Masters Notes: DCP Thrives While Bhatia Joins The Field After Wild Win
Another joyous gathering kicks off Masters week. Plus, meeting The Mayor, and Sunday Augusta sights.
Reason 8,993 to love the young Drivers, Chippers and Putterers while rolling your eyes at modern pros: no children harmed themselves Sunday celebrating a winning putt.
Oh, we kid Akshay Bhatia who somehow managed to win the Valero Texas Open while tweaking his shoulder celebrating the 18th-hole birdie putt that sent the tournament to a Masters-invitation-on-the-line playoff with Denny McCarthy. A bizarre really quite embarrassing 18th fairway scene unfolded when playoff opponent McCarthy chunked a third shot into the fronting creek as the wounded Bhatia, facing a third over the same body of trickling water, summoned a physio for an on-the-spot articulatio humeri massage and tape job tap, all so that the non-linebacker could hit his third.
NBC went to break and magically Bhatia was already getting ready to hit his shot when they returned. The ball made it on dry land and the 22-year-old made the birdie putt to earn a last-minute Masters invite. Bhatia will be the 89th player in the 2024 field and returns to the same place where he debuted nationally ten years ago in the inaugural Drive, Chip and Putt.
The DCP was never created as a lab to harvest the next crop of pro golfers. But as former contestants from early editions earn college golf scholarships, turn up in major amateur events or win on the biggest Tours (even if in bizarre fashion), the DCP continues to play a special role in pre-Masters festivities. It’s also just good for the game.
Sunday under clear skies in Augusta we saw the usual overload of pre-teen cuteness, oodles of courage to take the club back before real galleries, and some charming interviews worth bottling up and overnighting to cliche-spewing logoclads.
Ten years since the inaugural kicked off under Chairman Billy Payne’s watch, the event marches on in grand, if less visible fasion. It’s easy to forget that this Sunday Tradition Unlike Any Other arrived to the chagrin of crustier members whose green jackets needed regular table crumb sweeps.
The 2024 kids again delivered incredible putts on super-slick greens, hit record drives including a record-breaker by 13 yards, a group win by a Texas-sized personality named Texas, tears from one DCP veteran knowing this was her last chance, and even some putting lessons from a former Masters champion (we can only hope he avoided lectures about the oil markets and childhood obesity).
It’s all that much more amazing given how the Drive, Chip and Putt should have hit the proverbial wall by now:
The format has not changed. The Masters, USGA and PGA of America got it right from the outset (though a more challenging wedge shot for the big kids and maybe one more drive given the frigid morning temps might be nice touch without prolonging things.)
Golf Channel used to do extensive features on the participants, opened the day with a pre-game show and once heavily promoted the event only to scale back, lead in with yesterday’s reruns and do the minimum.
Team-driven initiatives like the PGA Junior League have enticed kids into a more communal versions of competitive golf, making the invidual format and multiple qualifying stages seem less appealing to some even though the event emphasizes a welcoming atmosphere.
Many top juniors have chosen not to try qualifying. Apparently a skills challenge is benath them (their loss). Skeptics might check out Scottie Scheffler’s remarks about playing in the prior DCP version before it came to Augusta. He also gave out a trophy to Boys 7-9 winner Parker Tang.
We know the event will march on because the kids have fun and some even mention how it’s a life-changing experience as it’s changing their life.
Augusta National’s members continue to be invested with an incredible number of Green Coats out and about working the DCP. And now it’s a proven springboard to greater things with Alexa Pano winning on the LPGA Tour and Bhatia taking the Valero Texas Open.
Bhatia in 2014 for the inaugural DCP:
And if all that still did not resonate from here in sunny Augusta, maybe this from Saturday night’s Drive, Chip and Putt dinner will strike a chord:
DCP Results
A quick recap on the format overseen by the Masters, USGA and PGA of America: points are awarded in three individual skill categories (driving, chipping, putting), with the winner in each skill receiving 10 points, second place receiving 9 points, and all the way down to 1 point. The player with the most points following all three competitions is declared the overall age group winner.
The winners were…
Girls: Madison Pyatt of Eureka, Mo. (ages 7-9); Lily Wachter of St. Augustine, Fla. (ages 10-11); Karis Reid of Carmel, Ind. (ages 12-13); McKenna Nelson of Beaver Dam, Wis. (ages 14-15).
Boys: Parker Tang of Buckeye, Ariz. (ages 7-9); Texas Terry of Austin, Texas (ages 10-11); Kipp Madison of Augusta, Ga. (ages 12-13); Connor Holden of Canby, Ore. (ages 14-15).
Click here for all the final results.
The Mayor
There are occasional perks for those of us who regularly ignore Chili Palmer’s maxim to “never say anything unless you have to.”