Hannah Darling set for 'best event of year' in Augusta National Women's Amateur

Darling led last year’s event after an opening six-under-par 66 at Champions Retreat, where the opening two rounds are played, before following a second-round 77 with a closing 72 at Augusta National to finish seventh behind England’s Lottie Woad.

It was the Broomieknowe player’s best effort so far in the prestigious tournament, having tied for 27th when she created history along with West Kilbride’s Louise Duncan as the first Scots to play in it in 2022 before missing the cut the following year.

“This is the best event of the year, so just really excited to be back,” admitted Darling after playing her practice round at Champions Retreat on Tuesday. “But I also obviously have a lot of experience under my belt. Definitely feel more prepared than the first year I was out here.

“Practice round was pretty easy today, just familiarise yourself with the course, and there's a couple of trees down here and there, but I love being back at this event, and it's going to be a special week.”

Now nearing the end of her senior year at the University of South Carolina, Darling has recorded an impressive seven top-15 finishes on the US college this season, including a win in the Annika Intercollegiate in September.

“I feel very prepared,” she added. “I feel like I've been playing very well the last couple of months. I think my game has been brewing pretty nicely, and I'm ready to just perform.

“But I think the other thing is trying to treat it like any other event and not put too much pressure on it. But yeah, I'm in a really good place, so excited to just go hit some good golf shots.

Darling, who is flying the Saltire solo for the third year in a row, has been paired with 2022 winner Anna Davis and another American, Catherine Rao, for the opening two rounds. The trio are out at 2.32pm in Wednesday’s first circuit the 1.35pm on Thursday.

“I have a big Scottish clan with us this week,” said the former Scottish Girls’ champion. “We've got six that flew over from Scotland, which includes my parents, and then the whole South Carolina team will be here on Saturday, which is a big group of people. But it's going to be awesome just to have that much support. It's really nice.

“I have Jonathan Burnett, who is one of my team-mate’s dads, caddying for. He brings a lot of knowledge to the bag, and I had him on the bag last year, too, which worked really well. So it's going to be fun with him.”

In the battle to be among the top 30 and ties progressing to Saturday’s final round, Darling has two University of South Carolina team–mates for company in the field in fellow senior Louise Rydqvist from Sweden and freshman Eila Galitsky from Thailand.

Woad birdied three of the last four holes to land her win in style last year, pipping American Bailey Shoemaker by one shot as she posted an eight-under-par total.

“Everything’s feeling pretty solid heading into the ANWA,” said Woad, who has cemented her position as world No 1 by finishing in the top three in all eight college events she’s played in since helping Great Britain & Ireland win the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale last summer.

“I’m obviously trying to win it again, but the main aim is to stay in contention for the final day at Augusta and see where that puts me. It would be cool to go back-to-back, though.”

In addition to both Woad and Darling, two other members of Catriona Matthew’s triumphant team in the Curtis Cup last year - Patience Rhodes from England and Ireland’s Beth Coulter - are also in this week’s 72-player field.