If there’s anything better than going to Augusta National to compete, it’s going back a second time.
That’s the delight Lucy Wiertel of Oswego will contemplate over the winter. The 11-year-old won her division of the Drive, Chip & Putt Regional Qualifier at Whistling Straits on Sept. 7 to advance to next April’s National Finals, her second such victory in three years.
And she did so in the most dramatic fashion, winning a playo by sinking a 15-foot putt, then watching as Mokena’s Allister Amedio, a friend from the junior golf circuit, failed to match her feat.
“My favorite skill is putting, because that’s where I can just let my mind do the work,” Wiertel said.
It was mind over matter in the tiebreaker. In regulation play, she had left her 15-footer on the edge of the cup.
“I thought it was going to fall in,” Wiertel said. “Second time I aimed dead middle with a lot more pace.”
Wiertel has a big fan in PGA Tour rookie Luke Clanton. The former world amateur No. 1 met Lucy at Pinehurst when he was playing in the North and South Amateur, and soon after, Lucy’s father Jason began caddying for him.
“He’s just a great kid,” Lucy said of Luke.
Clanton thought the same of her, watching the playoff via Jason’s phone and congratulating her after.
Wiertel is one of four Chicago-area players to advance, continuing a tradition of multiple participants from the area to make it to the nationally televised finals. The other three will experience the Augusta aura for the first time.
Hinsdale’s Carter Bird won the Boys 14–15 bracket, the 14-year-old bashing three drives over 260 yards, which might be expected of a hockey player. He’s a right-wing on the freshman team at Benet Academy.
“It’s always fun, especially when you get a big hit,” said Bird, who advanced on his sixth attempt.
Vihaan Patel, an 11-year-old from Streamwood, advanced on his first try, having arrived hoping for a top-three placing.
“It’ll be cool,” he said of the prospect of riding down Magnolia Lane.
Girls 7–9 winner Patricia Kittivat of Schaumburg followed her older brothers Peyton and Patrick into the game and now has outdone them thanks to a precise putter. She sank two of the three in the competition, including the 30-footer.
“My chipping wasn’t that good, but I saved it with my putts,” Kittivat said.
As a result, she’ll be at Augusta on April 5. —Tim Cronin
