Our 2018 Masters Week started this morning in the most wonderful way with the finals of The Drive, Chip & Putt competition. The fifth version of this springtime ritual once again proved wildly entertaining and as always inspirational.
Watching those 80 kids compete on Augusta National has become one of the most entertaining days of the golf season. Their skills with their clubs are impressive as they drove it long and straight, chipped it close and even drained a few putts. Ah, the one putt will put a smile on any golfers face no matter their age.
But what is more impressive than their on course skills is their off course maturity. Golfer after golfer showed poise, courtesy and sportsmanship each and every time they were on camera. These kids continued to show a trait that has been in short supply lately: kindness.
That’s the feeling I got watching them on The Golf Channel, they all were so very kind, to their fellow competitors, Augusta National members and even Charley Rymer when he quizzed them on camera.
The Golf Channel did a good job in profiling many of the participants who not only spend hours on the course practicing but many also initiate charitable efforts in their community and some had to overcome physical obstacles to be able to play. All seem to be good students and while there was a very diverse collection of non-golf activity Jordan Spieth seemed to be their collective favorite.
The Drive, Chip and Putt has been a massive success and Augusta National, USGA and PGA of America should be lauded for their out of the box thinking in putting this together.
This week the best golfers in the world will ply their trade over the Augusta National which usually is the star of the tournament all by itself. But for today the spotlight belonged the the kids with the short clubs and the skirts and the bracelets and the fist pumps and the braces and the pony tails and the high fives.
Cheers to them all and their parents, their coaches and their families. They were the stars today.
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