Gianna Clemente making name for herself in return to Augusta

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Gianna Clemente was midway by way of her observe spherical Friday at Augusta Nationwide when she appeared over on the 18th inexperienced and couldn’t assist however consider the final time she was right here, dealing with an enormous putt on the ultimate gap on the dwelling of the Masters.

Clemente doesn’t recall the main points, solely that she missed it. This was the 2017 Drive, Chip and Putt Championship. She was 9 years previous.

“I feel I in all probability left it quick. That feels like me,” she stated with fun. “We’re going to do some higher than that this 12 months.”

Six years later, Clemente returns as considerably of a prodigy. At 15, she is the youngest participant to make the minimize within the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Novice, doing so with a 32 on her closing 9 at Champions Retreat.

She was solely allowed to putt on the 18th inexperienced that final Augusta go to. On Friday, Clemente performed a full observe spherical on the identical course the place the Masters can be performed subsequent week. Even for her age, Clemente isn’t liable to be overwhelmed.

Standing on the twelfth tee within the coronary heart of Amen Nook was an exception.

“I used to be like, ‘Whoa, that is truly actual life.’ Yeah, I used to be wanting ahead to the entire day, however taking part in Amen Nook was actually particular,” she stated.

Her odds of successful are lengthy. She is tied after 36 holes, however 12 pictures behind Rose Zhang — the NCAA champion at Stanford and the No. 1 newbie in girls’s golf for the final three years.

Nonetheless, Clemente already has proven she has recreation.

Final summer season, after she was runner-up within the U.S. Women Junior, she grew to become the primary feminine in twenty years to earn her means into three straight LPGA Tour occasions by Monday qualifying. The final participant to do this was Hee-Received Han, a 23-year-old professional. Clemente was 14.

Clemente was 5 when she went to the Dana Open in Ohio and posed with Morgan Pressel, a former prodigy herself who certified for the U.S. Girls’s Open when she was 12 and went to win a serious at 18. They met once more on the Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship in Cincinnati, this time Clemente because the participant and Pressel now within the broadcast sales space for Golf Channel.

Zhang was 15 when she made the minimize within the inaugural Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Novice. She performed her first LPGA main at age 14 and made the minimize. However then, Zhang has been an enormous deal for a very long time.

Zhang takes a five-shot lead into the ultimate spherical Saturday at Augusta. A victory would give her titles within the U.S. Girls’s Novice, the U.S. Junior Women, the NCAA Championship and the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Novice in a span of 4 years.

Clemente recollects taking part in with Zhang throughout a observe spherical at a junior occasion three years in the past, and it was one other of these few moments that made her catch her breath.

“I used to be undoubtedly watching her recreation shut and evaluating it to mine on the time,” Clemente stated. “Yeah, I’ll always remember that observe spherical.”

Zhang laughed on the reminiscence as a result of she additionally had been there earlier than, a younger teen within the presence of established names in newbie golf.

“She was doing so nicely, and she or he was so younger,” Zhang stated. “I feel that Gianna is a tremendous participant, and I sort of knew from the beginning that she was going to be taking part in nicely as a result of her mechanics are nice, her swing is nice. I feel that she’s sort of a vivid star for the longer term.”

Clemente’s household moved from the Youngstown, Ohio, space to the Florida Gulf Coast, the place the climate and home-schooling permits her extra time and devotion to golf. That is what she needs.

However as a lot as she’s consumed with golf, there’s extra to life. She turned 15 final week, and Clemente’s mom stunned her with tickets to a Taylor Swift live performance in Tampa in a number of weeks.

“My mother hid it from me for 3 months as a result of she wished to shock me for my birthday.” Clemente stated. “It was an excellent shock.”

However that is Clemente, who thrives on competitors and loves successful. So when requested whether or not she was extra excited for the live performance or the ultimate spherical Saturday at Augusta Nationwide, she didn’t hesitate.

“Saturday, yeah,” she stated. “Not even shut.”

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