Shepherd eager to play at Augusta National

<p><strong>F</strong>or as long as she can remember, Erica Shepherd has watched The Masters on television every year. Like most viewers, she marveled at the beauty of the famed Augusta National course.</p><p>As she grew up and became one of the top young women’s golfers in the world, Shepherd never thought she would have an opportunity to play the legendary layout, which has traditionally only hosted men’s tournaments.</p><p>Next week, all of that changes. The Center Grove senior was one of 72 players invited to take part in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur, the first-ever women’s tournament at the course.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>“I was always kind of frustrated because, ‘All right, this is the best golf course in the world, but I’ll never get a chance to play it because they only have men’s there.’” Shepherd said. “So just the fact that they have a women’s amateur tournament there that I can play in for hopefully the next five years, and to play in the inaugural one, it’s just a dream. I think being out there will be super surreal.”</p><p>Playing an actual tournament round at Augusta National is a privilege that Shepherd will still have to earn, though.</p><p>Wednesday and Thursday’s rounds will be played at nearby Champions Retreat Golf Club. On Friday, all 72 players will be able to play a practice round at Augusta National, with the top 30 players returning there Saturday for the final round of the tournament, which will be broadcast live on NBC.</p><p>While she’s excited to be guaranteed a practice round at Augusta, Shepherd said her goal is to be there for the round that counts.</p><p>“I like to put pressure on myself, and usually it makes me play better, so we’ll see what happens,” she said.</p><p>Shepherd has been to Augusta National once before; when she was six years old, her family was able to get tickets for a practice round of The Masters. After receiving her invitation to the tournament, she tweeted out an old photo of her previous trip to the course.</p><p>She remembers it being a special trip, even though she “wasn’t even that big into golf when I was that little.”</p><p>The Augusta trip will be one of the highlights of a 2019 season that will be Shepherd’s last on the junior golf circuit. At summer’s end, she’ll head south to begin her freshman year at Duke University, where she’ll join one of the top teams in the country.</p><p>The Blue Devils are currently ranked in the top three nationally and have just one senior on the roster, with two elite recruits coming aboard in Shepherd and Megan Furtney. The two played together in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball tournament last year, reaching the semifinal round.</p><p>Shepherd, who never played for the high school team at Center Grove, is looking forward to being a part of one for the first time.</p><p>“I’m just real excited to play on a team,” she said. “I’ve never really done that before since basketball. And I’m really good friends with the girl that’s going in with me, and we have a small team.”</p><p>Before leaving for Duke, Shepherd has some significant items on her to-do list, including a Symetra Tour event in French Lick this July and a possible return to the LPGA’s Indy Women in Tech Championship at Brickyard Crossing.</p><p>Her primary targets, though, are the three biggest USGA events of the year — the U.S. Girls Junior, the U.S. Women’s Amateur and the U.S. Open. Shepherd will be exempt from qualifying for the U.S. Girls Junior after winning it in 2017, but she’ll have to play her way into the other two.</p><p>Those qualifiers will put Shepherd in some more high-pressure situations.</p><p>“Those one-days are equal to five days of mentally grinding,” she said, “just because you have 18 holes — or in the US Open, 36 holes — to play in a major, to play in a USGA event.</p><p>“You’re even more stressed out going in because you can’t make a big number. You don’t have time to make it up.”</p><p>Shepherd will also be dealing with limited time at home after graduation. She usually spends most of her summers on the road playing tournaments, but she’s lightened up her competitive schedule a little bit this season to make the most of the time she has left with her friends here.</p><p>At the same time, she’s eager to move on to the next stage of her life.</p><p>“Center Grove is the only thing I’ve ever known,” Shepherd said, “so just to be 10 hours away and be surrounded by a whole new group of people and a new golf course, being around girls every day instead of me just going out and doing my own thing like I do here, it’ll definitely be a big adjustment.”</p><p>What won’t adjust is the high bar that Shepherd always sets for herself. She’ll be competing against many of the top amateur golfers in the world over the next four years at Duke, but she’s going in with the idea of competing for national individual and team championships right away.</p><p>That, she figures, is what the Blue Devils are bringing her there for.</p><p>“I think they’re expecting me to do that,” Shepherd said with a smile.</p>