Five things we loved at Augusta National

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The 2023 Drive, Chip and Putt finals brought with it a mix of veterans and newcomers.

The annual event brings youth golfers from across the country to compete against one another in boys’ and girls’ divisions broken down into several age groups. It serves as an opportunity to play at Augusta National Golf Club, while being able to meet a host of iconic figures in the game of golf and former Masters Tournament champions.

For many of these players, it’s a years-long process to qualify for the finals at Augusta. When they do get here, it all comes down to six shots: Two drives, two chips and two putts. The competition is stout but the experience of competing the Sunday before the Masters is second to none.

With the wide range of competitors comes a wide range of interesting stories.

Here are five that stood out at this year’s competition:

A delayed flight

Even a brief battle with Mother Nature didn’t stop Martha Kuwahara from taking the title in the Girls’ 14-15 division. The Northbrook, Illinois, native dealt with a pair of delayed flights out of O’Hare International Airport in Chicago and didn’t make it to Augusta until the 11th hour.

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“Yesterday when we were flying in, we had a flight at 4 a.m., I woke up at 2 a.m., got ready. A thunderstorm came down and delayed until 11 a.m. and then it thunderstormed and delayed until 2 p.m.,” she said. “We got to Atlanta at 7 p.m. and then we had to drive down here. It was midnight when we came. I just missed parties, I missed registration, I missed everything. We were all like, ‘Oh yeah we got all the bad luck out yesterday so all the good luck is today and it just all worked out.’”

Having competed in the Drive, Chip and Putt finals a year ago, this time around Kuwahara was able to calm the nerves and focus solely on making shots.

“It helped me a lot. It helped me with my nervousness,” she said. “I worked with my mental coach to just plan this whole thing out. My putting and chipping I knew the breaks, distance and everything. It was really nice to have like a practice round thing.”

The ANWA effect

An aspiring college golfer, Kuwahara said she was tuned in to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur this week, closely following champion Rose Zhang, in particular. She wasn’t alone. A theme quickly became apparent Sunday as many competitors mentioned Zhang’s performance.

“I actually follow a lot of…