Her father's selfless act likely helped Maria Jose Marin win the biggest tournament of her life

AUGUSTA, Ga. — In preparation for her fourth Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Maria Jose Marin played a practice round at Champions Retreat with local caddie Darren Woo on the bag. They worked well together, and that’s when Marin’s father, Jose, had an important conversation with her.

Jose previoiusly had been Marin’s caddie for her three previous ANWA starts. She had disappointing final rounds of 76 and 78 in 2023 and 2024, then missed the cut in 2025. He told her she needed to use Woo, a 56-year-old firefighter and father of five boys who has a side gig as a caddie at Champions Retreat.

The decision proved to be a critical part of Marin’s transformation at Augusta National, where she shot a final-round 68 and set the tournament record of 14 under to win the ANWA.

“With the relationship with my dad, as I've said, he's always been my role model. He's been by my side since I started playing golf,” Marin said. “He was the one that taught me the love for this game. He decided this year that he can't be on the bag. He had the experience with me last year. He said, ‘You need someone that knows. I love you with all my heart, but you need someone that knows how to handle a tournament of this level.’

“I think it was one of the most beautiful decisions that he could have ever made because he was totally selfless.”

Marin fired a 65 in the first round at Champions Retreat on Wednesday to share the lead and scored 69 in the second round to put her in a tie for second, one shot behind Asterisk Talley. Playing in the second-to-last group, Marin got a four-shot lead when Talley collapsed with a 7on No. 12.

Even though Woo had never caddied at Augusta, he proved to be a calming presence for Marin, especially when she took over the solo lead on the back nine. She looked at the leaderboard on No. 15 to see her big lead, and then bogeyed the hole. Then she birdied the 16th to steady her nerves.

“With Mr. Darren, I think he was my greatest support during the whole week and a key to the victory,” Marin said. “He kept me calm through the whole round, same as in Champions Retreat. Of course this round was extra special because of course it's a round at Augusta, and there's a lot of pressure.

“Every time that I hit a bad shot, he's like, ‘Well, breathe, calm down. You're going to work it out. It's fine. Give yourself a chance. Nothing happened. Keep your head up.’ I think all of his words of encouragement just helped me get the win today and get my mind on the goal.”

Woo will certainly be a celebrity at the Savannah River Site Fire Department where he works, and of course a popular man around town after helping Marin to a win at Augusta. A few weeks ago, he didn’t even know her. Now, they’re linked together forever as Augusta champions.

“About two to three weeks ago, she and [Arkansas golfers] Sara [Brentcheneff] and Reagan [Zibislki] came out for a practice round. Reagan's dad was out there, and I just shared Champions Retreat with them,” Woo recalled.

“I was fortunate enough that she called me. I'm just trying to be a dad. I'm a dad of five boys, no girls around except now I've got a little 3-year-old granddaughter. Pretty much all it was treating her like a daughter of mine and continuing to build her confidence, continuing to just kind of encourage her. There were times where she could have gotten down, and I said, ‘Hey, just be patient. It's there.’ It was like a father-daughter relationship.”

For Woo, this became a top-five moment of his life. He has two more grandchildren on the way, and he jokingly insinuated that the births of some of his sons are not going to be in the top five soon.

“My boys are going to have to understand this,” Woo said outside the clubhouse after the win at Augusta. “My oldest son was here. My wife was here, so they were actually able to see it. It's ranking up there in the top five. … Maybe I'll be lucky enough and have three granddaughters and they can all grow up to be like Maria.”