final round at Augusta National Golf Club with a five shot lead at 13 under.

The world’s top-ranked amateur shot the low round of the day on Thursday, a blistering 7-under 65 to follow her 6-under 66 in Wednesday’s opening round. Zhang set the 18-hole tournament record for low score in the first round then beat her own mark in the second.

An equipment representative said it best: “There’s a lot of really good players here, but there’s one great one.”

Those numbers and praise shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given Zhang’s status in the game, form this season (five wins in six college starts) and past history at the event. Zhang has finished T-17 (2019), T-3 (2021) and T-12 (2022) in three previous ANWA appearances, and is one of three members of the exclusive club of players to play all four editions of the event.

2023 ANWA: Scores | Photos | Five things from second round

“I just feel very grateful to have this kind of platform, and playing well these first two rounds is certainly something that I’m super proud of,” said Zhang after her record round. “It’s not just me that kind of did this. I feel like everyone who supports me out there, I really felt the support. I really felt the love.

“I had a whole entourage in the back of my head.”

After winning the U.S. Girls’ Junior, U.S. Women’s Amateur and NCAA individual national championship, the ANWA is the final event left for Zhang to conquer in her accolade-laden amateur career.

“The job’s not done yet,” said the always humble Zhang. “We still have to go out there and play a good round.”

Those of you who watched the ANWA last year saw Latanna Stone give away the tournament over the last few holes, and if any course can shake up a leaderboard, it’s the one down Magnolia Lane.

Ole Miss senior Andrea Lignell and Georgia fifth year Jenny Bae have done well to keep Zhang within sight this week and should be in the mix come Saturday. Lignell, a two-time winner this season, sits solo second at 8 under after opening rounds of 67-69. Constantly in the mix for the Bulldogs with a win and five top-5 finishes this year, Bae is a shot back in third at 7 under after a 4-under 68 in the second round.

“Last year I really learned key lessons, and I took home a little bit of the things that I needed to work on,” said Bae, who missed the cut in 2022. “It kind of proved to me that I can also compete at this level, but at the same time I also need to work on the smaller things that I normally choose not to do. Yeah, the past year I’ve grinded really hard, and I think it proved.

“I’m really proud of myself,” she continued. “I don’t really say that about myself, and I really should start to.”

Wednesday’s weather conditions made for a difficult day to score, but players found their groove under Thursday’s sunny skies after a morning fog delay. Of the 72 players in the field, 27 were under par in the second round compared to just 12 in the first round.

All 72 players in the field will play a practice round at Augusta National on Friday, and the top-30 players and ties who made the cut will compete in the final round on Saturday.

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Bohyun Park makes first hole-in-one in Augusta National Women’s Amateur history

Bohyun Park will be tied to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur forever.

Bohyun Park made history Thursday. Her name will forever be tied to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur thanks to her tee shot on the par-3 eighth hole.

Park, the 20-year-old from Farmers Branch, Texas, stepped to the tee at Champions Retreat Golf Club in Evans, Georgia, at 1 over par for the tournament. The 142-yard hole goes over a creek and had a front pin location. The sophomore at Texas hit her tee shot, and the ball landed short of the hole and bounced a couple times before rolling into the left side of a cup.

Boom, an ace. A historic hole-in-one, as Park hit the first ace in the history of the ANWA.

It moved her to 1 under for the tournament and into the top 10 on the leaderboard.

The top 30 players and ties make the 36-hole cut and will play at Augusta National Golf Club in the final round on Saturday. All 72 players in the field will play in a practice round Friday at Augusta National.

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Kentucky’s Jensen Castle in contention at 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur despite injury flare up

Castle battled the world’s best amateurs once with a rib injury, so why not do it again at Augusta National?

Contending at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur is challenging enough, let alone doing so with an injury.

That is, unless you’re Jensen Castle.

The Kentucky senior was forced to withdraw from last week’s Clemson Invitational – the final event of the regular season for the Wildcats – with a rib injury, but finds herself T-4 at the 2023 ANWA after a 2-under 70 in the first round of play at Champions Retreat in Evans, Georgia.

“Right now, we’re not really sure what it is,” explained Castle, who noted the injury started as a stress fracture in 2021. “It’s flared up this past week. I don’t know if it was just a lot of golf or tightness, maybe I didn’t stretch well enough, I don’t know. Unfortunate timing for sure, especially with Augusta this week.”

Stanford’s star sophomore and the world’s No. 1 amateur Rose Zhang leads at 6 under, with Ole Miss senior Andrea Lignell in second at 5 under. Georgia fifth year Jenny Bae is solo third at 3 under.

“I was supposed to play on Friday and I took Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday off,” she continued, “so it sounds pretty familiar to the Women’s Am.”

Meet the ANWA field: Americans | Internationals

Two years ago, Castle survived a 12-for-2 playoff just to advance from stroke play to match play at the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Westchester Country Club in New York. She then went on to come back in three of six matches to eventually claim the trophy over Arizona’s Yu-Chiang (Vivian) Hou.

Castle battled the world’s best amateurs once with a rib injury, so why not do it again at one of the game’s most demanding courses?

The first two rounds of the tournament are played at Champions Retreat on Wednesday and Thursday, which is no easy test. Every golfer in the field then makes the 15-mile trip to play a practice round on Friday at Augusta National, before the top-30 and ties compete in the final round at Augusta National on Saturday.

Castle, who grew up two hours north in Columbia, South Carolina, finished T-12 last year in her first appearance at Augusta National and thinks the event is already one of, if not the, biggest in women’s amateur golf.

“This is gonna be as big as the USGA, if not bigger,” said Castle, referencing the U.S Women’s Amateur. “It’s only year four I think, and it is extremely well known. I mean, this is everyone’s dream to get to this tournament, and once you’re here, you cherish every little thing. Everyone looks at you as such a hero and such a role model for the younger generation, which I think is really cool. So this is going to be one of the biggest amateur golf events if not already.”

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Past champion Anna Davis receives four-stroke penalty at Augusta National Women’s Amateur

Davis recorded a bogey on the hole, but she wound up with a nine.

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EVANS, Ga. — Augusta National Women’s Amateur defending champion Anna Davis will face a severe uphill climb in her title defense after a four-shot penalty. Davis picked up her ball twice from the rough on the first hole at Champions Retreat to lift, clean and place, she explained after the round.

Davis thought she recorded a bogey on the hole but wound up with a nine, as two penalty strokes are applied to each infraction. Davis said she was informed of the potential violation on the fourth tee, which she proceeded to double.

The tournament released the following statement after her round: “During play of her first hole, Anna Davis lifted her ball and failed to replace it on its original spot on two separate occurrences. Under Rule 9.4, Ms. Davis has been penalized two strokes for each occurrence of playing from a wrong place. Her score on hole 1 will be increased from 5 to 9.”

“Little rough start to the day,” said Davis, “but that’s alright, it happens. It’s a learning experience.”

Augusta National sent out a memo to players on March 28 noting that due to heavy rains earlier in the week, the committee opted to adopt Model Local Rule E-3 “preferred lies” for the first two rounds of the tournament.

The rule restricts the use of preferred lies to “areas cut to fairway height or less.” Davis mistakenly thought the rule was for the entire course, which is why she did it twice on the first hole. She didn’t find out until after her round that she would take the penalty.

“I asked my scorer if we were doing it like everywhere,” said Davis, “but I guess he didn’t know. But he said, ‘Yeah, we were.’ So whatever, it happens.”

Davis has Ryan Bisharat, a family friend and former University of San Diego college player who plays out of the same club in California, on the bag this week. Davis said Bisharat tried to take the blame, and she assured him that everything was OK.

The top-30 players and ties advance to the final round, held at Augusta National. Davis won the third edition of the tournament last spring at age 16 and came into this week’s tournament fresh off a victory at the nearby Junior Invitational at Sage Valley.

Davis sits at 4 over for the tournament and T-43.

2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur schedule, how to watch on TV and stream online

All three rounds of the event will be televised.

It’s officially Augusta National Women’s Amateur week, which means the best amateur women’s golfers from around the world are in Augusta, Georgia.

The field is comprised of 72 golfers. There will be 54 holes of stroke play, with the first two rounds being Wednesday and Thursday from Champions Retreat Golf Club. The top 30 will make the cut and advance to Saturday’s final round at Augusta National. Every player will get to go down Magnolia Lane on Friday, however, for a practice round.

There are 37 players making their ANWA debut while 35 are returning.

Here’s how you can keep up with the ANWA this week. All times Eastern.

Meet the ANWA field: Americans | Internationals

TV coverage

The first and second rounds from Champions Retreat Golf Club will be live on Golf Channel from 1:30-3:30 p.m. ET. The final round will be broadcast from 12-3 p.m. ET on NBC. Golf Channel’s “Live from the Masters” will also be live on Friday during the practice round and wrap ANWA coverage on Saturday.

Streaming

The final round will also be live on anwagolf.com. The presentation ceremony will also be streamed on anwagolf.com.

Social media

Fans can also follow @anwagolf on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok to view highlights, interviews and more.

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