With the Augusta National Women’s Amateur postponed, many invitees face uncertainty as their college seasons come to a halt due to COVID-19.
Lauren Hartlage’s favorite picture from last year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur is one she took of the club’s iconic 12th hole – from the other side of the Hogan bridge. For the past year, it has been the backdrop on her cell phone. She looks at it every day for motivation.
“It makes me smile every time,” she said.
On March 13, No. 12 was the backdrop for heartbreaking news. Hartlage had received an email from Augusta National a few minutes before a notification popped on her phone that the Masters, plus the ANWA and the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals, would be postponed in the wake of a nationwide coronavirus outbreak.
Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said only that the club hoped to be in position to safely host the Masters and the two amateur events “at some later date.”
Hartlage was one of 30 women set to return this year after playing the inaugural ANWA in 2019. Part of the reason she can still think about Augusta and smile in uncertain times is that the tournament itself exceeded her wildest dreams.
Hartlage, a senior at Louisville, is suddenly faced with many decisions. While the ANWA has only been postponed, the rest of the spring college golf season has been canceled. The NCAA announced it would grant additional eligibility to its athletes, but details are scarce.
In the meantime, Hartlage is trying to treat an unexpected break like an offseason.
“It’s hard when you don’t know what you’re practicing for,” she said. “We don’t know when the next time we’re going to be playing is. I definitely don’t want to stop.”
A year ago, Augusta National was uncharted territory for women, at least competitively. When the ANWA is played the next time – whenever that may be – the stakes will be undeniably different. It can never again be the first time.
Duke freshman Erica Shepherd, another returner, has some unfinished business there.
Shepherd was among 30 women to make a 36-hole cut and compete at Augusta National in the final round. She was nine groups ahead of the Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi show.
Shepherd was 2 under on the front and her name was on the leaderboard until she miscalculated a yardage on her second shot at the par-5 15th and left it in the water. She made double there and followed it with two bogeys to finish with 75, good for T-23 overall.
Like many players, Shepherd has rewatched last year’s final-round broadcast many times. It gives her goosebumps as well as a new goal.
“I think that I had my dream of playing in Augusta, being one of the first females to ever do that, and then now, after watching Kupcho and Fassi in the final group, just seeing the impact that had on the game, being in that position myself over the next four years … that’s the dream now,” she said.
Life goes on, though, in spite of the ANWA being put on hold. Abbey Carlson, a Vanderbilt senior, already has a job lined up at Boeing. The real world awaits.
Carlson cried when she got her ANWA invitation in January. She’s never been to Augusta.
Emotions overflowed at the postponement announcement too, though she admits she was “thrilled to see the word postponed and not canceled.”
Considering that Carlson isn’t planning to play professionally, the ANWA would have been her goodbye to high-level competitive golf (at least until she’s eligible for the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur). It may still be. If the tournament goes off in the fall, Carlson won’t hesitate to ask her boss for days off.
In light of the uncertainty, Carlson hasn’t touched a club since the NCAA postseason was called off March 12.
“It was a hard realization that I don’t know when the next time I’m going to play a tournament is,” she said.
Days after Augusta’s postponement, Alabama senior Kenzie Wright, a first-time ANWA invitee, was in her car headed home to Texas. She admitted to having “completely lost track of my days” with so much of her golf future up in the air. Still, she had steeled herself for this.
“Worst-case scenario, I’m just going to plan on it being canceled and anything better than that is good news,” she said. “I was bracing for the worst.”
Wright was the Tide’s leading scorer this season with 20 of her 21 rounds counting toward the team score. She felt like her game might be peaking with just a few weeks to go until the ANWA.
This would likely be her only chance to compete at Augusta National, and she hasn’t lost hope.
“I’ve had so many of my amateur goals that I haven’t been able to finish or accomplish because of everything coming to a halt,” she said. “This is something I want to stay amateur for no matter what.” Gwk
This story originally appeared in Issue 2 – 2020 of Golfweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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