Duluth’s Sara Im lists her favorite movie as “Wonder Woman” and her golfing role model as the LPGA’s Lydia Ko. Sunday, the seventh grader at Suwanee’s Riverwatch Middle School reflected a little of both, winning the Girls 12-13 division of the Drive, Chip & Putt National Championship at Augusta National Sunday.

Among the 10 finalists in her group, Im parlayed winning the putting competition - a two-putt aggregate of 2-feet 3-inches - into the overall championship. She finished second in driving (a best of 233.6 yards) in her age group and fourth in chipping (an 11-feet 10-inches aggregate of two attempts).

Having attempted to qualify a number of times in the past, this was Im’s first trip to Augusta National and the national finals. “I knew that I had to get better to try to win,” she wrote in a questionnaire prior to the finals.

Other local finishers Sunday were Canton’s Thaxton Cheyne (seventh place, boys 7-9), Alpharetta’s Patmon Malcom (fourth, boys 10-11), Atlanta’s Sahish Reddy (T-eighth, boys 10-11) and Winston’s Loralie Cowart (ninth, girls 14-15).

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Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum, accompanied by Atlanta Fire Chief Roderick Smith, provided an update to the press during a media tour at the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center. They discussed the new Simulation Center, which will enable officers to train for various crime scenarios, including domestic disputes, commercial robberies, and kidnappings. Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024.
(Miguel Martinez / AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez/AJC