AUBURN, Ala. – Growing up in Ireland, Julie McCarthy stayed up late every year to watch the final round of The Masters. Next month, the Auburn junior will have an opportunity to play on the same course as a part of the second annual Augusta National Women's Amateur.
McCarthy, who received her invitation last week, will join teammates Megan Schofill and Kaleigh Telfer in the field featuring 72 of the world's top amateurs.
"It was huge when I got the phone call," McCarthy said. "Last year, having Kaleigh Telfer play and the coaches went – everybody was talking about how amazing of a tournament it was. Even coming from Ireland, everybody still raves about Augusta."
McCarthy is coming off a sophomore campaign in which she won her first collegiate tournament, was named First Team All-SEC and earned WGCA All-American honors. Her scoring average per round, 72.90, ranked sixth all-time in program history. She also represented the International Team at the Arnold Palmer Cup last June.
This season, McCarthy was limited in the fall while still recovering from a wrist injury.
"She's just kind of getting her feet back under her," Auburn head coach Melissa Luellen said. "So something like going to Augusta certainly is a motivating thing to keep working hard on your game and be a little more focused during qualifying, a little more focused during tournaments. She's deserving. She's a great player."
With the addition of McCarthy to the field, Auburn is one of four women's golf programs to have three current golfers playing at this year's Augusta National Women's Amateur. The other three – Duke, UCLA and USC – all ranked in the top 15 nationally.
"When I came here, I dreamed of building a team with great talent and great desire," Luellen said. "This is just a little congratulations, a little point of celebration to say that we've got three super-talented players playing at Augusta that happen to be Auburn Tigers."
The tournament, which runs April 1-4, will begin at Champions Retreat Golf Club in Augusta where the first two rounds will be played Wednesday and Thursday. The top 30 competitors will then advance to the final round at Augusta National on Saturday. All 72 players in the field will play a practice round at Augusta National on the Friday before.
Auburn, coming off a team victory at the Lake Oconee Invitational, will return to the course this weekend for the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate. The three-day tournament, held at Long Cove Club in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, will tee off Friday.