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    The Masters: 10 Most Memorable Shots

    The tournament tends to inspire magnificent moments, and there have been many.The Masters, which begins on Thursday, never fails to deliver shots to remember, which generate roars from the crowd at Augusta National Golf Club.Gene Sarazen at Augusta National in 1935, when the tournament was known as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament.Augusta National, via Getty ImagesThis year will no doubt provide more shots that fall into that category and more thunderous roars. Most likely they will come during the back nine on Sunday, when, as the saying goes, the tournament truly begins.Here are 10 examples, in chronological order, of sensational shots by players who walked away with the title — and, since 1949, the coveted green jacket.1935: Gene SarazenThere’s no film of the shot that ranks as the greatest of all. That’s unfortunate.The Masters wasn’t known as the Masters then; it was the Augusta National Invitation Tournament and in only its second year.In the final round, Sarazen was trailing Craig Wood by three strokes. On No. 15, a par 5, Sarazen hit a 4-wood from about 230 yards away. The ball dropped into the cup for an incredible double eagle. Just like that, he was tied with Wood.Sarazen beat Wood by five shots the next day in a 36-hole playoff.1960: Arnold PalmerAfter making a long birdie putt on No. 17 to tie Ken Venturi, who had completed play, Palmer needed another birdie on the last hole to capture his second Masters title in three years.Mission accomplished.He nailed a 6-iron from the fairway to within five feet of the pin and then converted the putt.Palmer prevailed again at Augusta National in 1962 and in 1964, winning the last of his seven majors.Jack Nicklaus at the Masters in 1975.Augusta National/Getty Images1975: Jack NicklausHis tee shot at No. 16, a par 3, in the final round wasn’t what he was looking for, with the ball coming to a rest about 40 feet from the cup. He would, in all likelihood, get his par, but still trail the leader, Tom Weiskopf, by a shot.Forget about the par.Nicklaus knocked in the uphill putt for a birdie, lifting his putter in the air to celebrate. After Weiskopf and Johnny Miller missed their birdie attempts at 18, Nicklaus won his fifth green jacket.1986: Jack NicklausNicklaus, 46, was making an unexpected run on Sunday when he faced a second shot at the risk/reward 15th hole.The risk was worth the reward.From 202 yards away, he hit a 4-iron over the pond to about 12 feet from the pin.He converted the eagle putt and followed with birdies at 16 and 17 to win by a stroke. For Nicklaus, who fired a final-round 65 (30 on the back nine), it was his sixth Masters title and 18th, and final, major championship.1987: Larry MizeWhen a sudden-death playoff got underway, Mize was not the favorite. His opponents were Greg Norman and Seve Ballesteros, future Hall of Famers.Yet it was Mize, an Augusta native, who came through, chipping in from about 140 feet on No. 11, the second playoff hole, to outduel Norman. Ballesteros, in pursuit of his third green jacket, had dropped out after a bogey on the first playoff hole.Mize went on to win only two more PGA Tour events.1988: Sandy LyleAfter hitting his drive on No. 18 into the bunker, Lyle needed a par to move to a playoff with Mark Calcavecchia, who was already in the clubhouse.From 150 yards away, Lyle, who couldn’t see the flag, proceeded to hit a magnificent 7-iron, the ball trickling down the hill to stop about 10 feet from the pin.Lyle, of Scotland, made the birdie putt to become the first player from the United Kingdom to win the Masters.Mark O’Meara with his caddie on the 18th green at the 1998 Masters.Augusta National, via Getty Images1998: Mark O’MearaThe tournament seemed destined for the first sudden-death playoff since 1990.O’Meara, who was tied with David Duval and Fred Couples, was lining up a 20-foot birdie putt on the final hole.There would be no playoff.O’Meara, who had started the day two shots back, knocked it in for his first major title. He won his second major a few months later in the British Open.2004: Phil MickelsonWithout question, Mickelson’s 6-iron from the pine straw on No. 13 in 2010 deserves to be on the list, but his birdie on the final hole in 2004 also stands out.Tied with Ernie Els, Mickelson hit his approach to 18 feet from the hole. A playoff appeared to be a strong possibility, and similar to O’Meara in 1998, Mickelson, 33, was in search of his first major triumph. He had finished second three times.Jim Nantz, the CBS anchor, said it best as the ball edged toward the cup.“Is it his time? … Yes.”Tiger Woods faced his fans after winning the Masters in 2005.Icon Sport Media, via Getty Images2005: Tiger WoodsLeading in the final round by only one, Woods was in trouble after his 8-iron to No. 16 missed the green to the left. He had to aim about 25 feet from the cup to catch the slope at the perfect spot.He found the perfect spot, and the ball stayed on the edge of the cup for a second or two before tumbling in for a miraculous birdie.Woods secured his fourth green jacket on the first playoff hole against Chris DiMarco.2012: Bubba WatsonWatson, on the second playoff hole against Louis Oosthuizen, sent his tee shot into the pine straw on the right.Advantage: Oosthuizen. Not for long.Watson managed to hook his wedge shot to about 15 feet from the cup. He finished with a par, earning the first of his two Masters victories when Oosthuizen made a bogey.“As an athlete, as a golfer,” Watson told reporters at the time, “this is the Mecca. This is what we strive for — to put on the green jacket.” More

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    Ben Crenshaw Is Not Done With the Masters

    He played it as an amateur in the 1970s, won it twice and will once again be telling tales at the Champions Dinner.In the history of the Masters, Ben Crenshaw’s name is writ large.He was the low amateur, meaning the amateur who plays the best that week, in back-to-back years, 1972 and 1973. In 1984, he won the tournament, besting Tom Watson by two strokes. But it’s his 1995 victory at age 43 that’s one for the history books.Just days after his coach and mentor Harvey Penick died, he paired again with Carl Jackson, the Augusta National Golf Club caddie, to win by one shot. When the final putt dropped, Crenshaw draped himself around Jackson in an emotional embrace on the 18th green.Crenshaw, 70, hasn’t played in the tournament since 2015, but he has become a guiding presence at the annual Champions Dinner. He is also among the top golf course architects. He and his business partner, Bill Coore, have designed or renovated a half dozen courses rated in the top 100 in the world.Ahead of his 50th Masters, Crenshaw spoke about the course, the players and the history. The following has been edited and condensed.How has the experience of the tournament changed over the years?With modern golf, I’m amazed how Augusta National has striven to keep up with the times. They have stretched the length of the holes almost as much as they possibly could in a lot of instances. But the actual intent of playing the golf course is very much the same. You still want to drive the ball into a position so you have the best angle into those greens. In our day there was no second cut [of the higher grass just off the fairway that was instituted in 1998] — it was cut grass everywhere you looked. The ball would keep running. It was very strategic in that regard. There were a lot of instances where an errant tee ball could run into trouble.Augusta National will play 7,510 yards this year, 300 yards longer than the average PGA Tour course. Still, it’s the greens, not the length, that challenge the best players. What are they like?The greens are remarkable in the way they play. It’s the contours of those greens and what can happen to the ball. From a player’s standpoint, Augusta National is very much about the approach shot to the green. But you learn the course over time. You don’t go directly to the flagstick. You play over there to get where you’re going. When a player is trying to practice and learn the golf course, you’ll see the newcomers go to many spots around the greens and hit these chips and little short shots. You can’t practice them enough. I’d hit them from various spots; I’d hit it somewhere I hadn’t been.Ben Crenshaw had an emotional reaction to winning the Masters in 1995 by one shot. Phil Sheldon/Popperfoto, via Getty ImagesSo distance matters less?Let’s face it, much of the emphasis is on how far people can hit the ball and what advantage they have. That’s true. But if you look over the champions list there are so many people with varying distances off the tee. It will always reward the long hitter who hits it where it should be.You were the low amateur in the ’70s, and a winner in the ’80s and ’90s. What challenged you over the decades?The course goads you into taking chances. You know if you don’t bring that shot off, you always suffer the consequences of missing by a very small margin. If you miss a spot on the green, the ball might go 60, 70 feet away from where you want it to go. No one can play safe and win at Augusta. You’ve got to take chances to score. Nothing gives you more confidence than when you hit a good shot. It puts the excitement in the game. There was nothing like being in contention at Augusta and hearing the crowd.What’s the conversation like at the Champions Dinner?When we’re at the dinner we all look around the table and we’re seeing different eras of golf. The conversation among the champions is always how they played, who you were chasing, who were your pursuers, what chances did you take. There’s a thread woven through all of us that we’re very fortunate to be in that room. You always want to ask Jack Nicklaus or Gary Player or Vijay Singh: “You faced this shot, and you knew you had to take a chance there. Did it come off as you planned?” We faced the same challenges, and we got through it. More

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    Scenes from the First Rounds of the Masters

    AUGUSTA, Ga. — Maybe it is the Masters tournament’s place as an annual rite of spring or its rich history, revisited this week for an 85th time. Perhaps it is because the tournament is the only major golf championship contested on the same golf course every year, which breeds a comforting familiarity. But the Masters stands out among sporting events — for its colorful grounds, for its gentle mix of old and new champions, and for the generations of attending families renewing traditions on the site. It is the rare athletic arena in the spotlight for only four days a year, but then maybe that is its ultimate charm.The Augusta National golf course was created on a former nursery, which contributes to its parkland aura, especially as the property was cultivated over several decades. Watching on television, it is hard to grasp how much the topography affects the competition and the viewing pleasure of attending fans as the hilly terrain naturally creates amphitheater-like viewing areas. It also heightens the challenge for the golfers, who traverse a compound full of intrinsic challenges, including a drop of 175 feet from the highest point on the property (the famed old-style clubhouse) to the lowest point (the devilish, small par-3 12th green).Framing the golf holes are 100-foot loblolly pine trees, flowering dogwoods and hundreds of flourishing azalea bushes. Add the brilliant white sand of Augusta National Golf Club’s bunkers and its manicured green fairways, and the setting has become one of the most distinctive and recognizable venues in American sports. — Bill PenningtonGroundskeepers watering the fairway on the second hole last week before a practice round.Cleaning a dining area for club members.Lee Elder, who in 1975 was the first Black man to play in the Masters, shook hands with Jack Nicklaus during a ceremony for the honorary starters at the first tee on Thursday.Running is usually not allowed at Augusta, but an exception can be made in some cases.Jordan Spieth’s ball skipped across the water on the 16th hole during a practice round.Dustin Johnson, the defending Masters champion, during the practice round on Wednesday. He missed the cut for this year’s final rounds.The azaleas are in full bloom around the 16th green.A dejected Justin Rose on the fourth tee during the second round on Friday.Bryson DeChambeau reflected in Phil Mickelson’s sunglasses at the 10th tee during a practice round on Wednesday.Spectators watching Spieth’s tee shot on the sixth hole.Spieth, foreground, and Collin Morikawa on the sixth green during the second round on Friday. Spieth shot four under par for the day. More

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    At the Masters, Lee Elder Gets Another Moment in the Spotlight

    The first Black golfer to play the Masters in 1975 is an honorary starter as the 2021 tournament gets underway at Augusta National.AUGUSTA, Ga. — With the sun rising over his shoulders, Lee Elder was introduced to a crowd of several hundred on the first tee of the Masters Tournament on Thursday morning. Forty-six years earlier, on roughly the same spot at Augusta National, Elder had teed off as the first Black man to play in the tournament.“I was just so nervous,” Elder said, recalling the opening moments of his historic 1975 appearance.But on Thursday morning, Elder was at ease and smiling, joining the golf legends Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player as the first Black player included in a decades-long Masters tradition: a celebration of honorary starters who strike the first ceremonial shots of another Masters.Elder, 86, was seated in a white patio chair on the first tee next to about 20 family members, friends and Black P.G.A. golf professionals dressed in formal attire and aligned in a regal row. Recent issues with his mobility would prevent Elder from striking a shot on Thursday but he was greeted first by the chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club, Fred S. Ridley.“Today Lee Elder will inspire us and make history once again — not with a drive, but with his presence, strength and character,” Ridley said.Using the golf vernacular reserved for a player who, by a leading performance, has earned the right to tee off first, Ridley added, “Lee, it is my privilege to say you have the honors.”Elder pushed at the armrests of his chair to rise but wavered as he tried to stand until Player stepped forward and placed a hand under Elder’s left arm to lift him into an upright posture. Turning to the surrounding congregation, Elder nodded his head with a wave of his left hand, then raised the driver in his right hand as if to answer the ovation that endured for 40 seconds. Elder, with a grin, then returned to his seat.Lee Elder became an honorary Masters starter 46 years after first playing in the tournament.Doug Mills/The New York Times“Lee, it is my privilege to say you have the honors,” Fred Ridley, chairman of Augusta National, told Elder.Doug Mills/The New York TimesIt has been a sometimes taut atmosphere at the 85th Masters this week as players and tournament officials have been asked about the new, restrictive Georgia elections law roiling the state. While Elder was invited to participate in the 1975 tournament — many years after he and other Black players were qualified to play — Augusta National did not admit its first Black member until 1990, and its first woman until 2012.Elder’s role in the first tee ceremony, viewed as long overdue, has been much anticipated since it was announced last year and then delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. The symbolism of his appearance was not lost at a time when the country is undergoing a racial justice reckoning. But for a long moment on Thursday, the focus seemed to be on enveloping Elder in a tribute.Elder acknowledged the crowd on the 18th green during the final round of the 1975 Masters.Leonard Kamsler/Popperfoto, via Getty ImagesElder leaves the clubhouse at Augusta National to get in a practice round.Associated PressElder hits his ball from a sand trap on the 18th hole.Associated PressAt a news conference shortly after the first tee ceremony, Player recalled that in 1969 he invited Elder to play in his home country of South Africa.“It’s quite sad to think that in those days, with the segregation policy that South Africa had, that I had to go to my president and get permission for Lee Elder to come and play in our PGA,” Player said, adding, “I was called a traitor.”Player recalled that Elder was greeted by loud standing ovations.“We then went on to other venues,” Player said. “You can imagine at that time in history how encouraging it was for a young Black boy to see this champion playing.”Elder recalled that he won 21 of 23 events in 1966 on the United Golf Association tour, which was a series of tournaments for African-American golfers at a time when they were regularly excluded from other top professional golf events. The next year, he bid to join the PGA Tour — he needed to provide a copy of a bank statement balance of $6,500 — and by 1969 found himself in a playoff to win the prestigious Firestone Open in Nicklaus’s native state of Ohio.As Elder told the story on Thursday, Nicklaus, who was seated next to him on the news conference dais, interjected, “I robbed you, didn’t I?”Elder turned to Nicklaus, “You did.”Nicklaus explained that he made three putts of more than 35 feet to keep the playoff alive. Finally, Nicklaus prevailed to win the tournament.“He got lucky,” said Elder, who unsuccessfully suppressed a snicker, even a giggle.He was having a good day.“It was one of the most emotional experiences that I have ever witnessed or been involved in,” he said of the first tee ceremony on Thursday.Pausing to adjust his eyeglasses, Elder added: “My heart is very soft this morning, not heavy soft, but soft because of the wonderful things that I have encountered. It’s a great honor and I cherish it very much.” More

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

    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

    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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    Elizabeth Williams of the Atlanta Dream Continues to Embrace Activism

    #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }The Presidential TransitionliveLatest UpdatesHouse Moves to Remove TrumpHow Impeachment Might WorkBiden Focuses on CrisesCabinet PicksAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storySPORTS OF THE TIMESFor Pro Athlete Leading Social Justice Push, a Victory and UncertaintyElizabeth Williams of the Atlanta Dream helped galvanize opposition to one of her team’s owners, Senator Kelly Loeffler, who has criticized Black Lives Matter. But the Capitol riot underscored the work ahead.Elizabeth Williams of the Atlanta Dream.Credit…Ned Dishman/NBAE, via Getty ImagesJan. 11, 2021, 3:00 a.m. ETThe challenge seemed simple and direct.Rebuke Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia for her race-baiting derision of Black Lives Matter. Help remove her from her post. Make her continued ownership stake of the Atlanta Dream feel increasingly unbearable.But the searing events of last week provided yet another reminder to the W.N.B.A. and its ubiquitous athlete activists that there is always more to be done.Nobody knows this better than the Dream’s Elizabeth Williams.Unless you are a serious fan of women’s basketball, you probably do not know of Williams. In an era in which athletes are taking star turns for speaking up for justice, she should be a household name.Once uneasy with making her feelings known, she found her voice amid the pain and protest of last summer. She ended up at the center of a unique moment in the annals of American sports: the mutiny by a group of professional players against their team’s prominent and powerful owner.Williams led the Dream’s decision to denounce Loeffler, who controls a 49 percent stake in the team.Then, in her role with the league’s union, she helped guide the move by W.N.B.A. players to endorse the Rev. Raphael Warnock — a political newcomer and decided underdog, as he bid to unseat Loeffler from the Senate.That race, of course, came down to a tense runoff vote. “Just because somebody owns the team, that doesn’t mean they own you, or own your voices,” Warnock said, days before the election, as he thanked the league for its stand.Where was Williams when Warnock beat Loeffler last week?In Turkey, where she has been playing in a women’s league since October — typical of the off-season, overseas grind W.N.B.A. players endure to boost earnings that are a pittance compared with their male colleagues’.She barely had time to savor Warnock’s victory when on Wednesday she watched in horror as a mob of Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol.“An act of terror,” she called it, as we spoke over the phone.“Seeing the faces of those people as they were in the Capitol, seeing their hubris, that’s what pained me,” she said. “They looked so confident that they were not going to face any consequences. That was a reminder of the systemic issues we face. The depth and complexity.”She continued: “For us in the W.N.B.A., it started with this election, but unfortunately, what happened in D.C. reminded us that there are still people out there who feel emboldened to stand against the ideals we believe in.”I could hear the irritation in her voice as she discussed the absence of a clampdown by law enforcement at the Capitol. In June, after the death of George Floyd, she attended a protest in downtown Atlanta. It was her first. Until that day, she had been hesitant to speak out about social justice. She tended to stand back, and let others do the talking.But the demonstration in Atlanta changed her. She recounted the stern and overwhelming police presence. She said she was not alone in having to gird against intimidation. The entire crowd felt wary.And yet she said she had never felt so strong, so connected to a cause. The march changed her. Standing back was no longer an option. Little did she know that days later, Loeffler would attempt to score political points by ripping a page from the Trump playbook and trying to pick a fight with Black athletes.The Presidential TransitionLatest UpdatesUpdated Jan. 11, 2021, 9:50 a.m. ETBiden will receive his second vaccine shot today.How a string of failures led to the attack on the Capitol.Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and others pause their political contributions.In a letter to the league commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, Loeffler denounced Black Lives Matter — which the W.N.B.A., in keeping with its history of activism, had embraced. Loeffler called B.L.M. a political movement and unspooled a string of false claims, including that it promotes “violence and destruction across the country.”To say that players in a league that is 70 percent Black did not take kindly to such words is putting it mildly.Williams sprang to action.Williams read a statement in the wake of Jacob Blake’s shooting in August when the W.N.B.A. elected not to play.Credit…Ned Dishman/NBAE, via Getty ImagesOnce the W.N.B.A. began its pandemic-shortened 2020 season in July, she brought her team together and helped write a sharp rebuke.“We would have been lost without Elizabeth,” Dream guard Blake Dietrick said. She praised Williams, a 6-foot-3 center and the team’s longest tenured player at age 27, for her steady wisdom and understated leadership. “Without her, I’m not sure we come up with such an eloquent, firm response.”When Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back in August by a police officer in Kenosha, Wis., the team chose Williams to respond.Suddenly there she was, live on national television, hesitancy shed as she announced that her team and the league would protest by not playing, even if only for a few nights.“We all hurt for Jacob and his community,” she said, speaking to the camera. “We also have an opportunity to keep the focus on the issues and demand change.”She implored fans: “Don’t wait. If we wait, we don’t make change. It matters. Your voice matters. Your vote matters. Do all you can to demand that your leaders stop with the empty words and do something.”Fast forward to last week, and its vivid displays of American hope and American horror.Williams reeled at the developments from afar.The news that no charges would be filed against the officer who shot Blake.The restless, sleep-deprived election night on Tuesday.The predawn group text Williams received from Sue Bird, the 40-year-old Seattle Storm guard who has become a league sage.“Soooo we helped turn a Senate seat,” the text read.Warnock had won. Williams sat in her darkened bedroom, alone, beaming.A few hours later, news came that Georgia’s other Senate race was over: Jon Ossoff had defeated the incumbent, David Perdue, a Republican, tipping control in Washington toward the Democrats.Not long afterward, Williams found herself on her phone again. Only this time, she was doomscrolling through video clips of chaos in Washington.She is the only American on her Turkish team. Few ask about her activism. But an inquiring teammate saw Williams’s sadness and had questions.“This is the United States Capitol?” the teammate asked, in halting English. “Where is the security?”Williams had no good answers, only strong emotions. Anger at the strife in America. Embarrassment. And more than anything, a firm resolve to continue speaking out.“I see it as my duty,” she told me, “to help keep up the fight.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More