AUGUSTA — Eleven-year-old Leo Cheng stared down a 15-footer on No. 18, the same putt that Adam Scott famously made a year ago. The one that was a bridge to a sudden-death playoff and an eventual Masters title. The one that squeezed from Scott the “C’mon Aussie!” cry that had been building in his gut for years.
Cheng’s father, Andy, a movie stunt coordinator back home in California, read it as straight. Leo saw a little right-to-left. He was sure of it. As he had both the putter and the final word in his hands, the boy won out.
Bang. Jarred it. Leo gave it a professional grade fist pump, but resisted the urge to exclaim “C’mon San Fernando Valley!”
“When I got (over the ball) I had a vision of Adam Scott making that putt,” the boy said later, in his best made-for-the-Golf-Channel interview voice.
Sunday, the elders at Augusta National did a most unusual thing for people of their age and status. They stood on the front porch of their beautiful home and yelled: “Hey you kids, get on my lawn!”
And 88 of them, boys and girls between the ages of seven and 15, did. They were the finalists in the first Drive, Chip & Putt Championship, an event dreamed up to build in that flighty demographic an interest in something other than Candy Crush Saga. They came from various qualifying events around the country, lured by the chance to spend a morning at Augusta National’s driving, chipping and putting on its fancy practice area and the 18th green. Spectators were allowed only as far as the area directly behind the clubhouse, which for the sake of commerce, also included the main souvenir building.
The Sunday leading into Masters week is usually a pretty loose affair — for instance 2012 champion Bubba Watson strolled out for a practice round with his wife, Angie, around lunchtime. Add some kids wielding drivers that seemed to come up to the bill of their official Drive, Chip & Putt caps, and there was the opportunity for some rather cool interaction.
Scott just happened by in time to hand Cheng his Boys 10-11 championship trophy.
As he wrapped up his driving competition, 13-year-old Bailey Smith from nearby Buckhead got a handshake from Watson, who was hitting balls nearby.
For Milton’s Kiera Jones and her family, a highlight was meeting former Secretary of State and Augusta National member Condoleezza Rice at a Saturday night dinner for all the contestants.
“We’ve been to a lot of events in the United States and this one seems to me to be bigger than life,” said her father, Michael Jones. Kiera finished fourth among the 11 girls in the 10-11 age group.
These kids required scant encouragement to play. Kiera, for instance, comes from a dedicated golf family — her older sister just earned a golf scholarship to Florida State, and she practices on a daily basis.
The event was designed as much for kids not here, some who might witness images of these children competing on the Augusta National grounds and decide that the sport is worth a second or third look.
The adults can rhapsodize all they want to about joint, but the words of 9-and-under girl’s champion Kelly Xu might carry a little more weight with those her own age: “I just thought that this was like the most amazing course in the world and that the greens are really fast and that this is once in a lifetime and I shouldn’t mistreat this chance.”
“It was clear the way the kids and their families reacted through qualifying that they were going to bring that same kind of (high) emotion to Augusta National,” the club’s chairman, Billy Payne, said.
“We’re going to have a lot of kids who will want to find a way to Augusta National,” he said.
No one was more prepared for the moment than the Cheng family. His father bought Leo a little jacket, the color green, to wear after the competition. Leo hopes to play for a full-sized model in 15 years, give or take.
“Seeing some of these swings, you will be hearing from some of these kids in the future,” Payne said.
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