Florida Gators golfer Maisie Filler joins Augusta National's female evolution
Maisie Filler knew the invitation was coming, but she needed to hold it before truly believing it was real.
When it arrived, she Facetimed her parents at their Palm Beach County home so they could watch her open the envelope and read what was inside.
“The Board of Governors of the Augusta National Golf Club cordially invites you to participate in the Two Thousand and Twenty-Three Augusta National Women’s Amateur ...”
Sure, they could have just written “2023,” but Augusta National has always operated on its own clock. It wasn’t that long ago the club wasn’t sure women should be allowed to wear a green members jacket, much less play a competitive tournament anywhere near Amen Corner.
Then again, it wasn’t all that long ago Filler wasn’t sure she belonged in a junior tournament against 12-year-old girls. Now the UF junior is getting ready to play the most prestigious amateur event in women’s golf.
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“I’m just trying not to make it too big a thing, right?” she said.
Right.
It’s good strategy to mentally downplay teeing it up in the women’s version of the Masters. But Filler won’t really know if she’ll be able to do it until Saturday.
Filler has to survive two rounds before getting to Augusta
That’s when 30 golfers will play the final round of the ANWA. They’ll have made the cut after two days of play at nearby Champions Retreat Golf Club.
It would be nice if Augusta National hosted every round. But the course doesn’t need three days of competitive traffic a week before the Masters. And the thought of 72 women leaving divots might raise Clifford Roberts from the dead.
He ran Augusta National from 1931-1976, an era when America underwent massive social change. Roberts famously resisted many of them, and that legacy echoed long after his death.
It led to a showdown in 2002 with the National Council of Women’s Organizations, which challenged the club’s gender-restricted membership policies. Augusta National Chairman Hootie Johnson retorted, “There may well come a day when women will be invited to join our membership, but that timetable will be ours, and not at the point of a bayonet.”
That time finally arrived in 2012, when Condoleeza Rice, a former Secretary of State, and Darla Moore, a South Carolina financier, were given green aprons and allowed to fetch coffee for the Board of Governors.
Roberts might find the preceding joke humorless, but times have indeed changed at his old haunt. In 2018, new chairman and UF grad Fred Ridley unveiled plans for the ANWA.
Women would play a tournament on the hallowed Augusta’s hallowed grounds. No bayonet was needed.
“That’s why this is so special,” Filler said. “Mr. Ridley really wanted to support women’s golf.”
Playing junior tournaments put Filler on track to UF golf team
She’s too young to remember the race and gender controversies that rumbled down Magnolia Lane. Truth is, Filler wasn’t really into golf until she started playing junior tournaments. Then a pattern emerged.
“Sometimes, I felt like I didn’t quite belong there,” she said.
Filler faced girls who’d been swinging clubs since they crawled out of their cribs. But she loved to compete and quickly shot up the junior ranks.
She excelled at Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach and arrived at UF with a lot of potential and a fair amount of uncertainty.
“I didn’t really believe that I was truly as good as I am,” she said. “Once I got to college, my coaches here and my swing coach helped me instill that confidence.”
True confidence has to be earned, not given. Filler acquired some when she got a sponsor exemption to play in the 2021 Pelican Championship, a full-fledged LPGA event. She didn’t make the cut against the field of pros but learned a lot.
“After I went through it, I was like, ‘Okay, they’re not that much different than me.’ ”
Filler got a sponsor exemption to last year’s ShopRite LPGA Classic, made the cut, finished 1-under and tied for 54th. Her confidence had zoomed a couple months earlier, when she birdied the 17th hole to clinch a finals match-play spot for UF in the SEC Championship.
“I was nervous, but I was able to pull it off,” Filler said. “That showed me that under any stress or pressure, I can do it.”
The 30 highest ranked U.S. players of the preceding year get invited to the ANWA. Even though the rankings wouldn’t change after Dec. 31, Filler didn’t really celebrate until the invitation arrived.
“I’ll probably frame it,” she said.
It’s the ultimate indication she belongs at Augusta National. Just like all the other women.
David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: UF's Maisie Filler joins the female evolution at Augusta National
