LSU Golf Signee Raegan Denton Has Saturday Tee Time At Augusta Women's AM
Raegan Denton plays from the No. 12 tee during a practice round at Augusta National Golf Club, Friday.
BATON ROUGE – It will be a 9:10 a.m. CT tee time for LSU signee Raegan Denton Saturday for the final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at famed Augusta National Country Club.
Only 32 players from the original field of 72 of the world’s top amateur golfers will get the chance to play a competitive round at the home of the Masters after the cut in this seventh tournament was under par (-1) for the second straight year.
Denton’s opening round of 5-under 67 put her in great shape after the first 18 holes and a birdie on the final hole on Friday brought her home in even par 72, for a two-day total 139, 5-under par and in a big group tied for sixth place.
Friday, the entire field got to look at the course and play a practice round over the fabled links.
After her practice round on Friday, Denton talked about her first chance to play Augusta National.
“So this is one of the chances of a lifetime, and I’m never going to be able to come back for the first time,” the native of Adelaide, Australia said. “So I was just trying to take it all in and I’m never going to be able to come back for the first time, so I was just trying to take it all in. But this place is so special, it’s hard to put into words. It’s absolutely magical, and it’s like you’re in a dream all day. There’s not a single blade of grass out of place, and it’s just so beautiful to play regardless of whether you’re playing well or not.”
Denton, ranked 43 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and winner eight times in the last two years, has been able to make things work for a first-timer in this event.
“I think probably my iron play and my putting,” Denton said of what worked this week for her. “My putting is usually a pretty big standout in my game. I think I’m a pretty good green reader. Then I was just putting – especially on the first day, I was putting my irons in the right spots to get a lot of looks at birdies.
Denton put herself in position by hitting 30-of-36 greens through the first two rounds, T2 in the field. Once on the greens, she was able to make putts with only one three-putt over the two days.
On reading the Augusta greens, she said: “I think I did really well out there (Friday). Going into (Saturday), I’m fairly confident. I got my coach who is going to be my caddie, as well, so yeah, I think I’m going to be feeling pretty good over each putt.”
Denton will have again on her bag Golf Australia High Performance Manager Adrian Wickstein on the bag as her caddy as she did in the first two rounds at Champion’s Retreat. He caddied for Denton at the USGA Junior Girls Championship this past July when she made match play.
American Asterisk Tally enters the day Saturday with a one-shot lead at 11-under par 133 after rounds of 66-67. She is one shot ahead of both Meja Ortengren of Sweden and NCAA Champion Maria Jose Marin of Columbia and the University of Arkansas at 10-under par 134.
Two other golfers are head of Denton’s group of players at 5-under with Andrea Revuelta of Spain and Avery Weed of the USA are T4 at 6-under par 138.
Denton will play with American Chloe Kovelesky, a sophomore at Wake Forest, in the 11th of the 16 playing groups on Saturday at 9:10 a.m. CT. Live scoring can be found on ANWAgolf.com.
The final round will be televised on NBC beginning at 11 a.m. CT.