Wake Forest senior Jennifer Kupcho went 5 under on her last six holes to win the inaugural eventGETTY IMAGES
Saturday's crowd for the first Augusta National Women's Amateur seemed to be "about two-thirds the size of a usual Masters gathering," but the day "presented a whole new angle on an old, staid golf course," according to Steve Hummer of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. The final round of the ANWA was "rather significant within the cloister of golf," and it was a day of "establishing new relationships" with Augusta National. Wake Forest senior Jennifer Kupcho won the inaugural event after "erasing a two-shot deficit by going 5 under for her last six holes" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 4/7). In Augusta, David Westin noted the final round of the ANWA was played "before a national television audience" on NBC and "large galleries" (AUGUSTA CHRONICLE, 4/7).
A GOOD START: ESPN.com's Bob Harig wrote the experience for the 72 players invited to play in the ANWA was "off the charts, first-class in every way." The golf also "certainly did not disappoint." The tournament was "well removed from a time not long ago when the Masters was staged without its most prominent sponsors in order to spare them the indignity of boycotts due to protests" over Augusta National's policy of "not admitting women members." But the ANWA still came with its "own tinge of controversy." Harig: "Why schedule it against the first women's major championship of the year, the ANA Inspiration? Why not a professional event that pays prize money?" These are "valid questions as Augusta National basks in glory for staging such an event" (ESPN.com, 4/6).
MORE TO COME: The tournament "featured all the heritage of Augusta National." The crowd on Saturday was "larger than any of the 30 players who made the cut had ever experienced" (AP, 4/6). World Golf HOFer Annika Sorenstam said of the final round, "Today is a little wave of something big that's going to come. And I'm not just talking girls golf. I'm talking golf. I'm talking women's sports, and I really think the ripple effect will go further." GOLFWEEK's Beth Ann Nichols wrote Saturday was a day "unlike any other" at Augusta National. It marked the "start of a new tradition that exceeded expectations" (GOLFWEEK.com, 4/6). SI.com's Daniel Rapaport wrote Saturday's final round "can't be categorized as anything but a smashing success" (SI.com, 4/6). NBC's Carson Daly said fans watching on Saturday "felt the ceiling really breaking as far as women at Augusta, Augusta's old history of not having women members." For them to "throw this event I felt as a golf fan I was literally watching history being made" ("Today," NBC, 4/8).
STILL WORK TO DO: In N.Y., Karen Crouse noted the three hours of coverage on Saturday was "three more hours than was conferred" on the ANA Inspiration. Neither Bank of America nor AT&T, two of the corporate sponsors whose "girl-power-themed ads were in heavy rotation during Saturday's Augusta women's amateur final-round coverage, sponsors an LPGA event." Crouse: "On this great week for women's golf, is it progress that the Augusta National Women's Amateur runner-up had a bigger stage and audience than the reigning Women's British Open winner?" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/7).
