EVANS, Ga. — Unlike most of the field, Emily Mahar didn’t know she’d be competing in this week’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur until about a week ago.
The Virginia Tech senior was getting ready with her team for their practice round before the recent Clemson Invitational when her phone started to ring. It was one of the ANWA directors.
“He was like, ‘Yeah, we have a spot. Do you want to play?’ I think (head coach Carol Robertson) kind of knew,” said Mahar after her practice round earlier this week at Champions Retreat Golf Club, host of the first two rounds of play. “She hadn’t told me officially, but she was like, ‘There are alternate spots. Maybe you have one of them.’ I looked at her, and she looked at me, and I shook my head. Everyone kind of knew. It was really cool to share that moment with the team.”
Fast forward to Wednesday’s first round, where she got to share the real thing with her family. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the native of Brisbane, Australia, hadn’t seen her family in two and a half years. The 14-hour time difference made it difficult for her to break the big news, but as soon as her family got the call they booked plane tickets.
An emotional reunion for the Mahar family at #ANWAgolf pic.twitter.com/3l78IplQ6p
— Augusta National Women's Amateur (@anwagolf) March 31, 2022
Social media and FaceTime have been helpful for the Mahar’s to stay in touch, but nothing beats a face-to-face reunion, let alone before the first round of one of the biggest women’s golf events in the world. For the Mahar’s, that dream reunion became a reality. Not only that, they were able to watch Emily shoot a respectable 4-over 76 in windy conditions to finish the day T-39, just outside the top-30 cut for Saturday’s final round down the road at Augusta National Golf Club.
“We’ve all been golf fans, so we know a lot about the Masters and Augusta and now to share that moment with them is super special,” said Mahar.
