Northbrook teen qualifies for Drive, Chip & Putt finals

Martha Kuwahara lists "actor" as what she'd like to be when she grows up. She should not count out being a golfer.

The eighth grader from Wood Oaks Junior High in Northbrook qualified for the Drive, Chip & Putt national finals at Augusta National in Georgia, site of the Masters Tournament.

Competing against nine others in the girls 14-15 division, the oldest designation, she's among 80 young golfers participating in the event broadcast live on April 3, on the eve of the Masters.

Born in Osaka, Japan, Kuwahara moved to the United States at 6 years old. She started playing golf four years later after she saw her grandfather and brother having fun playing golf, she said on her profile at Drive, Chip & Putt. Her home course is The Glen Club in Glenview.

Kuwahara reached the finals after placing second among 14- and 15-year-old girls at a local qualifier at Pine Meadow in Mundelein, winning a subregional qualifier at Royal Fox in St. Charles, and winning again at the regional qualifier at Medinah. At each round putting was her top discipline.

Two years ago, she said in her profile, she reached the subregional level.

Winner of the girls 2021 Illinois Elementary School Association State Tournament, Kuwahara carries a 0.8 handicap. She said her top achievement in golf was her fifth-place finish among 13-year-old girls in the 2021 World Teen Championship at the Longleaf Golf & Family Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina.

She's been inspired by Masters winners Tiger Woods and Hideki Matsuyama, the first Japanese player to win the tournament. Her favorite female golfer is Hinako Shibuno.

"She is always smiling, even if it is a close tournament," Kuwahara wrote in her Drive, Chip & Putt profile.