EVANS, Ga. — Stanford University junior Megha Ganne made history on Wednesday at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

The LPGA*USGA Girls Golf of Greater Newark alum blitzed Champions Retreat Golf Club in round one, firing a 9-under 63 to set the new 18-hole tournament scoring record at the venue, which hosts the first two rounds of competition for each year’s ANWA. The 21-year-old got off to an incredibly fast start, picking up three birdies on holes 11, 12 and 13 to move to 3-under and then grabbing another birdie on 16 to ultimately make the turn at 4-under.

Ganne kept things rolling on her closing nine, making a birdie on the first hole to climb to 5-under and then eagling the par-5 3rd hole to vault to 7-under on the day, which definitely was one of the highlights of her first round. She then picked up a pair of back-to-back birdies on the par-3 6th and par-4 7th holes, parring in to post a 63 for a two-stroke lead over defending champion Lottie Woad after day one in Georgia.

Ganne’s 9-under effort broke the 18-hole scoring record at Champions Retreat that was first set in 2023 by Stanford University alum and Ganne’s good friend Rose Zhang. When asked if she would text the two-time LPGA Tour winner and gloat a bit about breaking her record, Ganne laughed, saying, “I don't know if I will. I probably should now that you bring it up. That's probably the first time I can say I've beaten her in something, so I will.”

Thursday’s second round saw Ganne have a tougher time at Champions Retreat, with the New Jersey native grinding out a 1-over 73 after an up-and-down day in Evans, Ga. She made two bogeys in her first four holes to drop from 9-under to 7-under overall, but she recovered those lost strokes with birdies on 10 and 12 to get back to level par for the round.

Ganne soon stumbled again with a pair of bogeys on 13 and 14 to slip back to 2-over for the day and 7-under for the tournament. But she dug deep over the course of her final four holes, parring 15, 16 and 17 before draining a nearly 30-foot putt for birdie on the par-5 18th hole to post a 1-over 73 for a two-day total of 8-under 136. With just 18 holes at Augusta National Golf Club left to determine the champion of the 2025 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Ganne is in prime position, just one shot back of co-leaders Lottie Woad and Kiara Romero.

“It was a lot of good stuff,” said Ganne on Thursday afternoon at Champions Retreat. “Hit a lot of really good shots. Didn't hit anything that I was super upset about but just wasn't in great position. Handled it really well. Tried to create momentum within holes and grinded it out for what I thought was a pretty good 73.”

She then continued, saying, “I had one of the easier days out there today. The people on that cut line, I've definitely been there. Those are the real heroes today, not the people at the top of the board,” when asked about the pressure of playing for a final-round tee time at one of the most prestigious venues in all of golf. This is Ganne’s fifth start in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, and she will be working to improve upon the career-best T9 finish that she recorded in 2023, hoping to become the second Stanford player alongside Zhang to win the historic event in Augusta, Ga.

With a win, Ganne would earn exemptions into all of the LPGA Tour major championships in 2025, except the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, and she would also pick up two points as part of the LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway. Also referred to as LEAP, the program is a new initiative that provides top amateur players the opportunity to earn LPGA Tour membership by collecting points for the various accolades they accumulate as an amateur athlete.

Ganne currently has two points and would double that total if she were to pull out a victory on Saturday at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. But Ganne knows – maybe better than anyone else in this field considering all of her past experience – that success at Champions Retreat doesn’t always translate to Augusta National Golf Club. Plus, she has a stacked scoreboard of incredible talent to contend with, a slate of players that she knows will be tough competition coming down the stretch in the final round.

“I'm really honored to be up there with those names,” Ganne said of her current position on the leaderboard. “Lottie (Woad), she's world No. 1 for a reason. The rest of the top of the board looks like the rest of our college tournaments, so this really is a premier event. I think a lot of the big names are coming to the top of the board, which is really exciting for us players to battle it out on Saturday.

“What I've noticed through these four years is you genuinely have no idea what that final day is going to look like based on the first few. My coach was telling me to treat these 36 holes at Champions as a 36-hole qualifier, and then Saturday is a completely new tournament. So, I'm kind of trying to separate the two in my head.”

Three other LPGA*USGA Girls Golf alumni made the cut after two days of play at Champions Retreat. Mackenzie Lee, who hails from Little Rock, Ark., is currently in a tie for ninth after following up her opening-round 4-under 68 with an even-par effort on day two. The 21-year-old is making her Augusta National Women’s Amateur debut this week and plays collegiate golf at Southern Methodist University.

Just one stroke behind Lee is Pinehurst, N.C.’s Amanda Sambach. Like Ganne, this is the 22-year-old’s fifth straight ANWA, and after tying for 14th the past two years at Augusta National, Sambach is hoping to find the top 10 for the first time in this tournament come Saturday afternoon.

Past LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Los Angeles participant Kelly Xu carded a birdie on the last hole of her second round to make the cut on the number on Friday at Champions Retreat and secure a final-round tee time at Augusta National in just her second-ever ANWA appearance. Xu is currently eight strokes behind the leaders at 1-under overall, but no matter where she finishes on the leaderboard on Saturday, it will be a career-best result for her in this tournament, as Xu missed the cut in 2024.

Four LPGA*USGA Girls Golf Alumni Advance to Final Round at Augusta National GC

Related Articles