Most golfers dream about putting on the 18th green at Augusta National. Twelve-year-old Riley Adkins lived the dream and hopes to make a return trip to the home of the Masters in 2024.
Adkins, of Patrick Springs, qualified for the national finals of the Drive, Chip and Putt competition in 2019, but because of COVID had to wait a year to get to Augusta. The weekend before the 2021 Masters, she got her chance.
Riley reached the national finals by advancing through qualifiers in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, N.C. The final round of qualifying was held at the prestigious Atlanta Athletic Club, past home to both men’s and women’s U.S. Opens, where she earned her spot at Augusta.
At the finals, Riley said Augusta National “treated us like we were one of the pros.”
Her father, Chris Adkins, added, “everything was remarkable.”
Together they experienced eating in the clubhouse, taking pictures on Magnolia Lane and, for Riley, playing in front of a television audience on a course where some of golf’s greatest moments have happened.
After finishing sixth in her age group, Riley and her father spent the following day walking the course and watching players prepare for the Masters during the Monday practice round. Unfortunately, the player she most wanted to see, Tiger Woods, was absent while recovering from his car accident weeks before.
“We followed Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson, and saw Bryson DeChambeau and Jordan Spieth and really all the big names,” she said.
Riley got her start in golf at age two, tagging along while her father played. He let her hit some putts and her interest in the game grew. According to Riley, she was hooked on the game from the start. When she was three, videos of her taking surprisingly powerful swings at the ball gained the attention of a local television station. Soon after, Good Morning America called to have her on the show in New York City.
“I got a call at work from Good Morning America saying they wanted to put her on the show with Michael Strahan, and I hung up,” thinking it was a joke, Chris Adkins said. When they called back, he realized it was legitimate, and the two were soon on their way to New York.
When asked on the show what she wanted to be, three-year-old Riley answered, “four.”
By the time Riley was six, golf was her passion. That year, she won her first of more than 25 tournaments. Last November, she won the U.S. Kids Tour Championship in Greenville, N.C., by seven shots.
With all her tournament wins, it was a match much closer to home that she’ll “never forget,” she says with a smile. While playing at Gordon Trent Golf Course in Patrick County, she shot a 36, beating her father for the first time by one shot.
“She hasn’t let me forget that one,” Chris Adkins said.
Currently, she practices every day.
“Whether it’s putting or chipping or however far she can hit in the yard,” she works hard to improve her game, he said. The two try to get out to Gordon Trent at least once a week, and “just go out there and have fun.”
For Riley, golf is fun, even when things aren’t going her way on the course.
“I just try to do better and don’t worry about it too much,” she said.
Chris Adkins said there is great pride in watching her hard work pay off.
“She’s working so hard on her putting this year, and she’s so improved. It used to be her kind of Achilles’s heel, so she worked really hard on her putting and got it dialed in,” he said, adding that Riley is also working on her approach shots.
“Once she can dial in her approach shots, she’s going to be able to shoot some low scores,” he said.
In the near term, one of Riley’s goals is to break 70. In a recent tournament, Chris Adkins said, “she bogeyed 18. A par would have given her a 69, but she still shot 70,” which is two-under-par.
Looking further ahead, Riley said her goals are to “go to a good school, then hopefully get on the LPGA tour.”
Her sights are set on Wake Forest and North Carolina.
A huge UNC fan, Chris Adkins said, “as much as I hate it, I’d love to see her to go Wake, just because it’s closer and they have unreal practice facilities and all the people that have played there.”
In the meantime, Riley is looking forward to qualifying for the national Drive, Chip and Putt national finals again. Last year, she finished just outside the top two in the sub-regionals, the second round of qualifying, missing out on advancing. Come summer, she will be back at it in her attempt to get back to Augusta National in 2024.
