News leaked last week that Sorenstam was the newest member at the historic club when the season opened on Oct. 1, making her the first LPGA pro and seventh woman to join. She spoke publicly Wednesday about it for the first time.

“I’m extremely honoured,” she said. “It was a surprise. I must say that. I was just so excited. One of the happiest days in my golf life.

“As you know, it’s super new so I am a total rookie. I’m just learning the ropes, so I’m not really sure where this will lead. I’m thrilled and excited about the opportunity to not just play the course, but just to get to know the members.”

King, winner of 12 Grand Slam tennis singles titles, member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame and a longtime gender equality advocate, wasted little time mentioning what she’d like to see happen at the home of the Masters.

“My prayer for Augusta is to have a women’s LPGA event,” King said. “That’s been my prayer. I know they have the amateur girls [Augusta National Women’s Amateur], but I want to see a pro tournament.

“I hope that happens. I think you will make a big difference. You stand for so much and people listen to you and appreciate you.”

King then closed with a simple, “no pressure.”

Sorenstam was then asked what she thought of King’s comments, but King realized she put Sorenstam in a difficult position and helped ease the transition.

“Don’t put her on the hot spot yet,” King said. “Got to give her a couple years, man. She’s got get to know the members first. Get to know how it works. It’s a lot of hard work.”

No pressure.

Main image: Kevin C. Cox

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According to a report in Golfweek, the 72-time LPGA winner and 10-time major champion became a member at Augusta National Golf Club earlier this month, making her the first LPGA professional to join the club. Sorenstam’s husband and manager, Mike McGee, declined to comment when asked by Golf Digest. An email sent to Augusta National seeking comment was not returned as of this writing. The club historically has not commented on issues pertaining to membership.

Sorenstam, 53, officially started membership in October when the club opened for the season. She joins former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina philanthropist Darla Moore, who both became the club’s first women members in 2012 under then-chairman Billy Payne’s watch. The club was founded in 1932.

Co-chair of the Pebble Beach Co, Heidi Ueberroth, former USGA president Diana Murphy, former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and executive chairman of the Santander Group Ana Botin have all since joined the club.

“They have been great contributors to our organisation, both I would say substantively and things they are doing to help us, both with the Masters and otherwise,” Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley said when asked about female membership prior to the 2022 Masters. “But I think, more importantly, our culture is better. And I’m confident in saying to a person: we are a better club, we are a better organisation and we’re very proud to have women among our membership.

Ridley then concluded his answer by saying: “Our women members are a very important part of our membership, and you will continue to see over the years, if you look, more green jackets that are women. I’m going to make sure of that.”

Sorenstam retired from competitive golf in 2008 having won 90 tournaments worldwide. She remains the only woman to shoot 59 on the LPGA, having done so back in 2001. Two years later, in 2003, she played in the PGA Tour event at Colonial, making her the first woman to play in a tour event since 1945.

Sorenstam was one of the first tee starters before the final round of the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2019, when she joined Lorena Ochoa, Nancy Lopez and Se Ri Pak. In 2021, after turning 50, Sorenstam played in the US Senior Women’s Open, shot an opening 67, a final-round 68 and walked away with the trophy, winning by eight shots. She played in the US Women’s Open earlier this year at Pebble Beach, saying it was the final time she’d ever play in the championship that she won three times.

“I just really felt the love and the support,” she said. “It’s been a special week in so many ways.”

Main image: Ezra Shaw

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If there’s one thing we know about Phil Mickelson, it’s that the man is not afraid to break a few rules. But at Augusta National Golf Club, even Lefty, a three-time green jacket winner, is supposed to fall in line. Supposed to.

Evidently, that’s not the case, according to an incredibly-told story by Mickelson himself that he put out on all his social channels on Thursday night. To set the scene, Mickelson, sitting in his golf cart, takes viewers 20 years back to the 2004 Masters, a tournament he was entering on an absolute tear, in part thanks to a “towel drill” he had been working on that season with legendary short game coach Dave Pelz.

Oddly enough, the drill was designed for Mickelson to set up towels at specific yardages, all the way up to 175 yards, making it sound like a little more than just a short-game drill. The idea was to build reference points, and Mickelson needed a large area to himself on the range to do it. He had been doing it all season up to that point, and wanted to continue doing it the week of the Masters.

We’ll let him take it from there:

Story time with Phil (me:)
Enjoy ? pic.twitter.com/koePrh38Il

— Phil Mickelson (@PhilMickelson) August 25, 2023

Mickelson has proven time and time again that he’s got one serious brass neck, but even for him, this was extreme. Just the idea of sneaking under the giant magnolia trees to literally steal something from Augusta National Golf Club, be it a blade of grass or a sign, is a terrifying. But then to plot to do it again at the following year’s Champions Dinner, again waiting everything out to duck under the trees and swipe another sign, is downright insane behaviour. He was quite literally asking to be banned from the property, or at least be given some sort of stern talking to or strongly worded letter to stop what he was doing or else. Some people are just above the law.

Mickelson is a lot of things, but one thing he is not is a bad stroyteller. By the way, if these are the stories he’s willing to share with us, can you imagine the ones he’s not?

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While the world’s workers and businesses brace for recession, the golf mega-mansion market continues to boom. In February, actor Mark Wahlberg sold his Beverly Hills home with a backyard pitch-and-putt for $55 million. A few months later we saw a Calgary compound with its own nine-hole track and clubhouse hit the market for $14 million and marvelled at a Scottish estate steps from two of the most famous links greens on earth. Recently we even got a peek at Patrick Mahomes’ new backyard golf haven. Now we have another entry to the golf real-estate portfolio with this $8-million Columbus-area estate featuring its own immaculately manicured par-3 hole and putting green.

If you didn’t know any better, you might mistake that for Augusta National’s iconic 16th hole and the similarities don’t end there. In addition to the six bedrooms, seven-and-a-half bathrooms and four fireplaces, the Delaware County home features a study modelled after Augusta National’s wood-paneled clubhouse.

The 12,000-square-foot spread offers plenty of perks beyond just ANGC worship, including 10-12 foot ceilings on every floor, an elevator, an outdoor infinity pool and a fully renovated party barn that sits on top of a 10-car garage. Needless to say, if you’re looking for a luxurious taste of the Masters in southern Ohio (and have the cash for it), you could do a lot worse than this gem.

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Maya Palanza Gaudin is seriously well travelled and has made a serious mark on the game of golf, with victories in Abu Dhabi, India, Scotland, Boston and at the famous Augusta National in Georgia to name a few.

Oh, and she’s 13.

In a tale that reads like a fanciful work of fi ction from the mind of a Hollywood feel good scriptwriter, Maya’s journey already has more twists and turns than a drive up Jebel Hafeet, and — even with victory at the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at Augusta during Masters week in April — this is a trip that still has miles to go.

While Abu Dhabi-based Maya is one of the latest products to come off the conveyor belt of young UAE-based golfing talent, it is amazing that she even made it this far at all.

Maya was in serious danger when her biological mother died shortly after childbirth in her South Ethiopian village near the Kenyan border. With no one to breastfeed the baby, her father and uncles carried Maya the 55 miles to the nearest hospital. Once Maya was safe, her father gave her one more gift for the best shot at a good life by putting her up for adoption.

Maya was taken in by a Bostonian couple based in Abu Dhabi — Stephen Gaudin, a former overseas FBI agent, and his wife Cassandra, who works in the American embassy in the UAE capital. The golf-loving pair introduced Maya to the game at the age of fi ve and enrolled her in the Emirates Golf Federation’s Future Falcons National Junior Development Programme.

“The way I see it, Maya’s birth mother gave her life and her birth father saved her life, and our job since has been to love, nurture and provide every opportunity to Maya to embrace her life including this wonderful gift for the game of golf,” Cassandra explained on the Masters website.

Under Stephen’s guidance, a young Maya became an EGF Future Falcon and was already showing talent well beyond her years with a victory in India before she won the 2021 Ladies Championship in the Yas Links Abu Dhabi sunshine. That was followed up in somewhat diff erent conditions at the US Kids European Championship (12yo Category) at The Glen Golf Club, North Berwick, in the permanently wet, cold and breezy Scottish weather, to win by four strokes.

Maya Palanza Gaudin reacts to her putt on the 18th green in the Drive, Chip and Putt. David Cannon

“I got to play at St Andrews afterwards,” a smiling Maya said. “We drove up there. It’s my close-second favourite now I have seen Augusta.”

Boston was next on the calendar and Maya was just getting warmed up. “The golf ball doesn’t care who you are, or where you were born,” the wisebeyond-her-years youngster said after her victory booked her spot in the Augusta fi eld. “The golf ball doesn’t care how much money you may have or about what your father and grandfather did for a job. The golf ball doesn’t care about the colour of your skin, or how tall, skinny, heavy or popular you are. The golf ball doesn’t care about what school you go to. The golf ball only cares about one thing and only one thing: how you swing the club. That’s what I love about golf — it’s just about you and the golf ball.”

Through the connection with Yas Links, Maya has some head-turning friends, too. She has teed it up with Rory McIlroy in DP World Tour proams, as well as Thomas Pieters, Tommy Fleetwood and Robert MacIntyre.

Maya Palanza Gaudin and family with Rory Mcilroy. David Cannon

The pros know Maya so well by now that, when her parents were searching for her at Yas Links this January during the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, McIlroy told Stephen and Cassandra: “I just saw her. She’s inside.’”

“He’s so nice to me,” Maya said of four-time major winner McIlroy. “He’s very kind. I get to see him almost every time when he comes to Abu Dhabi tournaments.”

Maya’s appearance at the National Finals was no easy feat and it was something she had been trying to achieve for half of her short lifetime.

“Six times [I tried to qualify], but it would’ve been seven with the COVID year,” Maya said after her famous win that received a congratulatory tweet from McIlroy.

At the Drive, Chip and Putt, participants compete in three skills (unsurprisingly driving distance, and chipping and putting accuracy), with three shots per skill going towards a final score. With 26 points, Maya won the Girls 12-13 years category by four points from joint runners-up Narah Hope Kim, from Georgia, and Ruihan Kendria Wang, from Washington.

“It probably wasn’t supposed to happen, but it did and it’s surreal,” an emotional Maya said refl ecting on her journey. “I don’t really have any words for it. Very surreal. I can’t believe it. Just coming here was surreal and then winning is on a whole other level.”

Maya’s next mission? More US junior golf tournaments. Each summer, Maya and her parents travel to the US from Abu Dhabi and she tees up in New England PGA junior tournaments. She has tried to qualify for the US Girls’ Junior three times.

In golf timing is everything, and Maya’s jaunt to the Augusta Masters this year linked in nicely with Ramadan, allowing her to take a little time off school. She dreams of competing in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and was watching on this year ahead of the Masters as Rose Zhang triumphed.

“It was very exciting. Congratulations to Rose,” Maya said. “The last two holes were nail-biting for me. I can’t imagine how it was for Rose. I would love to play in that tournament.” With her tenacious perseverance, there is no reason why she herself cannot be teeing it up in Georgia once again.

A young(er) Maya in Abu Dhabi. Supplied

Following her own success, Maya and her family stayed on to witness Jon Rahm’s famous victory at a stormy Augusta before enjoying some well-earned time with her extended family in Boston, while her friends and mentors looked on from the UAE.

“It is a great accomplishment for Maya and UAE golf to compete and win the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at Augusta on the Sunday before The Masters,” Abdullah Alhashmi, ViceChariman of the Emirates Golf Club, told Golf Digest Middle East. “Maya is a graduate of the Future Falcons Programme where her golf journey started, and is another great example of talent that we have here in the UAE.

“Congratulations to Maya and her family. All of their hard work is paying off .”

Already an inspiration for others, Maya has some sage advice for those looking to follow in her footsteps: “Never stop trying. You can do it!”

While normal life may return with a bump with the school bell beckoning back in Abu Dhabi, Maya knows there will be plenty more tournaments and twists on this amazing trip.

Who knows where the journey will end up…

The post The UAE’s Maya Palanza Gaudin Masters new heights appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

So … when a free and indelible souvenir falls right in front of you, you have to take that opportunity.

A Redditor over the weekend dropped quite the post on r/golf with the title “Small divot from the 13th hole at Augusta National landed next to me two weeks ago, took it home in a chip bag. It’s thriving.”

Along with the caption, the thread from u/skinow84 came with an image of a seemingly innocuous piece of turf in a pot. Innocuous, that is, until you remember where it’s from.

One commenter went so far as to joke that “Augusta is going to send an assassin for it” to which the OP replied: “I was well within the patron rope, it was going to die anyway, yet I was nervous for some reason. I put it in the potato chip bag with a couple drops of water and planted it the day I got home.”

That potato chip bag came in handy for sure. The moral of the story here is to always be eating chips just in case.

The entire thread is an impressive showing of one-liners and Augusta National quips, so you might want to check it out, but this writer’s favorites included:
PLAY AUGUSTA WITH YOUR FRIENDS USING THIS ONE WEIRD TRICK!!!!!
With the right fertilizer, we can have Second Augusta in a few thousand years.
I would hit a ball off that bad boy so I could say I hit a shot off Augusta turf.

We don’t know whether the new Augusta National greenkeeper got too paranoid after posting or if Fred Ridley and company got to him, but the account has been deleted since the post.

We just hope that wherever this person is, they’re enjoying their Masters memento and that they’re slowly working on a way to duplicate the vaunted course with this divot as the catalyst.

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Gary Player dabbed at his eyes as Masters chairman Fred Ridley introduced him on the first tee at Augusta National Golf Club. It’s hard to say what might have been going through the mind of the three-time Masters champion, but the diminutive South African clearly was overtaken with emotion before he hit the first of three honorary tee shots to begin the 87th Masters Tournament.

It was either a good act or a necessary catharsis.

Six-time winner Jack Nicklaus and two-time Masters champion Tom Watson completed the line-up of honorary starters for the second consecutive year at 7.40am in Georgia. Nicklaus has served as an honorary starter since 2010 and Watson was added last year. Player, 87, has been part of the ceremony since 2012 and, being the oldest, has been hitting the first ball since 2016, the last time Arnold Palmer made an appearance, though he didn’t hit a shot.

Player’s emotional reaction before striping his tee shot down the fairway was perhaps in some way instigated by a feeling of regret he might harbour for recent comments he made in an interview with The Times. In that interview, Player complained about not being able to play a practice round at Augusta with his grandchildren unless accompanied by a member and said: “If it wasn’t for the players, (Augusta National) would be just another golf course in Georgia.”

He added: “I’ve played my role. I’ve won it three times. I was in the top 10 15 times. I made the most cuts in a row ever [23], yet here we are struggling to get a round. It’s just sad. And I put great emphasis on the word ‘sad’ … that Augusta doesn’t make you feel welcome in that regard because I helped make this tournament what it is.”

Juxtaposed to those comments were Players’ comments on Thursday after the ceremony when he talked about a life lesson he gleaned from his time at Augusta National. Irony pervaded his response.

“A prevalent thing in winning this tournament is gratitude,” Player said, obviously intent on making a point to walk back his criticism of Augusta National. “To have the opportunity to play in a tournament of this stature and to meet people like President Eisenhower, being from a country that practised apartheid, that was always a very big imprint on my life when you think of what a marvellous role he played.

“And then meeting Bobby Jones here as well, such a wonderful golfer, gentleman, maybe the best player that ever lived. He played with a walking stick and a ball that went 80 yards less than today. So I think the word is gratitude, just to be able to … particularly for me, this is my 65th appearance here, and you walk on the first tee, and you say, well, this might be the last one. So I think gratitude is the one for me.”

This is the second time in three years that controversy has swirled around the nine-time major winner and one of only five men to win the career Grand Slam.

In 2021, it was the actions of Player’s son, Wayne, that caused a stir during the honorary starter ceremony. Wayne Player, serving as his father’s caddie, stood behind Lee Elder with a sleeve of OnCore golf balls he held awkwardly but which gave the brand clear visibility. Wayne Player soon was banned from future Masters.

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Cameron Smith doubled-packed this week for the Masters, and it’s not because the weather forecast looks all over the place for the four days of the tournament.

Smith, the reigning Open Championship winner, is a member of LIV Golf, and the league has encouraged its players to wear their team logos in non-LIV events. That would include the Masters and the other majors — the tournaments they are most likely to be seen, considering LIV players are banned from the PGA Tour.

Still, Smith wasn’t sure when he began practising at Augusta National Golf Club this week if he’d get a tap on the shoulder from someone in a green jacket about his LIV apparel.

“For me, personally, I have another set of clothes made up this week without [LIV logos],” the Australian said. “We haven’t really heard much from Augusta National about the logos, and for me personally, I’m really proud of where I’m at and what I’m doing. Unless it’s a problem for these guys, I’m going to wear it.”

LIV golfers Sergio Garcia and Talor Gooch practiced on Monday at the Masters with their LIV and Golf Saudi gear on. Patrick Smith

Augusta National has never banned any other players’ sponsorship logos, so it would seem to overly selective if it picked out LIV gear to ban.

There is somewhat of a precedent for it elsewhere, however, with the DP World Tour asking its participants from LIV last August to not wear their logos in the BMW PGA Championship. Ian Poulter ultimately ignored that request and wore his LIV Majestricks logo in the tournament. The same players were excused from the playing in the pro-am.

There were several LIV golfers at Augusta National who wore their LIV gear for their Monday practice rounds, including past Masters champions Dustin Johnson and Sergio Garcia, and former US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau.

Bryson DeChambeau wore his Crusher GC logo on Monday at Augusta National. Andrew Redington

Johnson, who was LIV’s top money earner last season, was asked how many guys he thought would wear the logos this week. He offered a perfect DJ answer: “Whoever wears them. I’m just going to wear the Aces.”

Johnson is captain of the 4 Aces, who won LIV’s team season title and the $16 million first prize.

Dustin Johnson will wear his LIV Golf 4 Aces logos this week in the Masters. Andrew Redington

Despite the acrimony between the PGA Tour and LIV, Johnson and other LIV golfers mixed with old friends during the practice rounds. DJ grouped himself with three tour players — Kevin Kisner, who is a friend from childhood, Brian Harman and Gary Woodland. Kisner saw absolutely no change in Johnson’s game or demeanour.

“He’s always the same for 30 years,” Kisner said. “Stripes it, and walks around like he’s the giant he is.”

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Jason Day didn’t see many of the shots Tiger Woods hit after the 15-time major champion walked onto the Augusta National range mid-afternoon Sunday for a practice session ahead of the 2023 Masters.

But former World No. 1 Day certainly heard them.

“It’s still got that Tiger sound; it’s a different noise,” Day told Golf Digest. Day hit balls next to Woods as the five-time Masters champion prepares to play just his second event of the year. Woods, 47, had a good showing during a made cut at his own Genesis Invitational at Riviera in February.

“Tiger is one of only a few players on tour who have their own sound, and it’s still got that power in it,” Day said. “You can hear in the strike that Tiger still has the speed; it wouldn’t surprise me if Tiger was in the top 20 or 30 players on the PGA Tour for clubhead and ball speed.”

During a 30-minute warm-up session Sunday, Woods hit a handful of wedge, short iron, fairway metal and driver shots. He appeared comfortable working the ball both ways with draws and fades. With the driver, Woods appeared to favour a draw. Woods, whose last major win came at Augusta National in 2019, now plays a schedule limited to the four majors and select PGA Tour events. Last year Woods made his return to golf at Augusta National following a 17-month absence due to injuries sustained in a 2021 car accident. He made his only cut of 2022 at Augusta.

This year will mark Woods’ 25th appearance in the Masters, with his debut coming as an amateur in 1995.

Day and Woods have long been friends. The pair had a conversation before Woods began his warm-up. Woods’ limp was noticeable, but he looked in good spirits as he stood with his caddie, Joe LaCava, and also close friend, Rob McNamara. Augusta National chairman, Fred Ridley, and PGA Tour pro, Billy Horschel, were among those who came up to greet Woods.

“I asked him about his [right] foot, and he said his foot was feeling good,” Day said. “It’s good to see him.”

Day also noticed Woods appeared taller, both as he walked onto the range and at address while hitting golf balls. “I said to him he looks taller, and he looks really in shape,” Day said. “Just with my injuries to my back and doing some elongation work, I am aware of that sort of stuff. Tiger just said he had been working on his posture.”

The conversation then moved onto both players’ children, and Woods told Day that 14-year-old son Charlie had prolonged Woods’ playing career.

“I was having a chat to him about Charlie and he said Charlie has kept him in the game a lot longer than if he didn’t have Charlie [playing junior golf],” Day said. “It’s good to see because it’s keeping him young and fired up to compete. As a father I can understand where he’s coming from.”

Day is making his own return to Augusta National thanks to moving into the top 50 on the Official World Golf Ranking this spring after having missed out on invitation to the 2022 Masters. The Australian has four top-10s at Augusta, including a tie for second on debut in 2011 and two other top-five results.

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At last year’s Masters, the iconic 13th measured 510 yards from the tips. But this year, it will max out at 545 yards according to the 2023 Masters media guide at Augusta National. The hole is now 60 yards longer than when Tiger Woods won his first Masters in 1997.

Reed and Johnson, teammates on LIV Golf’s 4 Aces, both found themselves laying up on the lengthened par-5 13th during their two-day scouting trip at Augusta National. Chris Trotman/LIV Golf

“DJ laid up both days,” Reed said on Wednesday at Orange County National, ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Orlando tournament. “I laid up [once]. Tournament time I would have laid up, but since we’re out there seeing it, I of course went [full] send.”

Several players who have visited Augusta National in recent weeks have noted the tee shot at the dogleg left hole is now easier in that they no longer have to draw it around the tree line to set up their approach shot. It will demand, however, a driver given the added length for anyone thinking about reaching in two.

Reed said he had hybrid into the green both practice rounds, when he’d normally have a 4-iron or less.

“It was good,” Reed said. “On 13, there’s going to be a lot more laying up. I went in there with hybrid for two days off a flat lie, and if the greens firm up at all and get to tournament speed, with the ball that far above your feet, that hybrid isn’t coming in that high. Adding that extra length, you can’t cut as much of that corner [with your drive]. You can’t get far enough down that left side. I’ve always had [a decision to make] if it’s a 4-iron or less, I’ll send. But after that it’s a lay-up.”

Does it make the hole less exciting? Reed said he could see potential for that outcome.

“Well, I think it’ll take a little bit of the excitement out of that … 13, and then 15 being 550, if it’s into the wind, guys aren’t going to hit 3-woods into that green because it’s hard to hold that thing, and long is so dead at tournament speed. Unless you get the right wind conditions, you could just start seeing lay-ups on both of those par 5s. It used to be you could make a 3 but you could also bring 6 and 7 into play. Now a lay-up [will likely see] 4 or a 5. I think what it’s done is just put more premium on course management, shot making and wedge play.”

Fellow LIV golfer Bubba Watson, the Masters winner in 2012 and 2014, said he also had long irons into No. 13.

“I thought it was good,” Watson said of the lengthened hole. “It looks beautiful. But I think there’s going to be a lot more laying up just because the water is now into play. You think about it more. I hit two good drives and I had 231 [yards] the first day and then I had like 227 the second day, and I hit two drives, so I hit a 3-iron one day and a 4-iron.”

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