An hour late and in a break in the rain, Anna Davis walked straight through a looming memory to her first tee. She said he pushed it away, tried to focus on this year and this year only.

Now it’s laughable, Davis joked. Time had seemed to heal a demoralizing day.

But her past follows her. It carries weight. There’s a win in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur two years ago followed by missing the cut last year.

On her first hole last year at Champions Retreat Golf Club — the host of the tournament’s first two rounds — Davis was assessed a four-shot penalty after twice picking up and cleaning her ball in the rough. Her first number on her first scorecard last year wound up as a nine. She was told about the infraction on the fourth hole and made a double bogey, clearly reacting to the news.

“They were actually handing out little cards that said something about preferred lies this year. I could not help but laugh,” Davis said of when she walked up to her first tee.

The expectations change with a win in an event like this. She’s expected to compete every year. But in her title defense, she didn’t.

“What are people thinking about me? The expectations, now she has to win this, this and this,” Davis said in an interview with AL.com in March. “And do well in this, this and this. I think that got to me a little bit last year, knowing people have higher expectations of me now.”

Now she’s back. This time as a college student at Auburn. Her resumé here shows two opposites in her win and missed cut.

Now she’s back on her first tee. She says hi to her father as she walks onto the course. No smile. She’s focused this time.

Internally, she said she pushed out the thoughts of what others may expect. But there’s certainly a point to prove.

She’s missed her high school prom for this, missed walking across the high school graduation stage with her friends this spring all in the pursuit of golf. To remind those why her world ranking remains in the top 15 and the status that comes with winning here.

She carefully picked up her ball after her drive and before playing her second shot this year. And shooting onto a wet green, Davis stuck it just a few feet away from the pin.

She made birdie. The first of four in a scoring a 2-under-par 70 in her tournament opening round Wednesday.

The past was past.

***

Ginny Welch picked up Davis at the Atlanta airport in January.

Davis is from just outside San Diego. Her parents are school teachers. There would be no cross-country drive to move into her first semester of college.

She arrived in Georgia with one suitcase and her black Titleist golf bag. Welch’s car was packed from her home in Florida with blankets, pillows and whatever items she had at home and could spare to help Davis move in.

The connection with Welch goes back to Davis’ childhood. Welch, a family friend they’d meet in Washington on trips, would help Davis get out of the house to go play golf. Welch lived in Napa Valley for 17 years before moving to Florida about five years ago.

An avid golfer herself, Welch would play in friendly but quite competitive matches paired Davis against Davis’ father Bill Davis and twin brother Billy Davis — who will join the Auburn men’s golf team this summer. The rounds were competitive. The girl’s team typically won.

Welch called herself an “adopted aunt.” In Florida, she offered to Davis’ family that she’d help should Davis come east for college.

Come Christmas time last year, Welch said she received a call from Davis’ mom, Beatriz Kosonoy.

“Is your office still on the table,” Welch recalled Kosonoy saying.

“Oh, what the hell did I offer,” Welch thought.

Welch remembered and agreed. She lives a seven-hour drive from Auburn, but still far closer than Davis’ parents in California. She’s an adult nearby to help an 18-year-old world-traveling, highly-ranked golfer still retain a sense of comfort living far from home.

Welch said she helped Davis set up a checking account.

Now settled at Auburn, Davis is coming off her best college performance thus far, finishing second last week at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic in Athens, Georiga. The event ended on March 30. She said she went back to Auburn for one day after, did her laundry and turned around back to Augusta.

She’s still missing her five classes, though two are online.

“It’s pretty easy actually,” Davis said with a laugh. “Like I’m not doing too much work so I’m happy. Get to golf a lot still.”

Davis can pull this off after years of becoming an independent traveler at the elite level of her sport.

Bill Davis said he and his family can’t always travel to events with his twin children playing in various elite events across the country at any given time.

In fact, this is what’s normal for the Davis family. This is their third time at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Bill Davis remembers what his daughter did on each hole here the last two years. He whispers to himself seemingly praying for a good shot before each of Davis’ swings.

It’s a dad who’s walked hundreds of rounds along his daughter now left to helplessly hope outside the ropes. None of that is new.

College is what’s new. Davis is still learning how to be a freshman. It’s finding time for class and laundry and living away from home for the first time that serves as Davis’ bigger challenges.

The biggest stage in women’s amateur golf? That’s somehow a bit more simple.

***

Davis is a bit of a celebrity here now.

The patrons following her group grew as the dark clouds and intermittent rain subsided into afternoon spring sun and shedding jackets.

Davis started on the 10th tee, and closed her round making three birdies between the third and eighth hole after she made the turn. Her round seemed to turn on her second shot on the par 5 3rd hole, landing her shot atop the green’s downhill slope and tricking it back down to the green.

The overnight thunderstorms and morning rain-softened greens were easily approachable, and Davis said that too was relaxing on a stressful day.

“I remember the first year we played and it was like, okay, we’re going to land this 58 degree 30 feet short of the pin and hope it stays short,” Davis said. “So just things like that. I think it kind of frees up the mental a little bit, too.”

She ended her round with a bogey on her final hole. She’ll sleep on her 2-under-par 70, tied for 12th place and firmly in position to make the cut this time.

As she walked back toward the clubhouse, a high school team that had walked the round with Davis’ group waited for her. They wanted to take a picture. To them, Davis was the goal. But Davis is roughly their age, too.

That’s how an ANWA win changes an amateur’s path. It makes the face of a 16-year-old in a bucket hat two years ago still easily recognizable in her white visor.

“I feel like it hits me more and more every year honestly,” Davis said Wednesday of her 2022 win. “Like that right there, I haven’t experienced that. Didn’t experience that last year. Just the gravity of it, it’s crazy.”

This year has taken Davis growing up. In just over three months she’s moved into college and started playing with a college team. She’s bouncing from TV interviews and national media attention, focusing on golf and, when she can, class. Davis said she “would hope” she’s grown up this year. She said she had to.

When Davis finished her press conference after her round, a little girl’s voice yelled out behind the crowd of reporters.

“Can I have your autograph,” she said.

Davis smiled. She walked from the microphone to the fence and signed her name on the young girl’s yellow flag.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at [email protected]