Her daughter entered the day five shots back of the lead, so on Saturday morning, Tracy Weidenfeld texted Casey Weidenfeld and told her to just enjoy the day. To take in every second of this round at Augusta National Golf Club, the final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. She’d checked off dream number one this week by playing the practice round here Friday. She was about to check off dream number two with a competitive round, a championship round at that.

Five shots back and a chance for a golfer and a golf fan to enjoy those both together. To play loose and free and aggressive. To enjoy this most exclusive walk.

Maybe it was something about this history Casey Weidenfeld enjoyed or the energy she felt playing in front of more people than she ever had or the aura of the fairways she walked, but during her stroll around Augusta on Saturday, Weidenfeld found the magic that makes final rounds here special. She never quite put herself in contention, but played a back nine she’ll never forget.

Weidenfeld shot a 2-under-par 70 on Saturday in the final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, played at the famous home of the Masters. It’s the type of round a professional dreams to play, her Auburn coach Melissa Luellen said. She finished tied for fifth place, an eight-spot jump up the leaderboard. She is one of only seven players to finish with a red number.

She was the only one of three Auburn golfers in the event to make the cut into Saturday’s final round. She recovered from three bogeys in her first seven holes in the first round Wednesday to finish the day at even par. She shot another even par 72 in the second round Thursday — a far more impressive number given winds at the Champions Retreat Golf Club reaching above 30 miles per hour and bringing carnage for most of the field.

After playing a practice round at Augusta National on Friday, Weidenfeld said she’d be happy to shoot even par in a competitive round at the course she’s been dreaming of playing her whole golfing life. She did better than that.

As Weidenfeld took her walk into Amen Corner on Saturday, strolling down the slope of the 11th fairway at Augusta National alongside the famous white leaderboard and into her sport’s most historic arena, Luellen looked down the hill with pride. This was Weidenfeld’s moment. She doesn’t have the U.S. Amateur win or past ANWA win like her Auburn teammates. But her coach and teammates were now walking alongside her as she plunged into the approach shot on the 11th, the tee shot on 12, navigating the bend on the 13th.

“It’s iconic,” Luellen said.

And then Luellen reminded those with her that the back nine at Augusta is where magic happens. It’s where a Nike swoosh turns over one more time into the hole, where every bridge has a memory and where major champions are built.

Weidenfeld doesn’t come from a golfing family. She first played golf at all at 6-years-old when her mom Tracy Weidenfeld signed her up for a golf clinic on a whim. Some other parents in their hometown of Pembroke Pines, Florida had put their kids in the clinic.

So why not sign her daughter up, Tracy Weidenfeld said. She’d never watched golf, never played golf and sure enough, Casey Weidenfeld came back from the three-hour clinic and was immediately ready to go back and do it again.

Because she loved golf then? Well, not quite. She just loved the golf carts.

But a girl who loved the country club buggies became a golfer. A good one. The Golf Channel was frequently on at home, Tracy Weidenfeld said. They all learned the sport’s history. A family that had never been into golf joined a small club.

And now at these timeless fairways, they all understood the moment. Playing here had become Casey Weidenfeld’s goal. It was a dream come true for caddie Russell Bauer.

But she never took it too seriously. Walking from the clubhouse to the practice green — the large crowd of patrons already there on a chilly morning split by police officers in a personal Casey Weidenfeld escort — she broke a smile and laughed at the path made for her.

“Oh wow,” she said to the crowd and laughed. “This is serious.”

She got to the practice green outside Butler Cabin and her Auburn teammates cheered for her with each putt she sank. She turned back to look at them, thanked them, and did all but take a jokeful bow.

But the adrenaline always hits at the first tee box, the landmark Masters scoreboard staring right back at Weidenfeld. Her round started nervously with a tee shot on the first hole slamming into a tree to the left before getting a lucky bounce back onto the fairway. Weidenfeld made three front-nine bogeys and looked frustrated at times.

But then she made the turn to the back, the most watched nine-holes in the golf world and found the magic her coach had felt. She knew the steps she was following and made an Augusta memory of her own.

She was heading down the hills into Amen Corner.

A birdie on 10. Par at 11. Making par on 12 with a save out of the sand.

“Honestly I thought the shot was fine and it went over the green and I was like, okay, I guess we’re going to hit out of this iconic bunker now,” Weidenfeld said.

She had begun to relax before 12 and now had found her focus. She was in a zone, Tracy Weidenfeld said.

A birdie on 13. An approach shot on 14 placed so close to the hole she thought it had gone in. The cheers from the patrons on the green made her think it was in, too. She made the birdie putt.

“I thought I had a 2 to be honest with you,” Weidenfeld said. “The way they reacted. I was like, ‘I definitely just got an eagle.’ But it was really good.”

Then she hit a second-straight close approach onto the 15th green and walked through more history over the Sarazen Bridge to make her short birdie putt.

Three famous holes and three birdies. Four birdies on the first six of the final nine holes. In total, she played the back nine at three under par.

This whole week of living out a dream had swirled into a smile walking up to the 18th tee where, as she waited for her turn to drive, she made sure to take it in. She motioned to Bauer as if to say let’s breathe, and enjoy where we are surrounded by the towering leaning pine trees ready to hit a tee shot she’d seen on TV so many times.

She made the walk up 18 to applause. She’d make a finishing bogey, never truly in contention on Sunday but having accomplished what she wanted to get out of this.

“When we were walking up 18, I’m like, ‘Wait, we’re on 18? It’s ending already?’” Weidenfeld said. “Yeah, kind of surreal.”

She’d finished off that second dream of playing a competitive round. But she’s still a golf fan. She still had one more stop to make.

So she went to the Augusta golf shop for ANWA and Masters gear. She had yet to take off her golf shoes.

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