Anna Davis takes aim at 55-year-old amateur record at 2022 U.S. Women’s Open

Sixteen-year-old Anna Davis burst onto the national women’s golf scene and simultaneously brought the bucket hat into current conversation when she won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April. And she’s kept her name – and her signature look – in the discussion since, making the cut in her first two LPGA tournament starts and preparing for her first major appearance this week at the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open.

“I think I’ve learned a lot about my golf game and learned how the pros’ games are separated from amateurs’, and I see how it’s different,” the Southern California native told media Tuesday at Pine Needles Resort & Golf Club, site of the 77th USWO championship.

“They’re just a lot more consistent and they don’t make as many mistakes. I think that’s kind of a big thing that I’ve been working on, and just growing as a person in general.”

Davis is one of 31 amateurs in the field of 156 players this week, and she’ll take aim at a 55-year-old record dating back to 1967 when Catherine Lacoste, daughter of French tennis player Rene Lacoste and 1927 British Ladies Amateur champion Simone Thion de la Chaume, became the only amateur to win the U.S. Women’s Open. Seven other amateurs – most recently Hye-Jin Choi in 2017 – have finished as runner(s)-up.

She’s one of 17 teenagers playing at Pine Needles, and she also boasts the rare distinction of playing left-handed despite being right-handed in her daily life.

“What I’ve learned from past experiences when you’re nervous and you’re worked up, you’re not going to play your best, and so that’s kind of something that I think about,” she shared. “It’s just like, ‘Okay, calm down, you’re going to play better if you’re calmed down.'”

It’s a pragmatic approach for the high school