AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | “Fore please, Anna Redding now driving.”
Half of that announcement is as familiar to golf fans as a favorite wedge. Anyone who has watched the Masters has heard everyone from Jack Nicklaus to Tiger Woods introduced in this way, no fanfare, no list of accomplishments, no hometowns or “playing out of…” utterances. Simple and classy. “It’s like a club match,” Lee Westwood said of the way Augusta National introduces competitors.
But the second part, a player named Anna … that was truly a first. And that is exactly how Saturday’s final round began at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Surrounded by thousands of people, Redding, a 21-year-old senior at the University of Virginia, stepped up to her ball with a bright-eyed smile and got the final round of the inaugural 54-hole championship, and the only round played at Augusta National, underway.
In her midst were four World Golf Hall of Famers who had struck ceremonial opening tee shots earlier – Se Ri Pak, Lorena Ochoa, Nancy Lopez and Annika Sörenstam – al...
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