Julia Lopez Ramirez is no stranger to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. But although the Mississippi State star golfer played in the event last year, she never actually got the chance to play on the iconic course.
That’s because the first two rounds of the tournament are held at Champions Retreat Golf Club in nearby Evans, Ga., with only the final round taking place at Augusta National. Lopez Ramirez missed the cut by two strokes in 2023, finishing four shots over par.
Such a fate is highly unlikely for Lopez Ramirez this year. The native of Malaga, Spain, is now the No. 2 ranked amateur golfer in the world and is coming off a co-championship at her last event, the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in Hilton Head Island, S.C. She was also the 2023 Southeastern Conference individual champion and won the European Ladies’ Amateur Championship in Sweden last July.
“You learn a lot on those courses,” Lopez Ramirez said. “I learned to just go have fun and enjoy yourself out there, because being there it can get to you. I’m so happy to go at it again and try and be out there with the best amateurs in the world.”
Lopez Ramirez will be joined by a Bulldogs teammate, fellow junior Chaira Horder, at this year’s tournament, which will take place from Apr. 3-6. Horder, who grew up in Munich, Germany, is currently ranked No. 165 in the world and won The Women’s Amateur Championship in England in June 2023.
Horder and Lopez Ramirez are both familiar with the course at Champions Retreat, where the first two rounds of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur will take place next Wednesday and Thursday — the two played there last week in addition to Lopez Ramirez’s experience at last year’s tournament.
“It’s really exciting to have one of my teammates join me,” Lopez Ramirez said. “The only advice I would give her is to take it easy. We know it’s a very big tournament for us and it’s a very big deal, but if you make it a really big deal for you then it makes it harder for you to do well on the golf course. … (Horder) knows how to play golf. I don’t need to train her or anything.”
The golfers who make the cut will play in the final round on Apr. 6 at Augusta National, and the winner will automatically be invited to play in the event for the next five years. The champion — provided she remains an amateur — will also receive an invitation to this year’s U.S. Women’s Open in Lancaster, Pa. in late May and early June, as well as the Women’s British Open at the iconic St. Andrews Links course in Scotland in August.
In addition, the winner at Augusta will receive one of six exemptions into the Chevron Championship, another of the five major championships on the Ladies’ Professional Golf Association Tour. This year’s Chevron Championship will take place from Apr. 18-21 in The Woodlands, Texas — starting just two days after the final day of the SEC Championship tournament in Belleair, Fla.
“That’s a really big deal for all of us because at the end of the day, what we’re looking forward to is going to play LPGA and play with the best players,” Lopez Ramirez said. “The opportunity to play with the best and see yourself up there when that’s actually what you want, just making you feel basically like what you’re going to feel when you actually want to turn pro and play in (the) LPGA, that’s a really cool advantage.”
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