After reaching the National Finals of the Drive, Chip and Putt contest in 2024, Haverhill’s Callen Cronin missed qualifying a year ago, bowing out in the regionals.
The memory stuck with the Bradford Country Club sensation.
“I wished I was there (last year). It increased my motivation to get back there because my family and I had such a great experience the year before,” Cronin said to event officials before the championship this weekend.
On Sunday in the 2026 finals at Augusta National Golf Club, kicking off Masters Week, Cronin showed just how happy he was to be back, taking second place in the 12-13-year-old boys competition against some of the nation’s top junior talent.
“It’s a great accomplishment, what everybody dreams of, finishing in the top three,” said Cronin, a seventh-grader at the Hillview Montessori School.
“It wasn’t as nerve-wracking as it was last time. I knew what was going on.”
The DCP, which features a highly competitive qualifying process to reach the finals, starts up in May with local qualifiers around the nation. They are followed by sub-regionals and ultimately the 10 regional finals that determine the contestants in the championship.
Players hit a pair of drives, a pair of chips and a pair of putts and are scored in each.
In Sunday’s final, the 13-year-old opened the event in style with drives of 249 and 256 yards, edging the eventual overall champ by 5.5 total yards.
“(The drives) settled me down, but only until I had to chip. I wasn’t nervous until I started walking up on the chip,” admitted Cronin. “I’m thinking to myself, ‘Don’t blade it. Don’t be the kid who drills it all the way across the green.’”
Cronin was seventh in the chipping, leaving him in second overall heading to the 18th green, where competitors take a 30-footer and then a 15-footer.
The 30-footer found the bottom of the cup!
“Honestly, I would say I got pretty lucky,” said Cronin. “The 30-footer I hammered, and it hit the back of the cup and it went in.
“On the second putt, I made sure to give it a run. I thought it would be cool to be able to say I made both putts. I just ran it by.”
Cronin claimed third in putting and second overall in the championship, capping an amazing day at Augusta by being presented the second-place trophy by Masters champ Rory McIlroy.
The Cronins will stick around one more day in Georgia. They’ll be on the course for Monday’s opening practice round for The Masters.
“It’s going to be really fun,” said Cronin, who carries a 0.3 handicap at Bradford. “In the competition, you don’t get to walk the whole course. Tomorrow, we’ll be going to Amen Corner and all the other great spots.”
Fourth in 2024, Cronin will have two more shots at the top of the leaderboard, moving up to the 14-15-year-old category this summer.