The 20th female amateur golfer in the world picks up the phone frantically. Amari Avery is stressed. You can hear it in his voice.
Is she having trouble preparing for the tournament? Could this be midterm season at USC? No. Avery is shopping, frantically. She’s in the middle of a last-ditch effort to find an outfit. And it has to be the right one.
On Tuesday evening – just over a week before the first round of the 2024 Masters – the 20-year-old college junior will attend a formal dinner at Augusta National Golf Club with 71 of her peers. The group ranges in age from 16 to 24 and represents 17 countries and 27 U.S. colleges. These 72 young women are the best non-professional golfers in the world. They make up the field for the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA).
Known as the President’s Dinner, the evening marks the start of this prestigious event. The tournament, now in its fifth year, is the brainchild of Augusta National President Fred Ridley. A sumptuous three-course meal invites deserving athletes to mingle with VIP club members and gaze upon the hallowed grounds of Augusta.
“I’m looking for something to wear that’s not a dress,” Avery said. “Something different.”
Tuesday’s dinner will be Avery’s fourth, and if she decides to forgo her senior year eligibility at USC to turn professional, it could be her final appearance at the event. The tournament is for amateurs, not LPGA players. Either way, at a place like Augusta National, she hopes to shine.
What is ANWA and how did it come about?
In 2018, Ridley sat on the fancy podium of his press center and announced the creation of a three-day championship for amateur players. The event – which players and fans call “ANWA” (pronounced like “anne-wah”), for short, begins the Wednesday before Masters week and concludes with an exciting final round at Augusta National on Saturday.
“This championship will be conducted under the same operational standards that competitors, patrons and media enjoy at the Masters Tournament,” Ridley said when announcing the event. “The championship will become an exciting addition to Masters week, and it will strengthen our efforts to promote the sport and inspire young women to take up the game.”
Relive Rose Zhang’s unforgettable victory as she was crowned the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur Champion. #ANWAgolf pic.twitter.com/HisUgpcBcg
– Augusta National Women’s Amateur (@anwagolf) March 29, 2024
Here’s how the tournament works: The first two rounds take place at the Champions Retreat, designed by the trio of Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player and about 15 miles from Augusta National. After two rounds at the alternate site, a 36-hole cut reduced the field of 72 players to just 30, plus ties.
On Friday, April 5, all 72 women will be able to walk down Magnolia Lane to play a practice round at Augusta National. For those who missed it, this day is an opportunity to soak up every inch of this world-famous property. For those who have achieved it, the preparation begins.
On Saturday, the surviving players faced off live on television, days before the opening round of the Masters, at Augusta National – the club that didn’t admit any women to its membership until 2012. Who would have thought it?
“What makes this event ten times more special is that we are playing on a golf course where women have never been allowed to play,” Avery said.
She’s right: 22 years ago, William “Hootie” Johnson, the club’s president at the time, sternly told the media that “there may well be a day” when women would be admitted to Augusta National. But the club would not change “at the point of a bayonet”.
Johnson made the combative statement in response to a letter from Martha Burk, then president of the National Council of Women’s Organizations, questioning the club’s historic exclusion of women. But his nine-sentence investigation caused widespread controversy, mainly because of Johnson’s exaggerated retort. Sporting a bulletproof vest, Burk rallied a group of protesters on the road to Magnolia Lane during the 2003 Masters.
Burk never got proper credit, but two female members were admitted to the club nine years later: former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore. Who knows when the first women would have been accepted as members of Augusta without Burk?
Although Augusta does not disclose its members, at least seven women will sport members-only green jackets at Augusta next April. This group includes ten-time major champion Annika Sörenstam.
And perhaps most notably, 72 women will compete for the chance to write their names into Augusta National competition history in front of a global audience for the fifth time. ANWA has strengthened women’s football since its inception in 2019 (there was no tournament in 2020 due to the global pandemic), setting a benchmark for young girls interested in the sport. It will continue to do so for years.
“It’s amazing to see an iconic venue – probably the most iconic venue in sports – not only from a man’s perspective but also from a woman’s perspective,” said defending champion Megan Schofill. of the United States Women’s Amateur Championship, ranked No. 7 in the world. . “For girls and dads with daughters at home, it’s really thrilling. This is an event that all young girls want to participate in now.
Why amateurs and not LPGA players?
Augusta National has a long history of supporting the amateur game, starting with Bobby Jones, co-founder of the club and the Masters tournament. A long-time amateur, Jones competed in the first 12 editions of the major championship, posting his personal best, T13, in the tournament’s first edition in 1934.
Today, 90 years later, the club still prioritizes amateur exposure with a series of Masters exemption opportunities for the world’s best non-professionals. The winners of the British Amateur, Asia-Pacific Amateur, Latin American Amateur and US Mid-Amateur championships – as well as the winner and runner-up of the US Amateur – are traditionally invited to Augusta each April. Last year, the club added an additional category to the list of qualified players: defending NCAA Division I champion.
Enter ANWA. The 54-hole event was a seemingly perfect extension of Augusta’s quest to strengthen the amateur game, while also opening its doors to women beyond the annual Drive, Chip and Putt competition for young girls and boys.
“Growing up as a female amateur, you get to see the boys play in some really cool events that the women just don’t get to do, in some amazing venues,” Schofill said. “Now it’s really special to have a girls-only event.”
ANWA received widespread support when it was announced, but that doesn’t mean some LPGA players weren’t understandably jealous that the Green Jackets hadn’t made their debut in a women’s major at Augusta National .
After the final round of the inaugural championship, the LPGA’s Alison Lee tweeted: “So when can we play at Augusta?” She tagged the official account of the Masters and the LPGA. The simple question exploded on social media but was generally not discussed further in the public forum.
Dozens of professionals – men and women – have praised ANWA since its inception. It is understood that for once, women’s amateur football deserves to have a truly unique pedestal. Augusta National funds travel to the tournament – travel, lodging, all of it – for each player and a family member of their choice. Even the LPGA’s most prestigious events don’t come close to offering this level of treatment. In most amateur golf tournaments, you pay to enter the event. This week is different.
Who won last year?
It will be difficult to top last year’s ANWA result. Stanford’s Rose Zhang — arguably the most accomplished amateur golfer of all time — won at Augusta in a two-hole sudden-death playoff over Georgia native Jenny Bae. And Zhang did it after letting a huge five-shot lead slip away. But that’s Augusta National for you.
“This event really made me think a lot,” Zhang said after the victory. “I wanted to be focused on every golf shot. And with everyone watching, with all the expectations, it was a little difficult to get there. But I’m proud of how I handled everything.
The victory propelled Zhang into a second spring victory lap at Stanford and provided a perfect preview of the historic start to her LPGA career.
Shortly after lifting the trophy at Augusta and answering interview questions at Butler Cabin, Zhang defended Arizona’s NCAA Division I championship, becoming the first player to win multiple individual championships. Zhang quickly turned professional, then won her professional debut at the Mizuho Americas Open – a feat that had not been accomplished in 72 years.
The Augusta National Women’s Amateur is the pinnacle achievement of women’s amateur golf, with the US Women’s Amateur and US Girls Junior completing an unwritten trio. (Zhang won the women’s amateur event before winning the junior girls event, for even more stunning context around her prowess.)
Who will win this year?
LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad will be hard to ignore as the 2024 tournament favorite. The world’s No. 1 amateur is coming off a stunning 10-shot victory at the Clemson Invitational, where she also became the winningest golfer in history of the SEC. Originally from Sweden, Lindblad is looking for sweet revenge: she missed the 36-hole cut at ANWA 2023 after finishing in the top 3 in each of her previous appearances.
Besides Lindblad, we have our eye on 15-year-old Asterisk Talley, one of the youngest competitors in the field. Named after the Greek word for “little star,” Talley is coming off a historic victory of her own. Just outside Augusta, Talley won perhaps the most elite junior golf tournament in the world, the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley. Anna Davis, the 2022 ANWA champion, won the same title last year and is back on the court at ANWA.
Avery is another potential contender. With T4 and T29 results in her last two starts, she has found comfort on both golf courses. But while the 20-year-old multi-tasks — always wandering around the department store, carefully searching for her Champions Dinner outfit — one comment about her previous competitions at Augusta is particularly telling.
“I remember thinking, Tiger made that shot here… or Jordan Spieth ended up here,” Avery said. “But then I started to wonder: What am I going to do with my time here? How can I leave my mark?
She will know soon.
How to watch ANWA
The tournament begins Wednesday, with first-round coverage airing on Golf Channel and anwagolf.com, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET, with the same coverage plan on Thursday. Golf Channel will preview the final round on its popular show “Live from the Masters” on Friday. The ANWA 2024 final round will take place Saturday on NBC from noon to 3 p.m. ET.
(Top photo by Rose Zhang: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)