Three Canadian golfers are set to tee it up at Augusta National this week.
Before you tell me that my calendar is wrong, we’re not talking Mike Weir, Corey Conners and Nick Tayor. They will play in the Masters next week. But starting Wednesday, three Canadian women will play in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Vanessa Borovilos, Aphrodite Deng and Lauren Kim were all invited to play in the prestigious event, hosted by the Augusta National Golf Club, which will see the first two rounds played at Champions Retreat. The field will be cut to the top 30 players who will play the final round at Augusta National on Saturday. (All competitors get a Friday practice round at Augusta National.)
Three is the largest contingent of Canadians to be invited to the event that is being held for the seventh time, but all three have earned their way.
Calgary’s Deng won the U.S. Junior Women’s title last year and finished tied for 20th at the CPKC Women’s Open. Kim, from Surrey, B.C., is making her third start at the ANWA. She’s a junior at the University of Texas and is currently ranked 18th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. Borovilos, who hails from Etobicoke, Ont., plays for Texas A&M. She is 25th in the world and at last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur, set a scoring record with a round of 63 on the second day of stroke play. She’s also won twice collegiately, pushing her up the WAGR more than 100 positions.
Borovilos also has some experience at Augusta National, being a four-time participant in the club’s Drive, Chip and Putt competition. She won the event for 10–11-year-olds and received her trophy from Gary Player, who promptly lifted her into the air as if she was a barbell.
“It’s kind of a full-circle moment,” said Borovilos. “Someone came up to me yesterday and had me watch my interview from when I was 11 at the Drive, Chip and Putt, and just to be able to watch that and be standing or be playing in this event almost 10 years later. It was kind of cool for me to see myself back then and how much I’ve grown since then.”
Borovilos, who plays out of the Weston Golf and Country Club, has been pegged by Golf Digest as one of the top 15 players in the field to watch. That’s not surprising considering her play. She hits the ball very long and is an exceptional putter, two good parts of the game to have around this event. While she likes making the list, she’s not taking too much from it ahead of the first round on Wednesday morning.
“Honestly, I didn’t even know I was on that list until our family friend sent it to me,” she stated, “but I think it’s pretty cool.”
All three golfers are part of Golf Canada’s national team and Salimah Mussani, the head coach of the women’s program is in Augusta along with other support staff to give the three players all the assistance they need.
Borovilos stated that having that support is huge, especially for a first-timer such as her. She added that all three players are already friends, so that also helps them feel comfortable in such a high-pressure atmosphere. They are all confident in their games at the moment.
“It’s definitely cool to be here after all the practicing I’ve done,” said the 19-year-old. “And I think this week will be a successful week if I can stay within myself and try to have fun with it. Because, I mean, it’s almost like a once in a lifetime opportunity. So, I think going about it almost as not taking anything for granted, it will make this week very memorable.”
That doesn’t mean Borovilos doesn’t have her eye on the finish line. Her deep desire to be the best has stayed with her since her days in the Drive, Chip and Putt and it won’t let up this week.
“You don’t go into a tournament wanting to come second,” she said. “You always go in there trying to win, but in some cases, I think you got to try to have fun with it as well. And they’ll go hand in hand.”
Borovilos tees off at 8:35 a.m. ET, while Deng is at the same time but on the back nine. Kim has a tee time at 9:55 a.m. ET.
