Anna Davis doesn’t even have a driver’s license.
But after winning the third-annual Augusta National Women’s Amateur, she’s got a pretty awesome trophy.
Davis, 16, finished at 1-under for the week and topped Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden and American Latanna Stone by one stroke to win the third edition of the amateur championship.
A native of Spring Valley, California (near San Diego) Davis shot a 3-under 69 at Augusta National on Saturday. She co-led after round one (played at Champions Retreat) but struggled to a 4-over 76 in the second round. Still, it was enough to make the cut and gave her a chance at Augusta to claim the hardware. She started the final round two shots back of the lead.
Davis had just one bogey on her card Saturday, on the par-4 3rd. She birdied No’s 2, 9, 12, and 13… and then she waited. She teed off about 30 minutes prior to the final group of the day.
“Towards the back nine I was watching (the leaderboard) a lot more,” said Davis. “There are scoreboards everywhere, so it was hard not to look… I was trying to stay consistent and not make any dumb mistakes.”
Davis was waiting as Stone had what seemed like one-and-a-half hands around the trophy – until she got to the second-last hole of the championship.
On the par-4 17th Stone’s approach shot landed short (she mis-clubbed, she said) and she pitched to the back of the green. Stone made a timid stroke on her bogey putt and ended up with a double-bogey six.
On the 18th-hole closer, Stone knocked her driver into the pine straw and settled in with her left foot on a tree root. She hit her approach off the needles fat and was forced to get up and down for par. Her pitch settled at the back of the green, about 25 feet past the hole, and she missed that par attempt.
Her final-hole struggles ultimately gave Davis the title.
“I’m happy but it was heart-breaking,” Stone told NBC in a post-round interview. “My coach says, ‘it always comes down to one’ and it definitely did come down to one in this tournament.”
Despite Davis’ young age – she can’t even legally speak with college coaches yet! – she is a well-accomplished player. She was San Diego’s junior golfer of the year on the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) circuit in both 2019 and 2021, captured the Girls Junior PGA Championship by seven(!) shots last year, has played on the Junior Solheim Cup, and is a reigning first-team AJGA All-American.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played in front of that many people before. I wasn’t as nervous for some reason. I knew I was an underdog in the field, and I didn’t have as much pressure on me to do extremely well,” said Davis. “I was out there just having fun.”
Davis’ 69 was tied for Saturday’s second-lowest round with Rachel Kuehn. Lindblad’s 4-under 68 (featuring two eagles!) was the round of the day at Augusta.
“This is just an amazing week. It’s a bonus if you play well. It’s so special,” said Lindblad.
In case Canadians need any more of a reason to cheer for Davis – other than her spunky attitude and fabulous golf game – she’s left-handed. It’s unique to the women’s game (just one lefty has ever won on the LPGA Tour, and that came in 1974) but perhaps there’s set to be a surge of lefty ladies teeing it up. Remarkably, Davis was paired with another lefty for the final round at Augusta National, Denmark’s Amalie Leth-Nissen.
The second round of this year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur was delayed due to weather and finished on Friday morning. Even with the delay, each of the players in the field still had a chance to play a practice round at Augusta National on Friday afternoon.
Canadian Savannah Grewal shot rounds of 79-80 at Champions Retreat and missed the cut. Only 30 golfers have a chance to move on from Champions Retreat to play the finale at Augusta National.
Grewal won the Girls 14-15 division of the Drive, Chip, and Putt National Final at Augusta National in 2017 and is Canada’s top-ranked women’s amateur.