Perfect setting greets players as Augusta National Women's Am begins

EVANS, Ga. – An hour before the start of the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur, heavy fog blanketed the grounds at Champions Retreat Golf Club. Participants, the trailblazers for this landmark tournament, were bundled up as they hit balls and struck putts in frigid temperatures. Patrons began to trickle in, and the atmosphere could best be described as a quiet calm.

But as the morning’s first tee time approached, the sun came out, warmer air set in and soon the first tee was surrounded by more than 100 onlookers.

Among those standing inside the ropes were Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley and past USGA president and Augusta National member Diana Murphy. The winner’s trophy, made…