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On a beautiful spring morning at Augusta National, the mood was matching the weather for the ninth annual Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals.

“This is easily the happiest day in golf,” Peter Jacobsen said on the Golf Channel broadcast. “We are celebrating the future of the game.”

The future meshed well with the present as 40 boys and 40 girls competed in the culmination of a process that began nearly a year ago with local qualifiers at 342 sites across the United States.

Conducted in collaboration between the Masters Tournament, the PGA of America and the USGA, Drive, Chip and Putt is a national youth development program open to boys and girls ages 7-15. The top three scorers in the local qualifiers advanced to the sub-regional qualifiers. , with the top two entrants in each going on to regional competition for places in the National Finals at the Masters venue.

“It’s very difficult to get to this stage,” said 2015 Masters Champion Jordan Spieth, who presented the awards in the Girls 12-13 division. “Competing and winning at Augusta National is always a good feeling.”

For Martha Kuwahara of Northbrook, Ill., the 14-15 year old girls’ champion, who put great efforts on her drive and putting skills to win in her second national finals appearance, getting to Augusta proved to be half the battle. .

Bad weather in the Chicago area delayed his Saturday flight to Atlanta, which was supposed to leave O’Hare Airport early in the morning but didn’t take off until midafternoon.

“It was midnight when we got here,” Kuwahara said. “I missed the parties, I missed the registration, I missed everything. We were all like, ‘Yesterday we took out all the bad luck, so all the good luck is today.’ And everything went well.”

After waking up at 5 am, Kuwahara tweaked his approach to Drive discipline to great effect, hitting a 241.9-yard shot for the win.

“Last year I hit the first one out of bounds, then the second one was terrible,” Kuwahara said. “Last year’s strategy was to hit one, softly, and then bomb the next one, and obviously that didn’t work. This year, my coach and I decided to do it in both cases. It turned out amazing.”

Going through the clutch is not easy.

“I think DCP is genuinely the most pressure I’ve ever felt,” said three-time entrant Megha Ganne, who competed in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. “I’ve played in really big tournaments, and nothing quite measures up to the nerves of hitting those six shots when I was 11, 13 years old. I just hope the kids realize how important it is, and it’s okay to feel nervous.”

Maya Palanza Gaudin, Girls 12-13 champion, got help from her father, Stephen, who kept his daughter calm by questioning her about Harry Potter.

“I can’t believe it,” said Gaudin, who reached the national final on his sixth attempt. “Just coming here was surreal, and then winning is on another level.”

In the Boys 10-11 split, Brady Shaw came up just short, finishing second, but not before doing something weird in the putting contest. Needing a big rally after the Drive and Chip game, Shaw holed out the 30-footer and 15-footer, becoming the sixth DCP participant to sink both putts in the National Finals. Shaw’s perfection put some pressure on Nealson Manutai, who was leading by two points going into the putting portion.

Manutai did what he had to do, earning four points and totaling 23 points to edge Shaw by two. “It’s great to be here,” Manutai said. “It’s an amazing experience.”

Manutai’s mother is a cousin of Tony Finau’s wife. Manutai has often played with the PGA Tour veteran, called “Uncle Tony” by Nealson.

“It’s really putting pressure on me to keep going and keep working hard,” Manutai said. “He gave me a lot of advice.”

All champions were invited to attend the Road to the Masters Invitational, an EA Sports video game competition featuring Finau, on Sunday night.

Two divisions required playoffs to determine a champion. Knox Mason prevailed over Jacob Egan in Boys 7-9, and Leo Saito defeated Aarav Lavu in Boys 12-13.

The third time at the National Finals was the charm for Alexandra Phung in Girls 10-11, champion after finishing sixth in Girls 7-9 in 2019 and tied for third in Girls 7-9 in 2021. Phung’s 22 points They earned him two -Victory by points over Adelyn Rosado and Hana McGarry.

Ashley Kim prevailed in Girls 7-9, by three points over Minlin Ou. Jake Sheffield won Boys 14-15, an achievement for the freshman and also a tribute to his late uncle, Mike, who died in 2020. Mike was the older brother of Jake’s father, Kevin, the person who introduced him to golf. he and in turn influenced his nephew’s immersion in the game.

The group chat that keeps all members of the Sheffield family updated on Jake’s golf progress is called “Uncle Mike’s Report”.

“Although my Uncle Mike is no longer with us,” Sheffield said, “I owe him my love of the game.”

Sport loved Sheffield on Sunday.