Takeaways From a Record-Breaking Round at Augusta National Women’s Amateur

Simply put, the first round of the 2025 Augusta National Women’s Amateur was awesome.

I’ve been lucky enough to cover the five previous editions of this elite event, but Wednesday’s first round of the sixth playing of the ANWA might’ve been the most impressive yet. After the opening 18 holes at Champions Retreat, there are more than a few storylines to follow ahead of the second round. Here are some takeaways from the first day of play.

Megha Round

Holy Megha Ganne. The Stanford junior blitzed the course to a tournament record 9-under 63 aided by seven birdies and an eagle on the par-5 third hole.

In her 10 previous ANWA rounds, Ganne had never broken 70 and held a scoring average of 74.7. Making her fifth ANWA start this year, the 21-year-old made the cut each of the last two years with finishes of T9 and T20, respectively, and is in prime position for a run at the title.

Great Eight

Speaking of Stanford, the No. 1 ranked team in the country brought EIGHT players to this year’s championship. Eight! That’s nearly 10 percent of the field. Keep in mind that only five players start for teams in college golf events, and the Cardinal have six on site this week that are on the current roster. The other two players are 2024 graduate Rachel Heck, who passed on the pros to remain an amateur, and Class of 2026 commit Nikki Oh. Six players are inside the projected cutline, while Heck (T55, 3 over), and Nikki Oh (T42, 1 over) are well within striking distance of the weekend with solid rounds on Thursday.

What Stanford is doing this season is incredible. One college coach called it “demoralizing.” They’ve been a powerhouse program in the women’s game for some time now, and at 79-0-1 with the postseason right around the corner, there are no signs of slowing down.

Loaded Leaderboard

Nine of the top-10 players in the world are in the field this week (No. 4 Rianne Malixi withdrew with injury), and six are inside the projected top 30 and ties cutline, led by defending champion Lottie Woad in solo second at 7 under. Coincidentally, the three other players – Mirabel Ting, Maria Jose Marin, and Soomin Oh – are all T61 at 4 over.

Nil NIL

At the 2022 ANWA, players like Heck, Rose Zhang, and Amari Avery took advantage of the NIL movement in college golf. The women’s amateur game hadn’t seen many major deals, but Avery was rocking some sweet custom shoes, while Heck and Zhang wore Beats headphones during their Friday practice round interviews at Augusta National.

The majority of players in the field this week have some sort of sponsor or logo either on their clothes or bag – Fried Egg Golf is sponsoring Western Kentucky’s Catie Craig – but nothing has ever come close to what we saw in 2022. There may be a few reasons why, most notably name recognition. The field this week has 33 players making their debut. Few boast considerable name recognition, and none are at the level of Avery, Heck, or Zhang back in 2022. Another potential reason is that companies haven’t seen a strong enough return on their investments over the last few years. Maybe more bigger brands will pop up come Friday and Saturday when play heads down Magnolia Lane to Augusta National. Or maybe college golf has realized its actual worth in the market.

Long but Easy

A handful of college coaches who have caddied in each edition of the ANWA noted how Champions Retreat appeared to play a bit longer this year compared to past championships. How did that impact the scoring? Not how you might think. The first-round scoring average came in at 72.015, a new record low. Last year’s first round was half a shot higher at 72.597, while each of the four previous first rounds featured averages of 74 or higher in the first round.

I’ll be curious to see how the course is set up for the second round. Showers are in the Wednesday night forecast, which could benefit the players who are off early Thursday morning.