UA freshman to compete in Augusta National
University of Arkansas freshman golfer Maria Jose Marin has unfinished business at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Beginning Wednesday at Champions Retreat in Evans, Ga., Marin will try to improve on her 14th-place finish at the event which concludes at Augusta National on Saturday.
At age 16 and maybe 5 feet tall in 2023, Marin shot 7172 at Champions Retreat to qualify for the final round at Augusta National, where she shot 76 on a very windy day.
“Having the opportunity to step onto such a magnificent course, like a temple of golf, is once-in-a-lifetime,” Marin said. “But ever since I played last year, I knew I wanted to go back.”
Marin has had three topfive finishes in seven tournaments for the Razorbacks, whom she will rejoin at the SEC Championships in Belleair, Fla., on April 12.
While the team plays a tournament at Ardmore, Okla., this weekend, UA Coach Shauna Taylor knew it would be better for Marin to leave today for Augusta, Ga., to play practice rounds Monday and Tuesday.
Taught to play golf at an elite level by her father, Jose, in Cali, Colombia, from age 3, Marin sometimes practices five hours at a time.
“She practices until she feels comfortable,” Taylor said. “The other day she hit a 10-foot putt 150 times from the same spot.”
Arkansas assistant coach Mike Adams said, “Maria is one of the most precise ball strikers I’ve ever seen. She hits it dead solid. And plenty far enough.”
Too far, in the case of the 10th and 17th holes at Augusta National last year.
“On No. 10 the wind was crazy,” Marin said. “I usually hit my hybrid 185 yards, but it was a two-club wind. I hit it perfectly, and it stopped 15 yards over the green.”
It was the same story on No. 17, where Marin watched her approach shot to a back-left hole location sail over the green again.
“The low score was 70 that day,” Adams said, “It rained all day.”
Marin said she had watched the Masters on TV, but was surprised when she played the Friday practice round which all the women amateur competitors experience, whether they make the 36-hole cut or not.
“It was my first time on Augusta National,” Marin said. “I was surprised how hilly it is, and how shaped it is. On TV you think, ‘This is too easy.’ But you play it and say, ‘This is really hard.’ The green on No. 12 is wide but so small from front to back.”
As the only Latin American player to make the cut last year, Marin said, “It was amazing. I learned how to control my nerves and how to be grateful.
“My game has matured. Now I might take an hour and a half to hit 100 balls. I’m free and relaxed, and more strategic as a player.”
Marin is the No. 2-ranked collegian and the No. 15 woman amateur in the world.
On Wednesday before a practice session in Fayetteville at the Blessings Golf Club, Arkansas’ home course, Marin learned that as a top 20 player she is exempt into the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills in Tulsa on Aug. 5-11. She may play practice rounds there as early as June.
Blessings owner John Tyson said, “Maria is talented, dedicated and just a good kid, like all the UA golfers.”
Taylor added, “Maria loves it here, loves her teammates and they love her. She’s going to have family and friends at Augusta. We look forward to being there on Saturday. Honestly, she could win it.”