Rachel Turk battled back from early misses to take 2nd place at the Drive Chip & Putt National Finals this week in Augusta, Georgia.
Rachel’s first drive hooked off grid left, and her second hit a bird in flight, dropping out of the sky at 183 yards, leaving her in last place going into chipping. Rachel commented, “I said to my dad before chipping that I was going to channel Hudson Justice.” In 2025, Hudson missed the driving grid twice, but went on to win chipping and became the 8th person in the history of Drive Chip & Putt to sink both putts, winning despite coming in last in the drive skill.
Rachel did almost exactly that, winning the chipping skill and sinking her final putt to come in second in that skill. She finished her first Drive Chip & Putt in second place overall.
Many former Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals participants have gone on to compete at golf’s highest levels.
Akshay Bhatia competed in the inaugural event in 2014, tying for sixth in the 12-13 division. On the day of the 10th competition in 2014, Bhatia, by then on the PGA Tour, won in San Antonio to become the first former Drive, Chip and Putt participant to earn an invitation to the Masters. He will be playing in his third Masters this week. Another PGA Tour player, Michael Thorbjornsen, won the Boys 14-15 division in 2016.
Several LPGA Tour players are former National Finalists, too. Lucy Li won the 11-12 division in 2014. She made more history later that year, becoming the youngest qualifier (at age 11) for the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Women’s Open. Gina Kim placed fourth among 14- and 15-year-olds in 2015. Alexa Pano earned three trips to the National Finals, winning twice, in the 10-11 division in 2016 and the 12-13 division the following year. More recently, Yana Wilson won the 12-13 division in 2019 and (after a one-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic) 2021.
In addition, 10 players in this year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur are former National Finalists, including world #1 junior Asterisk Talley.
The LPGA Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez was one of many legends on hand Sunday to watch the event.
“These kids are so adorable,” she said. “They’re having the best time. This is just a special place and opportunity to be here at Augusta National doing this.”