Aiken golfer named Drive, Chip and Putt finalist

Local Aiken golfer Shane Strickland will head to Augusta National Golf Club next spring after qualifying as a national finalist for the Drive, Chip and Putt competition.

The 8-year-old golfer qualified in the 7-9 age group at the Golf Club of Tennessee after coming back from last place to start the competition on September 8. The competition awards points based on the quality of different drives, chips and putts on a course and the player with the most points wins the age group.

“The day was actually really crazy,” Shane said. “We get to the Drive, Chip and Putt area and then I’m practicing, I’m practicing, and my practice isn’t going so well. Then we go to the driving range to start the tournament and events, and my mom just found out that the only time she can talk to me is to say good luck and stuff. I have to carry all my clubs without advice.”

Shane struggled in the driving and chipping portions, finishing in last place with 18 points after driving two balls out of bounds and shattering his first chip. Going into the final stages of the competition, he said he knew he could finish strong in the putting.

“My mom said, ‘Just sink all those putts,’” he said. “And my coach gave me a cross that I thought was very useful. So when I was about to go, I sat and held the cross and said, “I can do this.” So I sank all the putts.

As he watched the other competitors putt, Shane began to realize he had a chance to win the entire event. It came down to first place and when his final putt rolled past the hole, Shane realized he had won the match.

“It keeps rolling, rolling,” he said. “And then it goes into the two, and then it rolls and then it goes into the one, and I knew after that point of keeping up with all the other kids, I knew I won it.”

His mother, Nicole Strickland, said he won by just two points. But at the time, Shane tried to contain his excitement in front of the other children, he said.