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      The Masters Is Business as Usual as Georgia Faces a Political Onslaught

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      Major League Baseball pulled its All-Star Game from the Atlanta area, but Georgia’s most cherished sporting event remains firmly rooted in the state.AUGUSTA, Ga. — Georgia and its new elections law are caught up in a political riptide.But there’s scant evidence of that on and around the grounds of Augusta National Golf Club, where the state’s most cherished sporting event, the Masters, begins play on Thursday. There are no protests along Washington Road. There are only limited calls in Georgia, even among the law’s fiercest critics, to upend a springtime ritual at a club that stands on what was once an indigo plantation and did not admit a Black member until 1990.Indeed, even after Major League Baseball chose to move its All-Star Game from Georgia to protest the law that restricts access to voting, there was little doubt that the Masters would go on as planned this week — a reflection of golf’s Republican lean, but also of Augusta National’s honed willingness to defy pressure and, crucially, the reality that the mighty, mystique-filled brand of the Masters hinges on one course, and one course alone.“When you think about the Masters golf tournament, the first major of the year, the Augusta National Golf Club, to suggest that it ‘doesn’t happen’ in Augusta really speaks to people’s lack of knowledge about the Augusta National and, more importantly, the Masters,” said Mayor Hardie Davis Jr. of Augusta, a former Democratic legislator in the state and an avowed opponent of the new elections law.Tournament play will begin less than one week after baseball’s announcement about the All-Star Game, an exhibition that will now be played in Denver and, unlike the Masters, is staged in a different city each year. But Augusta National is still facing scrutiny from well outside its gates, not least because its membership includes executives whose current and former companies have come under pressure to condemn the machinations in Atlanta, the state capital.At the White House on Tuesday, President Biden said it was “up to the Masters” whether the tournament should be moved out of Georgia. He added that it was “reassuring to see that for-profit operations and businesses are speaking up.”Officials at the club, which remained all-male until 2012, did not respond to requests for comment about the law ahead of the tournament. Augusta National’s chairman, Fred S. Ridley, is scheduled to hold his annual news conference on Wednesday, when he will most likely be asked about the measure, which, among other provisions, limited the time for voters to request absentee ballots and handed broad powers to the Republican-controlled Legislature.Ridley, who became Augusta National’s chairman in 2017, has often had a more conciliatory tone than his predecessors on whatever controversy percolated around the tournament. Less than 20 years ago, Chairman William Johnson, whose nickname was Hootie, faced pressure to allow a woman to join Augusta National and responded by decreeing that a woman might someday be invited to join “but that timetable will be ours and not at the point of a bayonet.”At the height of the protests in 2003, Augusta National held the Masters without the support of television sponsors. It was “unfair,” Johnson said at the time, “to put the Masters media sponsors in the position of having to deal with this pressure.”But last autumn, with the country engaged in a sustained debate about some of the very racial inequities that had endured at Augusta National over its history, Ridley said that the club and three corporate partners had pledged $10 million for a pair of underserved Augusta neighborhoods that have grappled with generational poverty and neglect.Lee Elder became the first Black golfer to compete at the Masters in 1975.Doug Mills/The New York TimesOn Thursday, Lee Elder, who in 1975 became the first Black golfer to play the Masters, will join the traditional honorary starters Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player to hit the 2021 tournament’s ceremonial tee shots. To many people, Augusta National’s ultimate decisions were welcome but tardy, a familiar criticism for a club where opaqueness and caution are among the norms.This time, golf has given Ridley some cover. The sport has expressed measured anger — and suggested it had no desire, or willingness, to boycott Georgia.The PGA Tour, which does not control the Masters, said over the weekend that it would not move the Tour Championship, which is scheduled to be played in Atlanta, because of the economic and charitable repercussions the decision would have on nearby impoverished areas. It added, though, that the choice “to stage an event in a particular market should not be construed as indifference to the current conversation around voting rights” and that it was “a critical national priority to listen to the concerns about voter suppression — especially from communities of color that have been marginalized in the past.”The P.G.A. of America, which is planning to hold the Women’s P.G.A. Championship in suburban Atlanta in June, said it was “monitoring developments.”“We believe elections should be accessible, fair and secure, and support broad voter participation,” it added.And almost none of the sport’s top players have made open demands for any other approach, a contrast to the tactics of the Major League Baseball Players Association, which had made its reservations about the All-Star Game public.The golfer Collin Morikawa called the issue of voting “very important.”Doug Mills/The New York TimesCollin Morikawa, who won last year’s P.G.A. Championship, said this week that issues of voting were “very important” and that he did not believe that golfers were “stepping out of our way to block it out and forget about it.”“The topic of voter rights and all that, that should be the topic that we talk about, not if we are here playing golf,” he said.Bryson DeChambeau, who is hoping to contend after a disappointing Masters showing last year, avoided the clearest political tripwires but cited golf’s contributions to the communities where tournaments are held.“We try to show, no matter what happens, we’re going to do our best to be an example for the world,” he said. “I think when those times come about, we have an opportunity to show the world what we can provide.”But when asked on Tuesday whether golf or Augusta National should take a forceful stand against the law, Cameron Champ, who is biracial and one of the few Black players on the tour, replied, “I would think so” and moments later described baseball’s decision as “a big statement.”“It really targets certain Black communities, makes it harder for them to vote,” Champ, who wore shoes reading “Black Lives Matter” at a tournament last year, said of the Georgia statute.A crucial question for Augusta National in the coming weeks and months will be how to balance its views with whatever pressure its handful of tournament sponsors or the companies employing its members may face. A similar dynamic surfaced in the early 2000s, when Citigroup effectively acknowledged that Sanford I. Weill, an Augusta National member who was then the company’s chairman, had told the club that he supported adding women to the membership.Condoleezza Rice was one of the first two women to become members of Augusta National, in 2012.Doug Mills/The New York TimesIf Augusta National were to condemn the law, its message would carry outsize influence in the state.Although the club’s membership roster is not public, the guarded grounds are a gathering place for many of the South’s most powerful figures and their guests. And its known members include bipartisan political royalty, including Condoleezza Rice, who was raised in segregated Alabama and was secretary of state in the George W. Bush administration, and Sam Nunn, a Democrat who represented Georgia in the United States Senate for about 24 years.M.L.B. Commissioner Rob Manfred at the 2020 Masters last November.Rob Carr/Getty ImagesIn a letter on Monday, Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, asked Rob Manfred, the M.L.B. commissioner, whether he would surrender his Augusta National membership. A league spokesman did not respond to a request for comment, but Rubio opined that he was “under no illusion” that Manfred would quit because that would “require a personal sacrifice, as opposed to the woke corporate virtue signaling of moving the All-Star Game.”Davis, Augusta’s mayor, praised baseball’s move but said he was not worried about the tournament, which local officials believe is responsible for at least $50 million in economic impact, when the Masters is running at normal capacity. He argued that people in the city would challenge and protest the new law but also be deeply protective of their most renowned athletic tradition.“This is our sports team,” he said. “We don’t have the Falcons, the Cowboys or the Baltimore Ravens. But what we do have, every year, same time, is the Masters golf tournament.” More

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      Jennifer Kupcho’s Fast Start in Golf

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      She won the first Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019 when she was 22. She has since turned pro.Jennifer Kupcho won the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019. After a stellar collegiate career at Wake Forest University, she entered the event as the No.-1 ranked amateur in the world. In the final round, the weekend before Tiger Woods would win his fifth Masters championship on the same course, Kupcho faced Maria Fassi.In the last six holes, Kupcho rallied to go five under par and beat Fassi by four strokes. Soon after, Kupcho turned pro, and has won over $1 million in her first two seasons.Ahead of the second Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Kupcho, 23, shared her experience, including initially turning down her invitation to Augusta. The interview has been edited and condensed.What was it like to get that invitation to the first Augusta National Women’s Amateur?When I actually got the invite, I turned it down. I had gotten my L.P.G.A. card and decided to defer it so I could go back to school. The reason I was going back was to be with my team. We had a lot of tournaments lined up that spring. Initially it would have been too many tournaments. A month later, one of my tournaments got canceled. I talked it over with my college coaches and my parents. I asked Augusta if they’d let me back in. At that point I was No. 1 in the world.What did Augusta say when you turned down the invite?(Laughs.) I don’t remember exactly. My dad did a lot of my travel stuff when I was an amateur. He did make me email the tournament director myself to ask if they still had a spot.Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesWhat was the tournament week like?I had an event the week before, with my team. My parents came, and we all drove down in my Honda Civic from college. I got to play Augusta two years before with the Wake Forest team. It was nice to have already played it. I had already been awe-struck. When we first showed up, we got treated like royalty. It was so well organized. It was probably the best tournament I’ve ever played, even to this day as a professional golfer. After the first night, I said I’m glad I’m playing in this.What was the feeling among the other competitors at Augusta?We were all just so excited to go play Augusta. Maria and I had a decent lead over the other girls. I felt like I was going into battle with Maria, but we were also just such good friends from college golf.What were you thinking in the final round?I still think to this day that it’s crazy. It’s like my body just took over. That’s true for all events. I practice so much that my body just takes over to where I’m just thinking about yardages and how am I going to hit this shot.What did it feel like after you won it?I was so in shock. I had so much adrenaline. It’s hard to describe the feelings. I didn’t embrace it for months later. Even in interviews, I was like, I won a tournament. It didn’t feel big to me. But now it ranks very high for sure. It’s a very big moment in my career.What will you be thinking this year watching the second Women’s Amateur?The first thing that comes to mind is how are these girls going to follow up what Maria and I did. After that, I think, who’s going to win and do they realize how much this is going to change their life? I definitely did not.What has turning pro been like for you compared with your amateur and collegiate career?The biggest adjustment has probably been in my schedule. As a professional, I’m playing almost every week, traveling all over the world. During my amateur and collegiate career, I had much more time in between tournaments to practice and recover, so it was a bit more manageable.Another adjustment has been the strength of my competition. There is so much talent on the L.P.G.A., and I’m playing against the best players in the world every week. More

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      Bryson DeChambeau’s Work Evolving Golf Is Not Done Yet

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      At the Masters, the brash, brawny golfer imagined the sport’s future: even bigger, stronger athletes with faster, mightier swings than he already possesses. He can’t wait.AUGUSTA, Ga. — Bryson DeChambeau stormed the gates of venerable golf last year, plundering the mannerly landscape with swings at the ball so mighty it felt as if bystanders could pull a muscle just by standing too close to him.On Tuesday, DeChambeau, the reigning U.S. Open champion, roared back into Augusta National Golf Club, and while he is too polite to behave like an anarchist, he could not help but ponder the next stage of the rebellion he has begun.The entertaining DeChambeau envisioned sinewy 7-foot pro golfers overrunning the tidy links like so many giants in a miniature playground.“The massive gains will be in athletes, once you get somebody out here that’s a 7-foot-tall human being and they are able to swing a golf club at 145 miles an hour effortlessly,” DeChambeau said. “That’s when things get a little interesting.”Indeed, what a picture. Especially since dozens of current top PGA Tour golfers are no more than 5-foot-9. The evolution has a ways to go.As for the 145-mile-an-hour swing speed, consider that DeChambeau leads the PGA Tour at roughly 133 miles an hour. Adding another effortless 12 miles per an hour would most likely produce drives of nearly 400 yards.“That’s when I’m going to become obsolete, potentially even,” DeChambeau said with a smile.DeChambeau, 27, pushed out of golf already? A legion of young golf fans — and new golf fans lured to the game by DeChambeau’s brash, brawny style — might faint at the notion that their barrier-smashing hero could ever have an expiration date.Part of DeChambeau’s charm is how outlandish he thinks, and Tuesday was another example of Bryson going big, as he does with most everything.Still, there is little doubt that the movement he has spurred is taking hold for real. DeChambeau mentioned that he saw one of the young golfers entered in Augusta National’s Drive, Chip and Putt contest on Sunday mimicking the over-the-top swing sequence of the long-drive champion Kyle Berkshire. Or was he imitating DeChambeau?“I’ve had numerous college kids DM me on Instagram and ask me: ‘How do I get stronger? How do I get faster?’” DeChambeau said. “So you’re already starting to see it through — from collegiate level all the way to junior golf level.”He left out the pro level, where Rory McIlroy recently conceded that he messed up his swing this spring trying to emulate DeChambeau to gain more yards off the tee. Keep in mind that McIlroy ranks second on the PGA Tour in driving distance and was already considerably longer than most of his rivals, save one.But DeChambeau has vexed the competition almost as much as he has energized once-sleepy golf galleries. Now, fans at tournaments start cheering as soon as DeChambeau is within 50 yards of a tee, eager to see what feat of strength and timing he might unveil next.“It won’t stop; there’s just no way it will stop,” DeChambeau said. “It’s good for the game, too. You’re making it more inclusive to everybody when you’re doing that.”DeChambeau teed off on the seventh hole during a practice round on Monday.Justin Lane/EPA, via ShutterstockThis being the Masters, it’s almost obligatory for DeChambeau to coyly suggest he is about to begin using a more potent driver that will produce even longer drives.Last year, it was a 48-inch driver, the longest allowed in the rules. DeChambeau never used the club, but he did struggle to overpower the course and finished tied for 34th. This year, it’s a prototype Cobra driver with a new design and technology in the head and face of the club.Like any good performer who wants to keep his audience guessing, DeChambeau would say only so much about the new arrow in his quiver.“Obviously there’s something in the bag this week that’s very helpful — I won’t go into specifics of it,” he said. “But just know this has been a few years in the making, and I’m very excited for it. Whether it helps me perform at a higher level, I’m not sure, because it’s golf and you never know what happens.”But when asked which Augusta National holes he might approach differently because of distance he has gained off the tee, DeChambeau started talking about flying a drive over the trees on the right of the first hole, then started ticking off other possible targets. In a matter of seconds, he had mentioned five additional holes that might be vulnerable.DeChambeau has yet to conquer Augusta National’s devilish greens, and during last year’s Masters he also alluded to unspecified health issues, including dizziness. Staying in character, when asked if he was feeling better this week, DeChambeau delivered a response that was rich and technical.“It took about four or five months to figure out what it was,” he said. “We went through CT scans, X-rays, cardioid measurement. We had ultrasound on my heart, we had measurement of the blood vessels on my neck. You name it, we did it — sinus, CT scan measurements, infection checks and everything. And we couldn’t find anything.”DeChambeau fans can relax, because his revolution is still on schedule. Apparently, the last things doctors checked were DeChambeau’s brain oxygen levels because, he said, “The brain was stressed.”New breathing techniques were introduced and the illness disappeared like magic.“It literally just went away,” DeChambeau said, shrugging his shoulders and turning his palms upward.On to the next adventure. More

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      Without Tiger Woods, the 2021 Masters Leaderboard Is Wide Open

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      As Augusta National faces life without Woods, possibly even beyond this year, several young golfers look ready to usher in a new era.AUGUSTA, Ga. — The Masters tournament, after an aberrant autumn appearance five months ago, returns this week to its customary place as a ritual of spring, and golf fans will find familiar the sight of vibrant azalea bushes and blooming magnolia trees. But beyond aesthetics at the Augusta National Golf Club, this year’s Masters may be at a crossroads, when golf’s most tradition-bound event turns a new page.Slightly more than a year ago, the energy driving the golf world was a fervent zeal to watch Tiger Woods defend his seismic 2019 Masters victory. Now, the next chapter of the Tiger era at the Masters remains wholly undefined. Because of the serious leg injuries he sustained in a February car crash, Woods will not compete at the Masters, something that has happened three times since 2014.This absence, however, is altogether different.Woods’s future as a competitive golfer is unclear, and the Masters marches on without the person at the cynosure of the tournament’s dominant narrative for nearly 25 years.“You can’t go to Augusta and not think about the guy,” Curtis Strange, a two-time United States Open champion who is now a broadcaster for ESPN, said last week of Woods. “He changed the game as we knew it right in front of our very eyes at Augusta.”But the void that Woods’s absence creates at the Masters could serve to underscore the most dramatic transformation in men’s professional golf: a changing of the guard at the top of the weekly leaderboard. New, younger personalities have stormed into the spotlight vacated by Woods, 45, and some of his contemporaries, like Phil Mickelson, who will turn 51 in June. The game has seen an infusion of not just youth, but players with back stories alluring enough to ease the transition.Bryson DeChambeau has been a dominant force in golf for several years.Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesFor example, a year ago, Bryson DeChambeau was still an eccentric curio on the PGA Tour, known more for his quirks than his accomplishments. In 2020 and continuing into this year, DeChambeau, 29, has been the dominant force in golf even when he is not on the course. With an intense fitness regimen and hard-swinging power game that launched prodigious drives, DeChambeau forced his rivals to reconsider everything, including their course strategies and their diets. Moreover, he captivated golf fans as a new breed of golfer in an age-old sport — daring, showy and charismatic.DeChambeau also backed up his boasts of reinventing golf by bludgeoning the 2020 United States Open field, and a venerable golf course, to claim a runaway victory that verified his status as a phenomenon. DeChambeau has not gone away, with one PGA Tour victory and a tie for third place at the Players Championship last month. It’s true that DeChambeau conspicuously failed to overpower Augusta National in November, but the golf course in the firm conditions of spring — as opposed to the soft fairways that greeted competitors in November — will give him another opportunity to prove that his brawny style can prevail.“He’s certainly got the talent, and maybe learning from the November experience will be very beneficial for him,” Nick Faldo, a three-time Masters champion and now a CBS broadcaster, said of DeChambeau last week.DeChambeau, who has never putted well on Augusta National’s slick greens in four previous Masters appearances, is not backing down.“I’m definitely hitting it a lot further than I was in November of last year,” he said in March, looking ahead to the Masters. “So there are some places that I will look at taking a line that’s going to be a little different than last time.”DeChambeau, the world No. 5, is not the only golfer under 30 years old among the top contenders this week. Thirteen of the top 25 ranked golfers, including four of the top five, are in their 20s. Many come with pedigrees, like world No. 2 Justin Thomas, 27, who last month added a Players Championship victory to go with the P.G.A. Championship he won in 2017. Ranked fourth worldwide, Collin Morikawa, 24, already has a tour victory this season and won last year’s P.G.A. Championship. Jon Rahm, 26, is the world’s third-ranked golfer and has had five top-10 finishes in his seven events this year. Xander Schauffele, 27, is No. 6 in the world rankings and tied for second in the 2019 Masters.There are factors working against a new generation of players leaping to the forefront of golf’s most-watched event this week, notably the accepted canon that a Masters champion must have acquired a wealth of practiced knowledge about the Augusta National layout to win. But the current crop of young players may be fast-tracking the learning curve.Or as Zach Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, said last month in a telephone interview: “You can have plenty of experience at 27 years old. There could be four Masters champions in a six-year span that are under 30. That would not surprise me in the least.”Jordan Spieth, top left, has his driver worked on during a practice round.Doug Mills/The New York TimesJordan Spieth, who won the 2015 Masters when he was 21, is another young golfer whose recent form makes him a candidate to be slipping on a green jacket after the final round on Sunday. Spieth has won three major golf championships, but had gone nearly four years without a tour victory until he won the Valero Texas Open on Sunday. Spieth’s revival has put him back in the mix, and he insists that his age group is positioned to make a run at several Masters championships. He did not rule out crowning a champion who was playing in his first Masters, something that has not happened since Fuzzy Zoeller won the tournament in 1979.“I wouldn’t be surprised going forward if you end up getting a first-time winner at some point or a number of young guys that are able to do it,” Spieth said last week.Spieth said Augusta National’s extremely hilly terrain, a feature that is hard to grasp from watching the event on television, might especially benefit younger players.“Honestly, it’s a tough walk, it’s one of the toughest walks on tour,” Spieth said of Augusta National. “Physically, it can take a toll. So you would think that guys that are in their mid-20s would be in the best position physically.”Other less-than-household names within golf’s youth movement may have escaped the attention of casual golf fans but are nonetheless worthy contenders this week. Foremost in that group is Sungjae Im, 23, of South Korea, who was the PGA Tour rookie of the year in 2019 and tied for second in his Masters debut last year. No Asian has won the Masters, although that has not stopped Im from dreaming of a Korean-style menu that will be served at the annual champions-only dinner the year after he wins the tournament.“Marinated ribs, of course,” he said in November with a grin.There are few Black players in this year’s Masters field, although Tony Finau, who finished tied for fifth in 2019 and is the world’s 13th ranked golfer, is among the contenders for the title. Vijay Singh, the Masters champion in 2000, is also competing.Change, like the passing of a torch from generation to generation, is in the air at the Masters despite the tournament’s reputation for time-honored traditions. And golf fans may already be warming up to the makeover taking place at the top of the leaderboards.With the television viewership declining for other sports lately, the ratings for PGA Tour events this year have increased by 10 to 20 percent, and some in golf credit the surge to the increasing prominence of what Jim Nantz, the longtime CBS broadcaster, called “the new brigade.”“We’ve arrived at a point now where we don’t have to rely on just Tiger,” Nantz said last week. “We all know how enormous his presence is — maybe he comes back one day, that’s not what we’re addressing here. But how does the sport transition to a time when he is not at the top of the game?”Nantz continued: “There are so many interesting figures now that are competing at the highest level of our sport and them being certified as great players, people are going to watch more often.”Dustin Johnson, left, and Rory McIlroy walk with their caddies during a practice round at Augusta National.Doug Mills/The New York Times More

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      Tsubasa Kajitani Wins Augusta National Women’s Amateur in Playoff

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      The 17-year-old from Japan started the day slow on the tough course at Augusta National but rallied for a surprise sudden-death finish.AUGUSTA, Ga. — The first Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019 featured a closing charge by the eventual winner, Jennifer Kupcho, who faced down the intimidating back nine by playing her final six holes in five under par.While the tournament was canceled last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s edition proved, like so many of the Masters tournaments, that Augusta National is often the setting for drama and unpredictable outcomes.For most of Saturday’s final round, it appeared that Rose Zhang, a 17-year-old Californian, was going to claim a narrow victory in the 54-hole event with her steady, poised play. Zhang, who began the day tied for the lead after the first two rounds at the nearby Champions Retreat Golf Club, suddenly stumbled on Saturday with a triple bogey on the treacherous 13th hole. But Zhang then rallied to become one of six golfers tied for the lead with only a handful of holes left to play.For the next hour, the players jockeyed for the lead on the famed Augusta National layout in familiar, if fickle, ways — stunning recoveries under pressure, deft short-game play, steely-eyed putts and the occasional flub.In a surprise ending, after a one-hole playoff, it was a different 17-year-old, Tsubasa Kajitani of Japan, who came from behind to win the tournament. No Asian player has won the Masters, which was first contested in 1934. Asked how it felt to be the first player from Japan to win a tournament at Augusta National, Kajitani, who came off the final green with tears running down her cheeks, said through an interpreter that it was “a dream come true.”After 18 holes on Saturday, Kajitani and Emilia Migliaccio, a senior and an all-American golfer at Wake Forest University, were tied at one over par, one stroke ahead of six players from five countries who tied at two over.Both players hit their tee shots into the 18th fairway to start the playoff, but each was slightly out of position after wayward approach shots. Migliaccio had an exceedingly difficult chip over a bunker to a green sloping away from her, and Kajitani had to putt down the same unnerving slope from 45 feet away. Kajitani’s task proved less daunting, although she had to sink a 5-foot par putt to clinch her victory.Kajitani, who is from Okayama, Japan, did not play in the inaugural women’s amateur event in 2019 at Augusta National, although she won the Japan Junior Championship that year. She was second at the 2019 Australian Women’s Amateur and played in three other events on the LPGA of Japan Tour.“I have played in many other tournaments,” Kajitani said. “But you can’t really compare those to this tournament.”Migliaccio played Saturday with her mother, Ulrika, who was a top collegiate golfer at the University of Arizona, acting as her caddie, making the duo the first mother-daughter pair to compete at Augusta National. That partnership made the closing round especially memorable for Migliaccio, who has decided not to pursue a professional golf career.“It was so fun; it was so special,” Migliaccio said Saturday evening. “That’s all I wanted to do. I really wanted to enjoy this moment with my mom, and this is probably one of the last times she’s going to caddie for me, and it was just a joy to be out there.”She added: “I’m not going to turn professional and I’m really happy with my decision. Golf has taken me so far. It’s allowed me to played Augusta National, which I wouldn’t have dreamed of when I started playing.”Kajitani conceded that she had hit two nervous shots at the 17th hole.Doug Mills/The New York TimesAfter starting Saturday’s round two strokes off the lead, Kajitani appeared to have botched her chance at winning when she needed four strokes from the front of the 17th green to get her ball in the hole for a double bogey. Kajitani conceded that she had hit two nervous shots at the 17th hole, but she then turned her focus to the closing hole.Kajitani, who hit 79 percent of her tee shots in the fairway during the tournament, found a bunker on the left side of the fairway on the 18th hole. An attempt to hit a challenging uphill shot to the green came up considerably short. But her pitch from about 50 yards nearly spun back into the hole for birdie. A sturdy par was enough get her into the playoff with Migliaccio.Zhang, who began the final round tied with Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden, was comfortably in the lead at one under until a series of mishaps at the 13th hole, where she had to take two penalty strokes for errant shots. The trouble began when Zhang hooked her tee shot toward the hazard on the left side of the hole. When the ball was not found, Zhang had to hit a second shot from the 13th tee. Her fourth shot on the hole ended up in the water hazard protecting the green. After chipping onto the green, she two-putted for a triple bogey.Zhang recovered with a birdie on the 14th hole to rejoin the gaggle in the lead, although a bogey at the 17th ultimately left her one stroke behind Kajitani and Migliaccio. Still, she was pleased.“To handle the pressure of just being on television and playing at Augusta National, I think says a lot,” Zhang said.Rose Zhang tied for third but enjoyed playing the difficult Augusta National course.Doug Mills/The New York Times More

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      No Longer a ‘Tigress,’ Amari Avery Will Try to Make Augusta Roar

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      Avery, 17, and her dad once drew attention for their Tiger-and-Earl Woods aspirations. They hope to make a different sort of splash at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.It’s been eight years since Amari Avery made her first “splash” — her word — in golf. A 2013 Netflix documentary on elite grade school golfers introduced an 8-year-old Avery cruising her Riverside, Calif., street on her bike, pink handlebar streamers blowing in the wind, as Notorious B.I.G.’s “Going Back to Cali” blared in the background.What “The Short Game” showed came to define the perception of Avery on the junior golf circuit. Much of the documentary centered on how her dad, Andre, had appointed her “Tigress” after she won a junior world championship at 6 years old and was trying to navigate the expensive territory of junior golf by following Earl Woods’s handling of Tiger. Amari’s story arc in the film ends with both her and her father in tears after a disappointing finish at the United States Kids Golf World Championship.Now 17, Amari Avery will roll down Magnolia Lane with the chance to make a different splash at golf’s most recognizable venue.“It’s definitely going to be slightly overwhelming,” she said of walking out onto the course at Augusta National, where she is one of 85 invitees to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. “But I think that me just being there could be inspiring for girls like me. I’m going to be out there to play for myself and just show people that people like me can be out there, we can be at that high level and play.”That venue’s history with both African-Americans and women — an African-American man did not play in the Masters Tournament until 1975 and the club did not add its first two female members, the former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and the financier Darla Moore, until 2012 — is not lost on Avery. The daughter of an African-American father and a Filipino mother, she is one of a scant few Black female golfers on either the amateur or professional levels of the sport.“I didn’t think that I would see any woman playing competitive golf at Augusta National,” said Renee Powell, who in 1967 became just the second Black woman to join the L.P.G.A. Tour. “Let alone a Black woman.”Powell never had the opportunity to play Augusta National and emailed its chairman, Fred Ridley, to commend him for hosting the women’s amateur event, first played in 2019. As the captain of the United States team for this year’s Junior Solheim Cup — which pits the 12 top young amateurs in the United States against their European counterpoints — Powell monitors the top junior women’s players and occasionally checks in with Andre to keep tabs on Amari’s development.“She seems to be the real deal,” Powell said.Amari Avery and fellow golfer Bailey Davis posed together during a practice round at the Houston’s Mack Champ Invitational in mid-March. “I’m going to be out there to play for myself and just show people that people like me can be out there, we can be at that high level and play.”Michael Starghill Jr. for The New York TimesThis is just the second edition of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, following the event’s cancellation last April in the earliest months of the coronavirus pandemic. But even Avery’s invite does not guarantee that she will spend much time on the hallowed course. She’ll play a practice round there early in the week but because the tournament’s first two rounds are held at the nearby Champions Retreat, Avery will need to make the cut to play on the course where her idol, Tiger Woods, has made so much history.“I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like getting to play Augusta National,” Avery said in her typically deliberate and measured way. The final round of the amateur tournament will be played in front of a limited number of patrons, just like this year’s Masters, and broadcast by NBC Sports. “Obviously being the only Black person there, hopefully I can do something out there and make some upsets, some roars.”She’s ready to make a mark on golf on her own terms, a far cry from the reputation the Averys earned in the Netflix documentary, that of a helicopter dad and his prodigy, driven by pressure to win rather than fun.“We want to speak it into existence,” Andre cut in. “We’re going to play Augusta in the tourney. That’s going to happen.”As father and daughter grew together, Andre gave up on the “Tigress” nickname, stopped trying to impose elements of Tiger’s swing onto Amari and yielded to a coach’s instruction. Michael Starghill Jr. for The New York TimesTo get to this point, Amari chased Woods’s ghost around California’s junior golf circuit and her own household. Andre tried to follow Earl Woods’s book “Training a Tiger” to the letter, compelled in part because Amari and Tiger share the same birthdays, were born in the same county, have similar mixed-race backgrounds, made holes-in-one on the same course, and both won junior world championships around the same age. Andre even once entered her into a junior tournament as “Tigress Avery.” He says it was a joke after being egged on by a friend and he quickly chided himself when there was confusion in scoring over her name.But Amari has not faded against the comparisons even as a Tiger-inspired wave of young golfers failed to crest. She won the prestigious 2019 California Women’s Amateur Championship. In her debut at the U.S. Women’s Amateur, she made it out of the cutthroat stroke play portion of the week and then advanced to the round of 32 in match play. She has won on the Cactus Tour, a women’s mini circuit with fields full of professionals. Last August, she verbally committed to join the powerhouse women’s golf program at the University of Southern California in 2022.The Averys credit her mother, Maria, as the one who makes the family golf pursuit possible, keeping an eye on the pressures and costs and serving as the final judge of when to pull the plug if either mounts. Andre can remotely work as an information technology consultant while on the road with Amari and Alona, 14, also a highly rated junior golfer. Of her four siblings, Amari is closest to Alona, who was on the bag for Amari’s debut U.S. Women’s Amateur last summer when big sis posted a calamitous 40 on the front-nine of her opening round, but steadied herself to rally for the second-best score of the second round to easily make the match play bracket.Of her four siblings, Amari, right, said she is closest to Alona, 14, who was on the bag for Amari’s debut U.S. Women’s Amateur last summer.Michael Starghill Jr. for The New York TimesTo balance her own drive against the disappointments that can come during a tough round, Amari worked with Jay Brunza, a psychologist whom she credited with steadying her mental approach ahead of last year’s women’s amateur. “He was saying, ‘Stay stable out there. Just try to hit fairways and greens,” Amari recalled. “He tells me a whole bunch of different things that help out. You can go out there and shoot a 40 and the next nine a 33 and you’re not out of it.”It helps that Brunza worked with teenage Tiger Woods, caddying for him during all three of Woods’s men’s amateur titles.Andre will be on the bag for Amari at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, hoping to make a different impression than when he cursed during arguments with Amari when she was 8, and was depicted as the “mean parent,” a portrayal he admits was fair.“It’s not me wanting to caddie because I want the spotlight,” Andre said. “It’s all the stuff we’ve gone through. Now it comes full circle. I think that’s the best way for us, with her going off to school next in a few months for us to play in this thing together.”“Training a Tiger” was published in 1997, well before the full impact and collateral costs of Earl Woods’s approach on his son could have been known. But for a nonwhite parent-prodigy team navigating junior golf, the Woodses’ account was the primary road map available to the Averys.Still, Andre said he’s learned to grow along with Amari. He’s given up on the “Tigress” nickname, stopped trying to impose elements of Tiger’s swing onto Amari and yielded to a coach’s instruction. Before Amari’s 2019 California Women’s Amateur title, the team went through a revolving door of swing coaches, so many that father and daughter lost count.Amari and Andre shared a laugh on the course.Michael Starghill Jr. for The New York Times“We were just kind of bouncing around trying to find that one key thing that will turn things around instead of just trusting a process and letting it handle itself,” she said. “I had just come to the understanding that things aren’t going to come fast all the time.”Amari has learned to push back on her father, too. “When we’re out there on the course and I’m struggling or I’m working on something and he’s trying to constantly tell me to do something, I’m like, ‘Dad, get off. I just want to do it myself.’”Both Averys have confidence that she could be a potential superstar on the L.P.G.A. Tour, and has the Tiger trifecta: entertaining golf, winning golf, and a marketable persona. Andre will still admit to his belief in a bond with the Woodses. “We’re so tied to that Tiger Woods-Earl Woods thing,” he said. “There is a connection, I truly believe. It is divine.”As Amari has grown, she’s improved her approach to golf and managing the relationship with her most ardent fan. Whatever stigma Andre may carry, he is a parent who has committed substantial time and money for instruction and travel to keep Amari progressing in the game.Those required resources are still a massive challenge to diversifying the game. The Averys are often the only Black family at high profile amateur events, just as they were on the junior circuit, just as Earl and Tiger Woods were.“I just don’t feel like there’s much of a push for them to be out here,” Amari said, adding, “that’s kind of what I want to bring into the game a little bit, influence some of these kids that look like me, like ‘Hey you can be out here. You can make a splash out here.’”She has been watching video from the 2019 Augusta National Women’s Amateur and traveled to Augusta for the first time in her life in early March to play the Champions Retreat course. Just days before she left, Andre discovered in conversation with the father of Zoe Campos, who finished in a tie for fifth in 2019, that Champions Retreat was actually a 27-hole facility. He needed to figure out the 18-hole routing on which they would play the event. There was scouting work to do in the final month.Amari Avery won the Mack Champ Invitational in the lead-up to playing the Augusta tournament. She’s committed to join the U.S.C. golf team in 2022.Michael Starghill Jr. for The New York TimesLike all teenage athletes during the coronavirus pandemic, Amari’s schedule and prep work has been abnormal. She said it’s been slow since a quick run of high-profile amateur events last summer. This year she made a few starts on the Cactus Tour, showing well and finishing runner-up in a February field with both pros and amateurs. In late March, she went to Houston and cruised to a win in the inaugural Mack Champ Invitational, an event for junior golfers from diverse backgrounds started by Cameron Champ, one of the few Black players on the PGA Tour.The Averys met Lee Elder, the first Black man to play in the Masters and an honorary starter for this year’s tournament, but they have never met Woods. Amari dreamed of one day meeting — and maybe beating — him, figuring a chance meeting at Augusta would probably be the closest she was going to get.Then when she first learned of his February car accident, she had what she termed a “Kobe moment” and feared the worst. “I don’t even know if I could keep playing golf,” she said, considering the worst case scenario on the day of his accident. “He’s been the main guy that’s driven my entire career,” she added. “I’ve been compared to Tiger and I kind of want him to see my career grow and see it progress.”A visit to Augusta National is a significant milepost in that progression, but the Averys have distinct memories and associations with the course and the Masters, especially when it comes to Woods’s history there. Andre has imparted lots of it via YouTube clips, but Amari’s first real opportunity to closely watch Woods dominate in real time was during his historic 2019 win.The Augusta National Women’s Amateur gives her a chance to make history of her own at the club. More

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      Masters Tournament Will Allow Limited Number of Fans to Attend

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Coronavirus OutbreakliveLatest UpdatesMaps and CasesA Future With CoronavirusVaccine InformationF.A.Q.TimelineAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyMasters Tournament Will Allow Limited Number of Fans to AttendAfter hosting the 2020 event without spectators in November, six months delayed from its usual spring date, Augusta National Golf Club announced it would restore some tradition.Dustin Johnson on the 15th hole of the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., in November. Attendance was limited to club members, staff and other personnel, including a reduced number of news media members.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York TimesJan. 12, 2021, 1:01 p.m. ETThis year’s Masters tournament in April will be attended by a limited number of spectators, the Augusta National Golf Club announced Tuesday. The club, which prohibited fans from the event two months ago, did not specify how many fans would be allowed in 2021, adding that spectators would be permitted if, “it can be done safely.”The 2020 Masters was postponed from its usual April date to November because of the coronavirus pandemic and was contested with protocols that included virus testing before the event for all players, caddies, club members, staff and other personnel, including a reduced number of media members.Fred Ridley, the club chairman, said in a statement issued Tuesday that similar health standards would be instituted for this year’s tournament, which is scheduled to be contested from April 8 to 11. The Augusta, Ga., club’s announcement comes as the state reported 16 new coronavirus deaths and 7,957 new cases on Jan. 11. Over the past week, there has been an average of 9,604 cases a day, an increase of 55 percent from the average two weeks earlier.“Following the successful conduct of the Masters Tournament last November with only essential personnel, we are confident in our ability to responsibly invite a limited number of patrons to Augusta National in April,” Ridley said. “As with the November Masters, we will implement practices and policies that will protect the health and safety of everyone in attendance.”In November, Ridley said the club was exploring the ability to significantly increase its testing measures to facilitate a decision on whether to welcome fans to its next tournament.Ridley said Tuesday that the Augusta National Women’s Amateur competition and the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals — two events canceled last year — would be held on the weekend before the Masters tournament begins. The club also intends to have a small number of spectators at each of those competitions.“Nothing is, or will be, more important than the well-being of all involved,” Ridley added. “While we are disappointed that we will be unable to accommodate a full complement of patrons this year, we will continue our efforts to ensure that all who purchased tickets from Augusta National will have access in 2022, provided conditions improve.”The Augusta National statement said that the club was in the process of communicating with all ticket holders and that refunds would be issued to those patrons not selected to attend.AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More