With the 2019 Masters almost ready for liftoff, intrigue continues to grow for the undercard: the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship. If you havenât heard, 72 elite women amateurs have accepted invitations to the inaugural tournament. The first two rounds of the 54-hole contest will be staged nearby at Champions Retreat GC. Then on Saturday, one day before the kids descend for the Drive, Chip and Putt and two days before the pros roll out for practice rounds, the top 30 ladies will advance to play 18 at Augusta National for the title. How good is that?
Itâs shaping up to be a splashy debut. NBC will air it live for three hours. The field is set. Tickets are long gone. And the opening ceremony will feature four capital H-O-F Hall of Famers: Nancy Lopez, Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa and Se Ri Pak.
This week Lopez, who lives in Florida, blew into New York City and happily plowed through a media carwash that included a chat with GOLF.com. Her enthusiasm for the new event was palpable.
âI had no clue it was coming,â Lopez said Wednesday evening. âWhen they I announced it, right away I got chills. I wanted to see if I could turn back into an amateur!â
![Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam, shown here at Augusta's 2017 Drive, Chip and Putt Contest, will be heavily involved in this year's inaugural Women's Am.](https://golf.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Nancy-Lopez-Annika-Sorenstam-1024x570.jpg)
Lopez won 48 LPGA titles and three majors, and she has a long history with Augusta. Sheâs played the course a handful of times as an invited guest and claims to possess a “secret phone numberâ if she ever wants to reach the club directly. Back when the ANGC was in the crosshairs over its all-male membership policy, the Hall of Famer sided with the green jackets over Martha Burk and her fellow protestors.
âI always respected what Augusta National stood for, and in time I always felt like the membership policy would change,â Lopez said. âI didnât support [Burk] at all. To me, if I had a club like Augusta National and I wanted to be what Augusta is, as a woman, I wouldnât want a man to come in. I always try to put the shoe on the other foot.â
And as for Augustaâs continued evolution?
âIt changes through time. We all kind of change, too, as people,â she said. âWeâre not going to stay in the ’70s when weâre now in the 2020s. The personalities change and things change, and I think itâs been really good and successful the way Augusta National has done it.â
The club has, as it does, gone first-class with everything for its new event. The trophy was designed with Tiffany & Co., and, according to a release, is âspun sterling silver and a 24-karat golf vermeil, with unique detailing that depicts the eventâs distinctive logo and the namesake flowers of each hole at Augusta National.â Itâs magnificent.
The club also sent out individual invitations to all of the qualifiers, just as it does for the Masters, and when those envelopes landed in mailboxes, they left quite an impression.
âIt was too cool. Thereâs nothing like opening that invite,â said Sierra Brooks, a 20-year-old junior at the University of Florida who, needless to say, RSVPâd with a yes. âIt had this wax, Augusta National stamp to seal it. You open this thing and youâre invited, and itâs surreal. Iâll never forget it.â
âI didnât even want to open it, the invitation was just so perfect,â added Maria Fassi, a native of Pachuca, Mexico, and senior at the University of Arkansas. âI shed some tears. I couldnât believe it was happening. All the work that weâve put in throughout our career, just having us be a part of it, itâs hard to put into words the things that I felt.â
These ladies didn’t grow up thinking they’d ever play at Augusta National, but from an early age girls can now tack ANGC onto their to-do lists. Brooks has attended a few Masters as a fan and actually played Augusta once as a freshman, when she was invited by a member. She carded a 79. âIâll take a few tips and what I learned and bring it with me,â she said.
Fassi will be flying blind â sheâs never been to the course. But she speaks for her fellow competitors, for Lopez, and really, for everyone else who will advance to the final round at Augusta in two weeks or tune in on NBC.
âI donât know exactly what to expect, but I know itâs going to be a really exciting moment,â she said.
The stakes extend beyond a sparkling trophy. The winner gets to play in the next five Augusta Womenâs Ams (assuming she keeps her amateur status), plus this yearâs U.S. Womenâs Open and Womenâs British Open.
In another nod to the Masters, Lopez, Sorenstam, Ocho and Pak will each hit ceremonial tee shots off No. 1, just as Jack and Gary will do five days later. Lopez is planning to take a full rip. âIâve got two new knees and Iâm going to have to learn how to use them, but Iâm definitely going to try to hit the best drive,â she said with a laugh.
Sounds like fun, donât you think?