Kupcho lives up to head table invite on Day 1 of Augusta National Women’s Amateur

EVANS, Ga. – Once Jennifer Kupcho received her seat assignment for the Chairman’s Dinner – Table 3 – she asked around and got an unsettling answer.

“Nobody else had Table 3,” Kupcho’s father, Mike, said.

So early Tuesday evening, as the 72 players headed to the back of the clubhouse to commemorate the inaugural edition of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Mike Kupcho ducked inside and scanned the room, looking for his seat.

“Oh my God,” he said, “we’re at the head table.”

Indeed, his daughter – the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, the reigning NCAA individual champion from Wake Forest, one of the favorites to win this trailblazing tournament – was positioned next to Masters chairman Fred Ridley and former USGA president Diana Murphy, along with Champions Retreat owner Bill Forrest and fellow competitors Dylan Kim and Kaitlyn Papp.

Mike Kupcho wasn’t nervous about the dinner. “But I was wondering if my daughter was,” he said, laughing. “But she did great. They were all conversing, and I was down at the other end, trying to listen in.”

Dining on surf and turf, Kupcho described the entire experience as “pretty cool” and that Ridley and Murphy were “really nice people.” Throughout her decorated college career she’s preferred to let her clubs do the talking, but she also knows that she better get used to rubbing elbows with golf’s glitterati. It comes with the territory, as one of the up-and-coming American stars.

“It’s a lot of social skills,” she said. “I’m definitely an introvert, so I’m going to have to become more outward and be able to talk to whoever comes up to me and carry on a conversation with them.”

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There was plenty to discuss, of course, including Kupcho’s torrid form. On a postcard day at Champions Retreat, she fired a 4-under 68 Wednesday to share the early lead at the 54-hole Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Just like last year, Kupcho has hit her stride at the ideal time.

After winning NCAAs last spring – a cathartic victory, given her collapse on the 71^st hole the previous year – she embarked on an ambitious schedule that included overseas trips and multiple U.S. team competitions. By the time the fall college season rolled around, she had little energy remaining.

“She didn’t have that great of a fall, so I was like, Are you just going to slide through your senior year? What are you doing?” Mike Kupcho said.

In her last college tournament of the fall, Kupcho three-putted six times – “enough for the whole season,” Mike quipped – and entered the pressure-cooker of the LPGA Q-Series not knowing what to expect. Instead, she went 96 holes without a three-putt and nearly won, locking up a full LPGA card that she deferred until this summer.

Rested and unburdened by her future plans, Kupcho has now posted seven consecutive rounds in the 60s, with two wins and a second-place finish in her past three college starts.

“She’s on fire again,” Mike Kupcho said. “She’s a spring player, if you hadn’t noticed.”

And that continued here during the first round of qualifying – at least once she got past the first-tee nerves.

“It was very official,” she said. “I walked up, and everyone was very quiet, like not talking to each other at all. I was like, Oh my Gosh, this is crazy.”

But Kupcho found the first fairway, hit all 18 greens and failed to make a single bogey on a day when only 14 players broke par.

“It’s probably the first perfect round I’ve played,” she said.

It was only good enough for a share of the first-round lead, along with 16-year-old Zoe Campos. The 103^rd-ranked player in the field, Campos was one of the last players invited to the event but didn’t look out of place. A birdie on her final hole tied Kupcho and gave her a six-shot cushion over the current cut line. The field will be trimmed to the low 30 players after Thursday’s second round.

“I didn’t really expect myself to be up top,” Campos said. “I really just focused on making the cut. It’s not my absolute goal to win this tournament. I really just want to get a good experience out of it.”

Not surprisingly, Kupcho’s expectations for herself are markedly higher.

Hey, you don’t get to world No. 1 – and the head table – by aiming for the cut line.

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