Maria Fassi found out she will compete at the U.S. Women’s Open in December ahead of Round 2 at the inaugural Pelican Women’s Championship.
BELLEAIR, Florida – Maria Fassi was just about to head to the course on Thursday when her cousin delivered some good news: She’s now in the U.S. Women’s Open.
The pair immediately began to jump around.
It wasn’t that long ago, Fassi said, that she was 14th on the alternate list. But, as players begin to drop out, like Shanshan Feng for example, Fassi zipped up the list. The U.S. Women’s Open will take place Dec. 10-13 at Champions Golf Club in Houston.
“I was pretty sad honestly,” said Fassi of potentially missing out on the year’s final major. “For me, the U.S. Open is the one that I look forward to the most.”
Fassi is competing at the inaugural Pelican Women’s Championship, shot a second-round 70 Friday at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. Fassi was coming off a first-round 73.
With the pandemic still wreaking havoc on travel schedules, it’s likely that several more alternates will get into the field of 156 players. The list of alternates comes directly off the Rolex Rankings.
Fassi’s T-12 performance at last year’s USWO at Country Club of Charleston yielded a $103,065 paycheck that ultimately secured her card for 2020.
Fassi’s taking great inspiration from the recent victory of Carlos Ortiz on the PGA Tour and Abraham Ancer making his way into the final group at the Masters last week.
“I did not miss one single shot that Abraham or Carlos hit,” she said.
Ancer and Fassi met in person for the first time in April and talked quite a bit about Augusta National. Fassi, of course, finished runner-up to Jennifer Kupcho at last year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur and Ancer made his debut in the Masters last week.
“We talked more about the experience itself more than the course,” said Fassi.
“I was like, I’ve never been that nervous in a practice round, everything was overwhelming.”
Fassi carded an eventful xx in the second round of the Pelican Women’s Championship and is xx for the tournament.
Here’s who’s next on the U.S. Women’s Open alternate list:
There are 10 spots available for Royal Troon. The top 10 players not otherwise qualified will punch their tickets.
SYLVANIA, Ohio – Back-to-back eagles from Bianca Pagdanganan on Friday vaulted her up the leaderboard at the Marathon LPGA Championship and put her squarely in position to qualify for the year’s first major, the newly renamed AIG Women’s Open (formerly known as the Women’s British) Aug. 20-23 at Royal Troon.
The last two holes at Highland Meadows Golf Club are par 5s and the long-hitting Pagdanganan made 10-foot eagle putts on both holes to card a 67 and vault into the top 10. (Pagdanganan started her round on the 10th hole.)
“That’s so cool,” said the Arizona grad, who is making her second start as an LPGA rookie. “That’s also the first time it’s ever happened to me, back to back eagle. I was like, Oh, that’s pretty rare. Of course, I just like had to keep my cool throughout the round. Couldn’t just let that take over. I was able to calm myself down and just hold on to that.”
There are 10 spots available for Royal Troon. The top 10 players not otherwise qualified will punch their tickets. On Saturday, Mariah Stackhouse put herself in strong position after posting an early 65.
In the case of a tie, there are a series of tiebreakers in place to determine the final qualifier. Any unused spots will be allocated at the next week’s qualifier at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open.
Because there are no local qualifiers taking place this year for the Women’s Open due to COVID-19, the number of spots available out of Marathon has doubled from five to 10.
The qualifying leaderboard through two rounds of the Marathon LPGA Classic
Maria Fassi talked to Lorena Ochoa for two hours on Thursday night. Ochoa listened, and then she didn’t mince words.
SYLVANIA, Ohio – Maria Fassi talked to Lorena Ochoa for two hours on Thursday night. They’d been texting back and forth for days, and Fassi’s mom suggested they do it the old-fashioned way. Ochoa’s longtime coach, Rafael Alarcon was on the call, too, and started off by asking Fassi how she was thinking and feeling on the golf course.
Ochoa listened, and then she didn’t mince words.
“She’s tough,” said Fassi, smiling. “She’s like ‘I don’t care. You have to reset. I don’t care how good you were as amateur, you’ve got to start all over again.’”
Fassi took everything the 27-time tour winner and World Golf Hall of Famer said to heart. She fired a 66 on Day 2 of the Marathon LPGA Classic and sits in fourth place, four strokes behind leader Lydia Ko.
The former Arkansas star told Ochoa that when she missed a putt, she’d been struggling to trust herself over the next one. Talk positively to yourself, Ochoa told her, really try digging into yourself to see what’s going on.
“I was definitely a lot more … aware of what was going on inside of me than I’ve ever been,” said Fassi, “In a way that helped me just forget about everything else and really focus on myself and my game.”
After waiting 166 days for the LPGA to restart its 2020 season, Fassi opened with a disappointing 79 at the LPGA Drive On Championship and followed it with a 77 to miss the cut.
“I got hit hard in the head last week,” said Fassi.
Tough love from a Mexican icon this week might yield Fassi’s best finish yet.
With the LPGA on an extended break due to the coronavirus, Maria Fassi will get in some reps on the Moonlight Tour, a men’s mini-tour.
David Leadbetter has only one request of Maria Fassi this week: Don’t try to outhit the men.
He’s serious, too.
On Wednesday, Fassi will compete in a two-day men’s mini tour event at ChampionsGate near Orlando, Florida, where she now lives and practices. The Moonlight Tour event will be held on the International Course, and Fassi has been teeing it up from 7,300 yards to prepare.
“She’s probably one of the most powerful players ever to play on the LPGA tour, speed-wise,” said Leadbetter. The 2019 NCAA Champion reminds him of a young Michelle Wie in that respect.
“She’s constantly over the 300 mark.”
Fassi’s clubhead speed average of 108 to 109 mph with driver puts her on the lower end of PGA Tour players and right in line with men that have made plenty of money, names like Brandt Snedeker, Matt Kuchar and Zach Johnson.
“Some courses (on the LPGA) actually really don’t suit her,” said Leadbetter, “because she almost runs out of room. We’re really working hard on her wedge play and her short game.”
Fassi said she’ll feel more pressure to capitalize on good looks at birdie on the Moonlight Tour, given that she’ll likely have fewer of them with longer clubs in her hand. She looks forward to the challenge.
“In my head, I still think I can go and win the tournament,” she said.
While the LPGA has been on extended break due to the coronavirus, Leadbetter and Fassi have attacked one particular aspect of her game that has caused a great deal of destruction: the shank.
“We call it ‘the funny shot,’ ” Leadbetter said.
The shank can strike at any time, whether she’s 5 under or 5 over. If she hits one, usually there’s a few more coming. Earlier this year the TV cameras were rolling when she shanked alongside eventual winner Madelene Sagstrom at the Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio. The shank has cost her junior titles, college titles and a whole lot of money on the LPGA thus far in her short career.
“Ever since I can remember, I’ve had the shanks,” she said.
The same trait that makes her potential so vast is the same trait that causes such cringe-worthy shots – her speed.
“My lower body is super fast,” she said. “Sometimes the club falls far behind and there’s no way my hands can catch up. The hosel gets there before the face.”
Fassi tries to laugh them off. Getting angry on the course, she said, isn’t going to make them go away. She hasn’t shanked in practice in over a month, but then again she hasn’t been under the pressure of competition either, when she starts to swing even faster. Leadbetter joked that he has given her the “shank vaccine.”
“I don’t know if it’s true,” said Fassi, “but (Leadbetter) says that the shank is the closest thing to a perfect shot. I try to believe that’s the truth, and that keeps me going and lets me sleep at night.”
The Moonlight event gives Fassi a chance to put into practice what she has worked on since the LPGA went on hiatus in mid-February. There were no girls growing up at her home course in Mexico, so she got used to playing with the guys. She did the same in college, using the opportunity to learn as much as she could. This will be her first official tournament against men.
Fassi’s aggressive playing style and interview candor makes her one of the most compelling young players in the women’s game. Last year, after a riveting runner-up finish against Jennifer Kupcho at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, some began to tout her as a potential superstar.
Would she be interested in one day becoming the seventh woman to ever compete in a PGA Tour event?
The inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur was an instant classic. Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi relive the historic day.
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Editor’s note: Golfweek recently caught up with LPGA players Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi to look back on the final round of the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Because the tournament, originally scheduled for this week, has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, NBC will rebroadcast the 2019 edition on Saturday from 1 -3:30 p.m.
Looking back, Maria Fassi can’t believe how fast she went to sleep. It must have been the bonfire at the family’s rental house that put her at ease the night before her world forever changed.
“Waking up was honestly just like any other morning,” Fassi recalled. “I had picked out my outfit the night before, just like any other tournament. It wasn’t until we were driving into Augusta National, down Magnolia Lane, that I thought maybe this isn’t just another round. I was wearing my headphones, just to play it cool.”
Jennifer Kupcho arrived about an hour and 15 minutes prior to her 10:20 a.m. tee time. Amateurs usually prep on the range under the watchful eye of a parent or coach and that’s about it. But at the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur last April, thousands poured in on a postcard-perfect Saturday to witness history. They wanted autographs and high-fives and selfies.
Kupcho scanned the crowd as she warmed up, looking for the familiar faces who had come to watch her play.
The two friends suddenly found themselves alone on the practice putting green next to the first tee. They teased each other to lighten the mood.
“I think she drained a long putt and I was like ‘Oh, I see how it is,’ ” recalled Kupcho. “She’s like, ‘I have to do something to keep up with you.’ ”
Annika Sorenstam, Nancy Lopez, Se Ri Pak and Lorena Ochoa awaited the college seniors on the first tee. Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson was there too.
“I was like ‘Oh boy, I’ve got to hit a shot in front of him now,’ ” laughed Fassi.
She went in for a fist-bump while Kupcho looked for a high-five. It was a funny, awkward moment that released tension and melted into a hug. The pair set the tone right there: Let’s have fun.
Fassi typically says a short prayer prior to the start of every round. She usually asks for general things like health. It’s never about results.
On Saturday morning at Augusta, however, as she waited for her name to be called, Fassi asked God for something different.
“I need the ball to stay on the tee,” she told him. “Just help me with that. I don’t care where the ball goes.”
Fassi, a high-octane player with enormous power, bogeyed that first hole but recorded four birdies before making the turn. Neither player remembers too many details from that front nine. The shot that sticks out the most, Fassi said, was her approach into the seventh. She’d hit that same shot to a front right pin during a practice round with her caddie, more to defy him than anything else. But he was right, and when they saw that hole location on Saturday, Fassi said, “Hey, this is our pin.”
Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi walk across the Hogan Bridge on the 12th hole at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
“It’s very weird to be aiming 15 yards past and 5 or 10 yards left of the pin with wedge in your hand,” she said. “Of course, nobody is clapping because everyone thinks I missed the shot.”
But as the ball spun off the fringe and started trekking back down the slope toward the hole, the noise began to crescendo. She’ll never forget that build-up to a tap-in. Augusta magic.
Fassi, who trailed by one coming into the final round, tied Kupcho after seven holes in what had essentially turned into a match-play contest.
After Fassi putted out for birdie on the par-5 eighth, Kupcho began to experience blurry vision in her left eye while on the green. She missed the birdie putt, and the reality of a migraine setting in shook her to the core.
“Like why now?” Kupcho asked. “I was definitely full-out panicking. This is my biggest moment, and I get a migraine.”
The last time Kupcho had played through a migraine was in high school, when she battled through to reach the Colorado state championships.
Kupcho crouched down in pain on the ninth tee and waited for medicine. Fassi first noticed that something was amiss on the 10th tee when Kupcho’s caddie asked her brother to get her a Coke.
“I’ve played with her a million times and that’s not her mid-round snack,” said Fassi, who thought maybe her friend had a craving or needed a jolt of sugar.
It was the caffeine that Kupcho needed most. She polished off the rest of the Coke in the 10th fairway. On the green, she missed a short par putt, bravely taking on Augusta’s greens in the dark.
Relief came on Amen Corner.
“I remember walking off the 11th tee and looking back at my caddie, saying ‘I can finally see again.’ ”
While standing in the 11th fairway, Kupcho caught the eye of Wake Forest coach Kim Lewellen. She held up four fingers, indicating to her coach that she needed four more birdies to get the job done. The goal was set.
Standing on the tee box of the par 3 known as Golden Bell, Kupcho knew that she had a 5-yard sweet spot to land the ball. The adrenaline was blocking out any pain that lingered. She felt surprisingly relaxed for being two strokes down.
“I thought, it’s time for me to show what I can do,” said Kupcho.
Fassi calls her own up-and-downs for par on Nos. 11 and 12 stronger than some of the birdies she made that day.
The Arkansas star thought she hit a perfect drive on the 13th tee but was disappointed to see her ball kick right into the rough.
Kupcho’s original plan on the 13th was to hit 3-wood and lay up. But she was down two strokes to Fassi with six to play and decided she had to go for it.
“I never hit a draw,” she said, “but I’m about to hit a draw with a driver and see how it goes.”
It worked out perfectly, setting up the one of the greatest approach shots ever hit into the 13th green by anyone – male or female. Kupcho pured a 3-hybrid from 211 yards out to 6 feet and drained the eagle putt.
“It was dead online,” said Kupcho. “Off the top of my head, I don’t really remember a better shot.”
Walking to the 14th tee, Kupcho heard her teammates shout “That’s two, you need two more!” (Eagles count as two in the Wake Forest birdie game.)
Fassi remembers Kupcho’s supporters too.
“I joke with them about it,” said Fassi, “telling them ‘you guys were so annoying.’ They should be. My family was annoyingly loud too, but I don’t care about that.”
Fassi bombed her drive off the 14th tee. During the practice round, she had 9-iron into that green. In the final round, she hit driver, 54-degree wedge.
Maria Fassi after hitting her drive on the 14th tee during the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
“The adrenaline I was feeling was just out of this world,” she said.
When Fassi drained her birdie putt on the 14th, she screamed “Vamos!” at a decibel that was so loud her coach/caddie told her to tone it down. It was the only way she knew to release the tension.
“I think it fires me up even more,” said Kupcho of Fassi’s fire, “because I just want to come back and do something so that I can fist pump.”
That opportunity came quickly on the par-5 15th, when Kupcho’s drive landed too far down the left side. The plan was to aim to the right side of the green by the bunker and grandstands and try to get up and down for birdie.
“That was the plan until I got over the ball,” said Kupcho. “I think I was just in a mindset that I don’t know why, but I thought I could pull off anything that I tried.”
The draw off the 13th tee worked, so why not try it again? Even Fassi applauded the effort.
After Fassi was forced to lay up, Kupcho two-putted from just off the back for the green from 20 feet to square the match once again with three holes to play.
On the 16th tee, Kupcho simply wanted to get the ball on the green. She hit another beauty to 6 feet while Fassi three-putted from the top right portion of the green. That opened up a two-shot swing for Kupcho, and she never relented.
“The three-putt on 16 hurts,” said Fassi. “Even then I wouldn’t take it back. I feel like things happen for a reason. I do not have one single regret, or even half-regret.”
Kupcho maintained her two-shot advantage as she walked onto the 18th tee. She took out a 3-wood, hoping to stay shot of the bunkers, and put it somewhere in the fairway.
Kupcho wasn’t exactly caught up in making history in that moment.
“I had to go to the bathroom so badly because I was so nervous,” she said, “that I was just thinking about that.”
Kupcho found the fairway while Fassi put her drive in the left bunker.
“Walking up the 18th fairway, of course I knew that it was over,” said Fassi. “I had tears in my eyes. I played the whole hole crying, but I wasn’t crying like I lost. I was crying like, in a way, very proud of myself. I was empty. I had nothing else in me. I could not have fought any harder.”
Kupcho, meanwhile, was in shock.
“Is this real?” she asked herself. “Am I living real life?”
Fassi had never seen so many people on a golf course. Couldn’t tell where the sea of people ended.
Kupcho remembers walking onto the green and looking for family, wondering how all of her loved ones would make it to the back of the green where they could celebrate.
“How does this all come together?” she thought to herself.
Before Fassi struck her first putt, she turned to Kupcho and said, “I hope you go to school with this putt.”
“I hope you’re a good teacher,” Kupcho replied.
It would end as it had begun, with playful ribbing among friends to lighten a heavy moment.
Kupcho, the No. 1-ranked player in the world who hit the opening tee shot in Round 1, drained the 20-foot birdie putt. The friendly rivals hugged not once, but twice. Kupcho played the last six holes in 5 under par to close with a 67 and win by four strokes. No one was more supportive than Fassi.
Jennifer Kupcho reacts on the 18th green after winning the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at Augusta National GC. (Photo: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports)
“It’s a feeling I can’t describe,” gushed Kupcho in Butler Cabin. She later enjoyed a low-key pizza party with her family before starting a whirlwind media tour.
Fassi keeps an album of pictures from that week on her phone and often scrolls through then when she’s on a plane. Something reminds her of that once-in-a-lifetime week nearly every day.
Back at her parents’ rental home Saturday night, her friends and family did their best to cheer her up. Fassi called her mom inside the house for moment of privacy. In her mother’s arms, she broke down and cried.
“Let’s just do this for five minutes,” she said. Then she’d be OK to face the world.
It was her mom, she’d later say, who put it best, as mothers often do.
“It’s very easy to be gracious when you win,” she said. “She’s like ‘it’s very hard to be gracious when you’re defeated, and you were that.’ For me to be seen by the world, I cannot tell you how many people tell me, ‘Hey, that was inspiring, what you did, the way you handled yourself.’
“All these things. I feel like they are a win for me. Yeh, I didn’t get the trophy, but I won. People saw me. People saw how I truly want to be remembered. In a way, maybe losing was what I needed. In a way, as you said, this was the introduction of Maria Fassi to the world. For it to have been the way it was, I don’t think I could’ve pained it any better.”
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.
It’s a significant day for Mexican golf. Shortly after Gaby Lopez locked up the first tournament of the LPGA season in seven extra holes, AT&T announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with Maria Fassi. The AT&T announcement is especially significant …
It’s a significant day for Mexican golf. Shortly after Gaby Lopez locked up the first tournament of the LPGA season in seven extra holes, AT&T announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with Maria Fassi.
The AT&T announcement is especially significant given that Fassi is the first LPGA athlete the company has signed. AT&T’s commitment to professional golf includes the sponsorship of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, the Masters, Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic and AT&T Athlete Jordan Spieth.
Fassi, of course, became an immediate fan favorite at the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur, where she finished runner-up to Jennifer Kupcho. Her potential star power was immediately recognized by many. PGA of America president Suzy Whaley played with Fassi in the pro-am at last year’s KPMG Women’s PGA and called her the LPGA’s next superstar.
Fassi will make her 2020 debut at this week’s Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio. She signed with TaylorMade late last year.
Maria Fassi agreed to a multi-year sponsorship deal with AT&T. (AT&T)
“Sports need role models like Maria whose incredible skills on the course and character beyond it continually elevate the game of golf for women and for all athletes,” said Lori Lee, Global Marketing Officer for AT&T Inc. and CEO AT&T Latin America in a release. “We’re committed to raising the visibility of women in sports and are thrilled to have Maria join our team.”
The AT&T logo will be placed on Fassi’s bag, sleeve, towel and phone case.
“I’m excited to be a part of the AT&T family and represent the brand for the first time as an AT&T Athlete this week at Gainbridge,” said Maria Fassi. “It’s great to be supported by a company that’s championed golf for decades, gives back to communities and supports up-and-coming athletes like me.”
Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols details her top five storylines from the past decade, ranging from amateurs to a Hall of Famer.
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Some stories stick with you, both as a reader and a writer. When I sat down to make a list of my top five story lines from the past decade, the process took all of one minute. I sat there longer, of course, jotting down all other ones that came to mind. But the top five didn’t change.
What do those five stories have in common?
Inspiration.
The athletes highlighted in these memorable stories range from major winners to amateurs to soon-to-be rookies. Even a Hall of Famer.
All proved unforgettable.
Lorena Ochoa retires from the LPGA on top of the world
My editor flew me down to Mexico when Lorena Ochoa announced her abrupt retirement in 2010. But he didn’t just send me to Mexico City, where she held her press conference. I also traveled to Guadalajara, where her father opened up the doors to her childhood home and lifelong friends and mentors sat down at the clubhouse patio to shed light on one of the most beloved figures in the game. But when I met Angelita at the 10th-hole snack bar, I knew exactly where this story had to begin.
Cameron Champ’s stellar U.S. Open start brings family joy
It was Friday at the 2017 U.S. Open and amateur Cameron Champ was racing up the leaderboard. I caught up with his father on the 17th hole at Erin Hills and introduced myself. Thank goodness the final hole is a par 5, because I needed every inch of that long walk to the clubhouse to get the foundation of Champ’s story and his grandfather’s phone number.
I’ll never forget walking to the back of the media tent where it was quiet and sitting down on the steps to call Mack Champ. He was hooked up to a dialysis machine back home in California when I called and didn’t realize that his grandson was two shots off the lead at a major. I can still hear his heaving sobs of joy. So beautiful.
I was out of the country celebrating a friend’s milestone birthday the day Stacy Lewis won in Portland. I woke up in the middle of the night to a text from my husband that Lewis had given us one of those “this is why we love sports” moments. We somehow knew this would happen.
Even with all of her onsite obligations, she took my FaceTime call and reflected on what it meant to win for Houston. It’s a day I’ll never forget. I pulled an all-nighter and then went paragliding over Lake Como for my friend’s 40ththe next morning. No doubt Lewis was flying higher!
While standing on the 18th green after Haley Moore sank the winning putt for Arizona, I turned to her mother, Michele, and asked if kids had been mean to her daughter growing up. Michele didn’t hesitate in answering. In May of 2018, I wasn’t quite sure how to ask that question. Now, Haley talks with ease about using her experience of being bullied as a platform to help young kids.
Tiger Woods won on Sunday at Augusta National in 2019. But if you had been there the week before, you would’ve already felt chills coming up the 18th. Walking onto the grounds of Augusta National and seeing nothing but women line the range and putting green was nothing short of surreal. That Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi put on a show for the ages at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur made a day that many gave up on long ago all the more spectacular. Decades from now we’ll look back on it as a watershed moment in women’s golf.
I remember pulling into the course in Rochester, New York, like it was yesterday and seeing Meredith Duncan walk toward my car with an armful of trial-sized toiletries. I rolled down the window to say hello and inquire about her load. Thus began one of the most authentic interviews I’ve ever had about life on tour. (I did manage to park my car before returning to talk to her on the range.)
Golfweek’s Julie Williams ranks the top 10 female college golfers of the past decade.
Women’s college golf is continually getting deeper, as evidenced by the number of new teams that are constantly coming into the mix in the postseason.
The past decade not only saw breakout stars, but more opportunities. For one thing, a women’s player of the year award came into the mix in 2014 with the creation of the ANNIKA Award. Like the Haskins Award, it’s voted on by players coaches and media.
Three of the women on this list have won that award — some multiple times. Others broke program record, NCAA records, racked up titles or led their teams to NCAA glory.
These are the best 10 women’s college golfers of the decade.
10. Bronte Law, UCLA (2013-2016)
UCLA’s Bronte Law. (Photo: UCLA Athletics)
Law won seven times in three and a half seasons as a Bruin (which is a program record), and almost half of those came in her junior season. That year ended with the ANNIKA Award as well as the top spot in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings. Over the course of her college career, Law shaved three shots off her scoring average.
The excitement in amateur golf can sometimes go overlooked. It rarely gets the headlines or the TV time that professional golf gets.
The excitement in amateur golf can sometimes go overlooked. It rarely gets the headlines or the TV time that professional golf or even college competition gets. Despite that, the stories of underdogs, comebacks, record rounds and breakthroughs are seemingly never-ending.
The following list represents the most impactful moments in the game over the past decade, from players who accomplished meaningful things to opportunities that changed the amateur landscape forever.
10. The USGA calendar gets a makeover
T.J. Vogel with the U.S. Amateur Public Links trophy in 2012.
In 2013, the USGA announced that it would do something it had never done before: Retire a championship. The following year, the U.S. Amateur Public Links and U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links were played for the final time. It was a big deal, considering that a Masters invitation was on the line for the winner of the APL. The hallmark of the Public Links championships was the opportunity they provided for the “everyman” golfer. Part of the USGA’s reasoning in ending them was the feeling that the tournaments ceased to serve their original purpose of creating opportunities for true public golfers.
The Public Links were replaced by the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball and U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball in 2015, tournaments played in the late spring that overlap the college postseason.
A side effect of the Public Links retirement that’s worth noting is that it becomes that much harder for a player to win multiple USGA titles in one season. Eun-jeong Seong was the last player to do that in 2016 when she won the U.S. Girls’ Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur. For five of the eight players who have won multiple USGA titles in one season, a Public Links title accounted for one of those wins.
It’s worth noting that in 2017, the USGA also retired the State Team Championship, which had been played biennially since 1995.
