Megha Ganne shatters record at Augusta National Women’s Amateur
EVANS, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Megha Ganne had a dream she would go low in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, and she turned it into reality in the first round Wednesday.
Ganne shot a 63 to set the tournament record, giving her a two-shot lead over defending champion Lottie Woad after one round at Champions Retreat.
Ganne, the No. 12 amateur in the world, started at No. 10 and had three birdies in her first four holes before making the turn at four-under. The 21-year-old tacked on three more birdies and an eagle across her second nine to reach nine-under and tie another record for most birdies or better in a round with eight.
The scoring was lower than usual at Champions Retreat, where the opening two rounds are held before the top 30 who make the cut play the final round at Augusta National, which hosts the Masters next week.
The weather was warm and turf was still relatively soft, and Ganne took advantage with a bogey-free round. Playing early and starting on the back, the Stanford junior ran off three straight birdies early and saved par with an 18-foot putt on the fifth hole, her 14th of the day.
The only disappointment was a three-putt par on the par-5 ninth hole.
“Believe it or not, I had a dream last night that I shot 61,” Ganne said on Golf Channel. “I didn’t tell anyone. I didn’t want to set bad omens in the air.”
And she nearly got there until the three-putt on her final hole, though Ganne had few complaints.
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Ganne is savoring the moment at Champions Retreat.
“I think it was just a really good day,” she said after wrapping up on Wednesday. “Great timing to have. This is my career low in a golf tournament, so I had a feeling I was going to go low today, but not this low. So I’m just trying to enjoy it.”
What made her feel like she was going to go low?
“Sometimes you can think and talk things into existence. So I just kept telling myself the story I want to see today, tomorrow,’ she said. “So, yeah, visualizing is really helpful for me, and I try to do that.”
The previous record was held by Rose Zhang – Ganne’s good friend and Stanford teammate – in 2023 and Hannah Darling in 2024.
Ganne said she may text Zhang about it.
“That’s probably the first time I can say I’ve beaten her in something,” she said, “so I will.”
PHOTO GALLERY: FIRST ROUND
Woad more than held her own against Ganne despite seeing such a low number on the board before she even made the turn. She had four birdies on the back nine, missing out on one chance at the par-5 14th but making up for that with a 45-foot birdie putt on the 15th.
No one has won back-to-back since the Augusta National Women’s Amateur began in 2019 and quickly became one of the premier amateur championships for women. That’s largely because the entire field gets a practice round at the home of the Masters on Friday before those who make the cut play Augusta National for the title on Saturday.
BY THE NUMBERS
Women’s Amateur: Facts from first round
- Ganne is one of three players this week making their fifth appearance in the Championship. She has advanced to Saturday’s final round at Augusta National Golf Club in each of the past two years with a best finish of T-9 in 2023. She was previously a four-time Drive, Chip and Putt national finalist at Augusta National Golf Club.
- In Ganne’s 10 previous rounds at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, she had never broken 70. Prior to Wednesday, her average score was 74.7.
- Woad now has a career score relative to par at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur of 13-under. That’s the best all-time, ahead of Jennifer Kupcho (10-under) and Maria Fassi (six-under)
- Wednesday’s scoring average was 72.015, a new record low; the previous record was 72.597 (first round, 2024).
- Southern Methodist University junior Mackenzie Lee carded a birdie-ace-birdie sequence during the round. Her ace at No. 6 was the second in Championship history (Bohyun Park/2023/No. 8).
Anna Davis, who won the Augusta National Women’s Amateur three years ago at age 16 and now plays at Auburn, said Ganne setting the tone early probably contributed to the low scoring. For most players, the goal is to make the cut and have a chance to compete at Augusta National.
“Now it’s not, ‘Want to make the cut.’ It’s just trying to catch her,” Davis said after a 69.
Kiara Romero, Farah O’Keefe and Amanda Sambach were each at 67. They were among 29 players in the 71-player field who broke par. U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Rianne Malixi had to withdraw because of a back injury.
‘The most exciting week in amateur golf’
This is Ganne’s fifth time at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, and she likes how much it’s grown.
“I think it’s the most exciting week in amateur golf, men’s or women’s, period, in my opinion. I think everyone in golf knows about it. They might not know about certain other tournaments, but when this one’s happening, people tune in,” she said. “It just draws so much attention in the best way, and these women carry themselves in such a great way. I’m really excited to see where the tournament goes although I don’t think it can get that much better than it is now.”
It’s special for her.
“I feel like there’s been a bow on it every year just getting to be here. So trying not really to think about it like that,” she said. “It’s definitely feeling more special this year and hopefully next year because I’ll be done with college by then. So it’s feeling more close to the end.”
She likes the new look at the course, with some of the trees now gone – and not just because of the aesthetics.
“The two trees being gone, sad to see them go for the trees’ sake, but for my sake, it definitely helped my round,” she said.
“It just opens the hole up way more. You can hit driver off those holes more comfortably. You have a shorter club in. Those trees would bat your ball down. I think the course is playing at least a stroke easier.”
What about Thursday in the second round?
“I’ll take it one hole at a time and come up with the best strategy,” she said.
The second round will be Thursday at Champions Retreat with live coverage on Golf Channel from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
After completion of the second round, a cut will be made with the top 30 players and ties advancing to Saturday’s final round at Augusta National.
Questions and answers
Here’s a look at other questions Ganne discussed during a news conference after she finished up on Wednesday at Champions Retreat:
Q. How many strokes do you think you gained on the greens today? You booked a long one for eagle on 3. Any other long putts?
MEGHA GANNE: Yeah, I had a long par save, and then most of my other birdie putts were pretty -- under 20 feet, I think. Yeah, a couple long ones dropped, which was helpful.
Q. Where was the par save, on 10?
MEGHA GANNE: Par save was on 6, yeah. Yeah, 6. Probably like 22, 23 feet, yeah.
Q. Megha, you went off as a two-some today after Rianne Malixi’s injury. Your round was just a shade over five hours. That’s a lot of time just a twosome. How hard was that to stay in the moment and stay occupied?
MEGHA GANNE: That was hard. You can ask my assistant coach, who was caddieing. I was pretty antsy my entire back nine.
It’s hard to be in a flow and feel, like you hit a wall every shot. I just tried to stay loose, stay chatting, and talk through it.
Q. What was the most random conversation you think you had out there in the last five hours that was obviously not golf-related?
MEGHA GANNE: Brooke was telling me about a random word game she played with her friend a few weeks ago, and they both on the second try guessed the word fermentation after randomly saying words.
Q. Do you know what fermentation means?
MEGHA GANNE: Yeah, I do. Don’t ask me to provide a definition, though (laughter).
Q. I know you sat down before your second shot on 9. Was that a frequent thing, where you just crisscross applesauce?
MEGHA GANNE: Yeah, that’s a frequent thing every time I play golf. That’s not like a new thing.
Q. You didn’t play much last summer. Was there a reason for that? Was it injury related or burnout related?
MEGHA GANNE: I was dealing with a hip and back injury that I kind of played through towards the end of my spring, and it led to me just having to completely put down the clubs for a while.
It was actually a really fun reset and a fun summer, so I’m not too bummed about it. But I’m feeling a lot better now.
Q. What did you do that was most fun? Any good trips?
MEGHA GANNE: I went to Madrid with my teammates, yeah, with Paula, who’s from Spain, so it was fun.
Q. No golf on that trip?
MEGHA GANNE: No, not even a little bit.
Q. We talk about being at Augusta and inspiring the next generation here. You obviously have a Girls’ Golf connection and do that every time you tee it up. How much fun is that to just show this good golf to young girls?
MEGHA GANNE: It’s really fun. I loved watching really good golf when I was younger. So maybe I have one memorable shot that someone will , which is pretty cool.
I definitely watching certain shots of players when I was a kid.
Q. Have you done much work to your swing over the last six months or so? I thought I maybe this event last year you had made some changes. Anything recent that’s worked and helped explain this great college season that you’ve been having?
MEGHA GANNE: Yeah, leading into last year, I had made some swing changes. Not that many this year. I’ve just been working out a lot more -- not necessarily like lifting weights, but after my injury, getting a lot more flexible and mobile in my hip, which I didn’t know that was like a weakness of mine.
So after that, I think my swing kind of -- like I saw the progress in my swing just from that. So like not intentional changes, but definitely feel like I’m clearing through the ball better. So that’s been nice.
Q. Was it left hip or right hip?
MEGHA GANNE: My left, yeah.
Q. How would you describe the chemistry of this Stanford team, and what’s your role on it in your mind?
MEGHA GANNE: I love my teammates. They make golf way more fun, and I can’t believe after college I’m not going to have that anymore. They’re all great. They’re like -- they’re exactly what you see and more.
The freshmen have really like made such a strong presence this year, which I’m super impressed by and how well developed their games are. It’s definitely pushed me every single day because the team is so hard working and so talented. Having that around constantly like definitely makes me sharpen stuff.
Q. Do they make you want to go to Sweden now?
MEGHA GANNE: I guess so. I’ve got to see what they’re doing over there. It’s working.
Q. Who’s with you off the course this week?
MEGHA GANNE: My sister, my mom, and my dad. Maybe a couple more people coming later this week.
Q. Is it tough to balance those off-course. I don’t want to call them obligations, but just all the people around with what you’re trying to do on the course?
MEGHA GANNE: Definitely not the people. They make it easier. I think this tournament has a lot of obligations, which is a good thing, but it can get pretty draining. So having your people around is important.
Q. Megha, you seem to be hitting the ball a little longer than last year. Is that the case, and does it create some opportunities for you?
MEGHA GANNE: Yeah, a little bit longer than last year. Same -- I think I’m just able to move through the ball better after working on strengthening my hip. Definitely helpful to have some shorter clubs in.
Q. I have to talk about the outfit. By far one of the best dressed. Who picks this out? Talk about scripting for the week.
MEGHA GANNE: This is -- Ralph Lauren picks this outfit out. They just told me what to wear, and I wear it, but I absolutely love it. I picked the shoes, though, so that’s my contribution, and the blue hat, yeah.
Q. I love it. The monochrome is a good look. What else can we expect from the week?
MEGHA GANNE: I think there’s a couple more monochrome outfits. I love wearing golf clothes that are fun, so it’s definitely one of the thing I’m looking forward to is seeing the next few outfits.
Q. I talked to your swing coach. She said this outfit is also probably a 9-under round. It sounds like a nice little bit of good.
MEGHA GANNE: I’ll have to keep this outfit around, yeah.
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