Former Benjamin golfer at Augusta National Women’s Amateur

• Andie Smith, a former Benjamin School golfer, will compete in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur tournament.
• The tournament, featuring 72 of the world’s best amateur women’s golfers, begins Wednesday at Champion Retreat Golf Club in Georgia.
• The top 30 players after two rounds will play the final round at Augusta National Golf Club on Saturday.
• Smith is the third Palm Beach County golfer to compete in the tournament in recent years.

Former Benjamin School golfer Andie Smith will compete alongside the world’s best women’s amateur golfers this week with a chance to play the hallowed grounds of the Masters Tournament.

The Augusta National Women’s Amateur will open first round play on Wednesday morning with tee times beginning at 8 a.m. at the Champion Retreat Golf Club in Georgia.

Smith, a 22-year-old junior at Duke University, will begin play at hole No. 10 at 9:32 a.m. in a group with Italy’s Francesca Fiorellini and Spain’s Carolina Lopez-Chacarra.

The tournament’s field of 72 players includes 49 of the top 50 players in the women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings.

After 36 holes at Champions Retreat on Wednesday and Thursday, the field will cut to the top 30 players, who will play a practice round at Augusta National on Friday before the tournament’s final round there on Saturday.

More: Andie Smith continues to excel in memory of her father

Who is Andie Smith?

Smith enters the tournament ranked No. 57 in the women’s World Amateur Golf Rankings. She is considered a longshot to win the tournament with 125-1 odds according to Oddschecker.

She has one career collegiate win at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational in October 2024. She has 10 career top 10 finishes with the Blue Devils.

After winning the Class 1A state championship with the Benjamin girls golf team in November 2001, Smith was named the Palm Beach Post’s Girls Golfer of the Year.

Smith previously played varsity golf at the Pine School in Hobe Sound. She attributed her love for golf to her late father Jeff, who died in 2015.

Andie Smith latest Palm Beach County golfer in event

It’s the third consecutive year a Palm Beach County women’s amateur golfer will appear in the field.

Maisie Filler, a former Oxbridge Academy and University of Florida golfer, competed in the last two Augusta National Women’s Amateur tournaments. She missed the cut in 2023 and finished tied for eighth in 2024.

The Augusta National Women’s Amateur was first hosted in 2019 and is entering its sixth edition. Past champions include LPGA star Rose Zhang (2023).

Eric J. Wallace is deputy sports editor for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at [email protected].