Anna Davis of San Diego was one of the youngest players in the field at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, but she wound up on top.
Davis, a 16-year-old sophomore at Steele Canyon High School, claimed a one-stroke victory over Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden and Latanna Stone of River View, Fla., in the third annual event at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., site of the Masters this coming week.
“I’m still a little shocked,” said Davis, who won the Heather Farr Classic on the American Junior Golf Association circuit and the Girls’ Junior PGA Championship last summer. “I don’t think it’s processed yet that I’ve won here, but it’s pretty surreal, to be honest. I’m literally speechless. I can’t even fathom what just happened.
“Yeah, usually I am (composed). I try to keep my emotions kind of to myself on the golf course. I don’t know. I think showing emotions on the golf course, showing anger, sadness, it kind of makes the other player have an advantage when they see that, so I try to keep it to myself.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played in front of that many people. I wasn’t as nervous. I knew I was an underdog in the field. I didn’t have as much pressure on me to do extremely well. I was just out there having fun.”
Davis carded a score of 70-76-69—215, 1-under-par, while Stone finished at 72-72-72—216 to tie for second with her LSU teammate Lindblad, who wound up at 71-77-68—216.
Stone birdied the 16th hole to take a two-shot lead, but made a double-bogey 6 on the 17th hole and a bogey on the last when she chipped past the hole and missed her 15-foot putt for par that would have forced a playoff with Davis.
“I kind of knew where I stood on 17, and I was just thinking, ‘Par out,’” Stone said. “I just didn’t have the right club and left myself with a difficult up-and-down on the last hole. I was trying to be aggressive and just kind of lost it. I thought I could get it back on 18, but I had a lot going on in my head with where I was at.”
Amari Averi of Riverside and USC shot 73-72-72—217 to tie for fourth with Benedetta Moresco of the University of Alabama and Italy, who finished at 70-76-71—217, and Beatrice Wallin of Sweden and Florida State, who wound up at 73-71-73—217, while Rachel Kuehn of Wake Forest and Asheville, N.C., was seventh at 73-76-69—218.
Aline Krauter of Stanford and Germany totaled 74-72-73—219 to tie for eighth with Kirsten Rudgely of Australia and Wake Forest, who shot 73-72-74—219, and Shinsil Bang of South Korea, who came in at 76-71-72—219.
Rose Zhang of Irvine and Stanford, No. 1 in the World Amateur Rankings and the NCAA Rankings, tied for 12th at 76-71-74—221.
For complete results, visit https://www.anwagolf.com/en_US/scores/index.html
