The fifth edition of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur is almost upon us, and Canadian Lauren Kim prepared in the most perfect of ways – she played her own practice round at Augusta National earlier in March alongside some of her University of Texas teammates.

“It was gorgeous. It was hard to put into words,” Kim said.

Kim, from Surrey, B.C., is the reigning Canadian Women’s Amateur champion and as is tradition, the highest-ranked Canadian in the world amateur golf rankings received an invite to the prestigious event.

This year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur goes April 3-6.

Kim, a freshman at the University of Texas, got to play both Augusta National and Champions Retreat Golf Club (where the first two rounds of the event will be played) thanks to some member connections via her school.

But while Kim enjoyed the beauty (“When I was playing it was like the ball was teed up in the fairway every time! TV doesn’t give justice to the actual course; it’s so much better in person”) and the history of Augusta National, she was busy taking notes, too.

“That trip was mostly just to experience being at Augusta and for the tournament it’s about competing and staying focused and trying not to get distracted by course,” Kim said. “Definitely a lot of note taking (at Champions Retreat). I feel like it’ll be harder to take my time when I get there because we all have tee-times, places to be, dinners, etc. I did a lot of putts around the greens.”

Kim, who is ranked 35th in the world, is the fourth Canadian to tee it up at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Brigitte Thibault of Montreal participated in the first and second editions in 2019 and 2021 while Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont. played in 2022. In 2023 Monet Chun of Richmond Hill, Ont. became the first Canadian to make the cut and got to tee it up at Augusta National in competition. She finished tied for 14th.

Kim, who will be using a local caddie but will have her father Kevin on site cheering her on, said she didn’t have any specific results-oriented goals but instead will be laser-like focused on taking things a shot at a time.

“I always play better when I play directly with what’s in front of me rather than just give myself a goal for the end result. Obviously everyone wants to win, I would love to be holding that trophy. I’m just really focusing on what’s in front of me,” Kim said.

Rose Zhang won last year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur to put a bow on an incredible amateur career. Zhang would go on to win her first-ever start as a pro on the LPGA Tour later in the summer, becoming the first golfer since 1951 to win in their pro debut.

While Zhang has moved on and turned professional, the field for this year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur is chalk full of some of the best amateurs in the game. The field is led by Sweden’s Ingrid Lindblad, the top-ranked female amateur in golf. Lindblad has a win and two second-place results in four events so far in 2024 and finished runner-up to Anna Davis at Augusta in 2022.

Davis will be back to play for the third time in 2024.

Other notables include 15-year-old Asterisk Talley (who won the 2024 Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, about 20 minutes from Augusta and a top-tier global junior event, setting the scoring record along the way), Stanford stars Rachel Heck and Megha Ganne, and celebrated Wake Forest alum-turned Golf Channel broadcaster Emilia Migliaccio – the only golfer to participate in all five Augusta National Women’s Amateurs.

The first two rounds take place at Champions Retreat before making a 36-hole cut. The final round will be contested at Augusta National on April 6.