IJGA alumnus Doug Ghim to Play in 2018 Masters

IJGA alumnus Doug Ghim punched his ticket to the 2018 Masters after advancing to the finals of the U.S. Amateur Championship last summer. He finished the U.S. Amateur as the runner-up, earning his spot as one of the small group of amateurs that are invited to golf’s first major of 2018.

Doug’s first visit to Augusta was with his University of Texas teammates after they played in a tournament nearby. But now he returns to Augusta as a Masters Competitor.

In an interview for the CDGA’s Chicago District Golfer, Doug talked about making one of his five allowed practice visits to Augusta with his dad, Jeff, “He had never seen the course before so to have him walk alongside me was pretty cool. It was incredible just to share it with him. I get chills thinking about it.”

Doug’s best practice round was a 4-under-par 68, and after talking to past Masters champions, Doug received the most basic advice, “Their best advice is just to treat it like any other tournament, as hard as that might be. You can’t overthink the course. Just play to your ability and know you can play there.”

To start off Masters Week, Doug lined up at least a nine-hole practice round with with Masters Champion and fellow Texas alumnus Jordan Spieth. He also attended the annual Masters amateur dinner at Augusta and he will be staying the week in the clubhouse’s Crow’s Nest, the traditional upper-floor home for the amateurs.

Chairman Ridley hosts @harry_ellis54, @yuxin9643, @joaco_niemann, @douglas_ghim, @doc.redman and @mattparziale at Monday night’s traditional Amateur Dinner. #themasters

A post shared by The Masters (@themasters) on Apr 2, 2018 at 5:27pm PDT

During Doug’s illustrious junior career with the IJGA and MAJGT (2008-2011), he competed in 51 events and won 29 of them, including every IJGA Major Championship. Out of the 29 wins, 25 of them came between 2009-2011 when Doug was between 13 and 15 years old.

Doug has had an amazing amateur career, playing in all of the major national amateur championships. Along with his runner-up finish at the U.S. Amateur, he also has a runner-up finish at the U.S. Amateur Public Links in 2014. He is currently ranked No. 1 in the Scratch Players World Amateur Ranking and No. 4 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

Later in the interview with the Chicago District Golfer, Doug explained why he chose to go to Texas, “The reason I chose Texas to play golf is that I wanted to be part of the legacy and the tradition of the program. Now I’m going to be playing with all those guys at the Masters and it’s going to be awesome”

Watch Doug as he competes in at the Masters at 11:37 AM EDT on Thursday and at 8:41 AM EDT on Friday with past Masters Champion Sandy Lyle and Si Woo Kim.