Garvey to walk in Tiger’s spikemarks
Kiwi amateur golfer Amelia Garvey will finally fulfil her dream of playing Augusta National before turning professional.
Garvey, who hails from Canterbury and is attending the University of Southern California, is ranked 21st in the world. This is high enough to earn an invitation to the prestigious Augusta National Women’s Amateur from March 31 to April 3.
‘‘It’s pretty unreal. It has been my dream for a while,’’ Garvey said of playing the iconic course.
‘‘A lot of women golfers probably wouldn’t have dreamt about playing Augusta. I always grew up watching Tiger coming down the stretch and we’ve never really seen a woman do it.
‘‘When they played the first Augusta National Women’s Amateur two years ago it was great to see my own peers get that opportunity to play Amen Corner and for an amateur championship.
‘‘It’s paving the way for women’s golf so it’s really cool to be a part of a tournament that is doing that.’’
Garvey qualified for the 2020 event only for it to be stripped from the schedule due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.
‘‘I was over the moon to receive the letter and get that event back on the schedule after it was taken away last year amongst a lot of other things. It’ll be pretty special as this year’s event will be one of my last events as an amateur golfer.
‘‘It’ll be a cool way to sign off and a great opportunity to put some good numbers up and hopefully walk up the 18th with a chance to win,’’ Garvey said.
Garvey shot to international prominence at the back end of last year after earning a spot to join Lydia Ko in the US Women’s Open due to her world amateur ranking, and then being near the top of the leaderboard after the opening round.
The Augusta National Women’s Amateur tournament will be played at the Champions Retreat Golf Club over the first two rounds with the top 30 making the cut to play Sunday’s final round at Augusta National.
‘‘The first goal is to get to Augusta National. The top 30 get to play Augusta on the Sunday of the tournament so the first goal is to get to the final round and play it in tournament conditions, then I want to try and win the thing as well.
‘‘I feel like history is being made having women play at Augusta in tournament conditions, so it’d be great to have my name up there and have a chance to take the title.’’
If Garvey fails to make the cut, she will still be eligible for a practice round at Augusta National on the Saturday after the opening two rounds.
Playing over two courses will be a little different but Garvey insists the carrot of Augusta won’t be a distraction, and she will also call on her experience at the US Women’s Open that was also played over two golf courses.