It took a while for Colorado competitors to get revved up for the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship, but they seem to be hitting full stride these days.
No Coloradans qualified for the national finals of the DC&P event held at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia in the first two years of the competition, culminating in 2014 and ’15. But there’s no such issue this time around.
In fact, three junior golfers from Colorado will be among the 80 competitors — 40 boys and 40 girls from across the U.S. and Canada — who will be vying in the third annual Drive, Chip and Putt finals, set for Sunday (April 3) at Augusta National on the eve of Masters week.
That makes Colorado one of the most well-represented states in this year’s finals. In fact, only six states have more finalists this spring — California (8), Texas (7), Ohio (5), and New York, Illinois and Michigan (4 each).
The Drive, Chip and Putt Championship, for youngsters age 7-15, is a joint initiative of the Masters, the USGA and the PGA of America designed to help grow the game.
Each competitor is scored based on the longest of two drives (provided it’s inbounds), and the cumulative proximity to the hole of two chips and of two putts. The driving and chipping will be held at Augusta National’s tournament practice area, with the putting set for ANGC’s 18th green. Golfers vie within eight groups based on gender and age, with the kids with the highest combined scores in driving, chipping and putting winning the overall titles.
All 80 of the finalists who will vie at Augusta National on Sunday qualified by virtue of advancing through local, sub-regional and regional competitions.
The Coloradans who made the finals are Luke Trujillo of Colorado Springs (boys 14-15 age group), fellow Colorado Springs resident Arielle Keating (girls 14-15) and Caitlyn Chin of suburban Denver (girls 7-9). Trujillo and Keating are children of PGA professionals John Trujillo of Eisenhower Golf Club and Brad Keating of Springs Ranch Golf Club, respectively.
Trujillo, Keating and Chin all took the same sub-regional and regional paths to the finals, advancing at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora and Torrey Pines Golf Club in La Jolla, Calif., respectively. Each won his or her division at the regionals at Torrey Pines.
Trujillo, who owns a 0.8 handicap index, remembers watching last year’s DC&P finals on TV.
“I saw all these kids doing what they love to do and having a lot of fun and I wanted to have the chance to be in that moment,” he told drivechipandputt.com.
Trujillo plays out of the Golf Club at Flying Horse, while Keating is from the Country Club of Colorado and Chin hails from Meridian Golf Club.
Golf Channel will be devoting five hours of TV coverage to the Drive, Chip and Putt finals on Sunday, with an hour-long “pre-game” (6-7 a.m. MT) followed by four hours of live action (7-11 a.m.).
