The sixth version of the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Beginner is right here and there is not any scarcity of storylines to go round as defending champions, skilled members of the occasion and younger up-and-coming stars battle it out at one of the iconic venues within the sport.
Listed here are six gamers to observe because the match kicks off at Champions Retreat Golf Membership Wednesday and Thursday earlier than the ultimate spherical at Augusta Nationwide on Saturday.
Lottie Woad
When Woad secured final 12 months’s ANWA crown, she did it in thrilling style, making birdies on three of her final 4 holes to carry off Bailey Shoemaker by a stroke. The victory propelled Woad to a formidable 2024 as she rose to No. 1 on the planet beginner rankings. Since final 12 months’s occasion, she’s had just one different win but in addition a outstanding run of top-5 finishes (10) and eight straight top-3 finishes beginning with the Folds of Honor Collegiate occasion final September.
“I feel simply after [ANWA], it gave me loads of confidence, particularly coming from behind. Figuring out I am by no means out of it,” Woad mentioned in her pre-tournament information convention. “I used to be sort of using the wave into that and I feel it set me up for the remainder of the 12 months. Expectations possibly modified somewhat bit however I clearly had excessive expectations I suppose earlier than then, so it did not change an excessive amount of.”
As a part of the LPGA’s new LEAP program, the place amateurs are capable of attain LPGA standing by means of numerous occasions and milestones, Woad earned two factors by successful final 12 months’s ANWA and will earn two extra if she wins once more, placing her inside two extra factors of reaching the required 20 to get her LPGA Tour card.
“I am actually specializing in enjoying good golf actually and seeing the place that places me,” Woad mentioned. “I’ve all the time dreamed of enjoying on the LPGA so to possibly be capable of get that barely simpler manner of not needing to go to Q-College would positively be enormous.”
Though the occasion has not lent itself to repeat winners in its quick historical past, Woad’s consistency and expertise makes her an simple favourite to turn out to be the primary back-to-back winner.
Bailey Shoemaker
As talked about above, Shoemaker was practically the creator of one of the thrilling ANWA wins, taking pictures a 66 on Sunday which seemed to be sufficient for a playoff till Woad held her off by stitching collectively a fabulous end of her personal.
Shoemaker hasn’t precisely been taking the golf world by storm since — she’s ranked forty fifth on the planet beginner golf rankings and has but to win an occasion. Her finest match end was sixth place on the Management and Golf Faculty Invitational final September.
USC head coach Justin Silverstein will not be nervous, nevertheless. Silverstein mentioned that although Shoemaker hasn’t been capable of put all of it collectively in latest match rounds, her ball-striking information whereas enjoying at dwelling has been “the perfect it has been by a mile” whereas her placing has been Tour-level good. This season, she’s gaining about 0.25 strokes per spherical together with her putter.
“Based mostly on all of that,” Silverstein mentioned. “I would search for it to all click on quickly.”
Jasmine Koo
Shoemaker is the title many will bear in mind from final 12 months, however be sure to additionally regulate her USC teammate, Jasmine Koo.
Koo, a freshman, is presently the No. 1 participant within the AJGA rankings and the No. 2 participant on the planet beginner rankings. Starting with final 12 months’s ANWA, the place she completed fourth, Koo has had a ridiculous run of finishes. In 17 counting appearances, she’s received 4 occasions, completed top-5 in seven and her worst end is seventeenth place on the U.S. Girls’s Beginner. Maybe her most spectacular feat, nevertheless, got here finally 12 months’s LPGA Chevron Championship the place she was one in all two amateurs to make the minimize and completed in thirteenth place at a professional occasion.
Asterisk Talley
Talley was one of many surprises of final 12 months’s ANWA after she completed tied for eighth at simply 15 years previous. Talley has confirmed she has star potential since, successful the Annika Invitational in January by 5 strokes and ending second in each the U.S. Ladies’ Junior and U.S. Girls’s Beginner whereas successful the U.S. Girls’s Beginner 4-Ball. Talley is presently ranked No. 14 on the planet beginner rankings and has had 9 top-10 finishes over the past 12 months. Maybe her most spectacular feat, nevertheless, was tying for the dignity of low beginner finally 12 months’s U.S. Girls’s Open. As soon as once more, she’s solely 16!
Rianne Malixi
The Philippine native is the one participant Talley could not beat on the U.S. Ladies’ Junior and U.S. Girls’s Beginner final 12 months. Her wins at each occasions marked solely the second time a participant has received each in a calendar 12 months and he or she did it in commanding style, beating Talley within the Junior 8&7 in match play and three&2 within the Girls’s Beginner.
The 18-year-old is a Duke commit set to begin her tenure in Durham in 2025 and her rampant run has come after lacking the minimize finally 12 months’s ANWA in what was her first look. Since, the No. 4 ranked participant on the planet has had six top-5 finishes in her final 11 counting occasions and will likely be trying to have an extended aggressive week in Augusta this time round. Her recreation seems prepared for it.
Mirabel Ting
Nobody has received extra occasions since final 12 months’s ANWA than Ting. She’s the No. 3 beginner on the planet for a motive: over the past 12 months, the Florida State participant has received six instances. Her play this season has earned her the highest spot within the NCAA Division I rankings, the place she holds a lead on second place that’s the identical dimension because the lead that second place holds on forty second place.
A sixty fifth place end on the NCAA championships is the one eyesore on Ting’s report. However Ting received her final two occasions she’s performed on this 12 months and you may simply argue nobody’s recreation is in higher type heading into Augusta than the 19-year-old from Malaysia.
