Usually when first-timers receive their Augusta National Women’s Amateur invitations in the mail, they immediately start looking forward to playing certain holes at famed Augusta National Golf Club, competing on national television at the home of the Masters, maybe even attending the Chairman’s Dinner inside the club’s historic clubhouse.

Catie Craig is excited for all of that, but she’s got one more thing on her ANWA bucket list.

“I want to see their maintenance barn,” Craig said.

Craig, a senior at Western Kentucky, is currently polishing off her Bachelor of Science in Agriculture with concentrations in agronomy and horticulture. She dreams of not only playing on the LPGA but also becoming a golf course architect.

At Augusta National, Craig’s two passions will converge.

“It’s going to be a dream come true, both golf-wise and with my love of golf architecture,” said Craig, who qualified for this year’s ANWA, set for April 2-5, after missing out on her debut last spring by about a dozen spots. “I’m so excited to see all the history I’ve been reading about, in real life, and to physically see the slopes, hills, all the uneven lies, the strategy, the bunkering – I just want to take it all in.”

When Craig discovered she had earned her way into the prestigious field, she was checking her email in a hotel room in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She was alerted of a package arriving from Augusta National and immediately started jumping up and down.

The next morning, she broke the exciting news to a room packed with golf pros and superintendents who were in town for the Tennessee Turfgrass Association’s annual conference, where she was invited to speak. She also did some networking and landed a couple of job offers to design some short-game areas.

Craig already has experience. She interned last summer at Indian Hills Country Club in Bowling Green, Kentucky, working 8-to-12-hour shifts under the club’s director of agronomy, Bob McLean. Craig helped sprig a new practice green and learned how to use a SandPro, among other tasks.

In between shifts, Craig won the North and South Women’s Amateur at Pinehurst.

Craig has dominated at the mid-major level, winning four times, including the Conference-USA individual title as a sophomore. She also had a run of 10 straight college tournaments where she didn’t finish worse than fourth, a streak that was snapped at last spring’s NCAA East Lansing Regional, where she competed individually for a second straight season.

Now at No. 87 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, Craig remains at Western Kentucky, shrugging off multiple suggestions to enter the transfer portal and instead remaining loyal to her teammates, coaches and major.

“Even at tournaments, people would come up and ask, ‘Why don’t you transfer?’ And it’s like, hello to you, too,” Craig said. “After I won conference, questions like that were just pouring out from everywhere, and I took a little offense to it. My goal is to go pro anyway, and you can go pro from any level of college, it doesn’t matter. … And I just love my team so much. My coach is so supportive, and he’s helped me get better, and why would I risk transferring to a place that might not offer all the love and support I receive here?”

Craig couldn’t imagine leaving the Hilltoppers, which is also why she opted to skip LPGA Q-Series after advancing through second stage last fall. LPGA rules stipulate that amateurs turn professional if they wish to compete for an LPGA card at final stage, and three top college players did just that – Mississippi State’s Julia Lopez Ramirez, UCLA’s Zoe Campos and reigning NCAA champ Adela Cernousek of Texas A&M; all three would’ve easily qualified for ANWA.

Craig deferred her Epson Tour status until this summer, and she’s determined to lead Western Kentucky to regionals for the first time as a team while finishing up her degree in preparation for grad school, where she plans to study landscape architecture.

“It was a pretty easy decision,” Craig said. “The tour is always going to be there, but college isn’t. Same with ANWA. I just wanted to experience everything I can before I go to the next level.”

Maybe Craig, a lefty, will lift the trophy on Augusta National’s practice green behind the 10th tee, where many a past champions have basked in their glory.

It’s probably more likely than her rolling a green that week, but, hey, one can dream.