Every Sunday before the Masters begins, Augusta National turns its attention from some of the world’s greatest players to the ones attempting to become them some day.
By Steve Derderian
sderderian@massgolf.org
The Drive, Chip & Putt National Final is a three-part skills competition for youth ages 7-15 that will be will be played on Sunday, April 5, prior to the start of the 90th Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. It will be broadcast live on Golf Channel and NBC Sports digital platforms from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. ET.
Every Sunday before the Masters begins, Augusta National turns its attention from some of the world’s greatest players to the ones attempting to become them some day.
This year, two Massachusetts juniors — 12-year-old Callen Cronin (Haverhill, MA) and 14-year-old Charlotte Rollins (Boxford, MA) — will step onto that stage at the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals, a competition that has become one of the game’s most meaningful entry points for young players nationwide.
Massachusetts natives have had a storied history with Drive, Chip & Putt. More notably, PGA Tour standout Michael Thorbjornsen placed first in the Boys 14-15 group in 2016, won the 2021 Massachusetts Amateur while attending Stanford, and played in the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club (also 2019). Now he is among the top 60 players in the world, needing a win this weekend to qualify for the Masters. Conner Willett, a fellow Wellesley native and a 2014 DCP competitor, won the Mass Amateur a year after Thorbjornsen.
Three years ago Maya Gaudin’s story took center stage, and it took off even further when she won her age division. Born in Ethiopia and adopted by Massachusetts natives Stephen and Cassandra Gaudin, Maya has played all over the world and has even shared several conversations with defending Masters champion Rory McIlroy through golf events held in Abu Dhabi. Locally, she has won the women’s club championships at Sacconnesset Golf Club in Falmouth.
Though their paths to Augusta differ, Cronin and Rollins share a common foundation shaped by years with Youth on Course, which provides juniors 18 and under access to public golf for $5 per round. Those opportunities have fostered repetition, experience, and a poise under pressure that feels well beyond their years.
For Cronin, the return trip to Augusta marks his second appearance in three years. Playing on national television for the first time in 2024, he took 4th in the Boys 10-11 division, hitting his first drive 210 yards, hitting both chips inside 4 feet (good for 9 of a max 10 points) and holing his second and final putt, a 15-footer on the famous 18th where many of green jackets have often been won.
His success has been many years in the making. A Youth on Course member, Cronin once logged the most rounds of any Mass Golf participant in the program, taking full advantage of affordable opportunities to play at Bradford Country Club and Crystal Lake Golf Club.
Cronin has also mentioned motivation with meeting Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and said he is equally excited to represent New England on one of golf’s most cherished stages.
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Rollins, who is competing in the Girls 14-15 division, earned her place in Augusta thanks in part to a composed, clutch finish in the qualifier. There, she faced a moment of uncertainty on the final skill (putting) unsure where she stood in the standings.
Her response was simple: trust the process. The result? She sank a 30-foot putt that secured her spot on one of golf’s most iconic stages.
“I was just trying to get some points since I had gotten so far already,” Rollins said after the qualifier. “I wasn’t trying to make it, I was just trying to do the best I could.”
Rollins has competed on the Mass Golf stage for several years. She was the most improved golfer in the Junior-Mite Division during the 2022 Mass Girls’ Junior Amateur. In 2024, she won the Father Daughter Tournament, also competing with her father in the Mass Mixed Four-Ball Championship for the Stone Cup. Last year, she was the youngest player on the Girls’ Junior Inter-City Team, earning a team-best 2.5 points in the matches.
Beyond golf, Rollins said she aspires to become a neurologist, and as such, she embraces the mental side of the game as much as the skill side, something that should come in handy when every shot at Augusta asks as much of the mind as it does the swing.
“I think the mental side of the game is probably the most important,” she said. “It’s something I’ve worked on the most over the years.”
Mass Golf is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is dedicated to advancing golf in Massachusetts by building an engaged and inclusive community.
With a community made up of over 145,000 golf enthusiasts and over 360 member clubs, Mass Golf is one of the largest state golf associations in the country. Members enjoy the benefits of handicapping, engaging golf content, course rating and scoring services along with the opportunity to compete in an array of events for golfers of all ages and abilities.
At the forefront of junior development, Mass Golf is proud to offer programming to youth in the state through First Tee Massachusetts and subsidized rounds of golf by way of Youth on Course.
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