The women’s golf college conference championships are completed and now the focus is on NCAA D1 Regional competitions that will set the field for the 2025 NCAA D1 Championship to be held May 16 -21 in Carlsbad, CA at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa.
Regionals are contended at six different sites with 12 teams at each regional; as well as 6 individual golfers from teams that did not qualify. The individuals are top players that qualified to compete for the Individual NCAA D1 title.
Regional qualifying is always very exciting because it seems like every year there is a team that no analyst is touting that catches fire and knocks out a top team. Only five of the 12 teams at each region will move on to Nationals. In other words, of the 72 teams competing for a spot only 30 teams will advance to the national championship. And the top individual golfer not on an advancing team will also go to the national championship.
If you want to see all the teams (and individual) seeding for the regions you can get all the details at the NCAA website. The top seed in each region are no surprise if you follow women’s college golf.
Charlottesville RegionalTop Seeds: #1 South Carolina, #2 Virginia, #3 Ole Miss, #4 Florida
Norman Regional Top Seeds: #1 Stanford University, #2 Northwestern, #3 North Carolina, #4 Michigan State
It will be interesting to see if where the teams play in regional competition impacts outcome. For example, Wake Forest plays in the Texas regional location so there will be lots of wind. Will the wind be an issue? Will teams like Texas and Texas A&M have an advantage because they are used to Texas wind?
Side Bar: Texas A&M fun fact – the coach, Gerrod Chadwell is married to LPGA star, Stacey Lewis.
Can’t wait to see who advances and what upsets may occur at the 2025 NCAA D1 Women’s Golf regional competitions.
Looking forward to the NCAA D1 Championship:
PastWinners: Stanford (2024), Wake Forest (2023), Stanford (2022), and Ole Miss (2021)
For me, one of the following teams will win the NCAA D1 Championship in 2025: Standford, Wake Forest, South Carolina or Florida State.
South Carolina won the 2025 SEC championship so are in great form for championship season. Wake Forest beat Stanford in the semi-finals of the ACC but lost to Florida State in the championship match play; but it was very close and came down to the last putt on the 18th hole of the last match. So just the fact that Wake Forest beat Stanford in match play gives them a lot of confidence going into the NCAA series. Florida state is a “no-brainer” as a pick to win it all with the #1 and #2 rank women golfers in the world on the Seminoles roster.
Unfortunately none of the regional competitions will be televised but you can keep track online and I will, of course, blog before the D1 Championships to give an overview of the teams that made it to the NCAA finals for women’s golf.
As I said in my preview of ANWA it could be a unknown (at least to the average golf fan) winning ANWA and that is exactly what happened. Carla Bernat Escuder of Spain wins with a score of 12 under par (204).
Who is Carla Bernat Escudar? Here are some facts:
(1) As mentioned above she is from Spain and her coach is Victor Garcia, the father of 2017 Masters winner Sergio Garcia. She has been coached by Garcia since she was 13 years old.
(2) She was not on my radar with a WAGR ranking of 29 and a DI College Rank of 24. She plays for Kansas State (transferred this year to K-State). I did know her name because her first two years of college golf was played at Tulane University.
(3) Really fun fact – Champions Gate Golf Course has their golf course dog “pick” (predict) the winner. The dog has not been accurate in previous years but this year (see Instagram post)
Congratulations to Cara Bernat Escudar!
Other Notable Players:
(1) Lottie Woad: Unfortunately for world #1, Lottie Woad, who was in first place at the start of the final round, she just did not have her game on the final day and finished solo third at 9 under par (207)
(2) Asterisk Talley – #1 Amateur in the world finished one back in second place with a final score of 11 under par (205). She played well but the highlight was when she holed her 2nd shot on #1 at August National for an opening eagle.
(3) Megha Ganne – The Stanford players from New Jersey who had a record setting first round at Champions Gate finished in seventh place with a score of 7 under par (209).
It’s that time of year when all golfers await The Masters but thanks to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur we get to now anticipate a new tradition. For those that don’t follow amateur women’s golf, the weekend prior to The Masters is the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA). This is the fifth contended championship although it was launched six years ago (started in 2019 but not played in 2020 because of Covid).
ANWA is a 54 hole competition. The first two rounds are at Champions Gate Golf Club and the final round is at Augusta National.
Side Bar: it’s going to be above normal for temperatures so it could be close to 90 degrees on championship Saturday at Augusta National.
How to Watch: Each day you can watch the competition lived streamed on the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Website, ANWAgolf..com or you can watch on Golf Channel and NBC (the final).
The first two days (Wednesday, April 2 and Thursday, April 3) are streamed and on Golf Channel from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m (EST). The final (Saturday, April 5) is streamed and on NBC from Noon to 3 p.m. Note: No coverage on Friday, April 4 because all participants are at practice rounds at Augusta National.
Past Champions in the Field:
There are three past champions in the field.
2024 Champion, Lottie Woad of England is the defending champion and the #1 female golfer in the world amateur golf rankings (see WAGR website). Woad beat Baily Shoemaker by one stroke after she birdie the last three holes at Augusta National. Woad plays her college golf at Florida State University. Golf England has a video overview of Lottie Woad’s golf journey.
2022 Champion, Anna Davis (also known for wearing the bucket hat when she won) is in the field. Davis plays her college golf at Auburn University and is ranked #17 on WAGR. Davis missed the cut the last few years so she’s not on the radar as a contender for 2025. However, Davis just came off a big individual win at the Charles Schwab Women’s Collegiate.
2021 Champion, Tsubasa Kajitani from Japan. She won in a playoff against a very popular American amateur, Emilia Migliaccio. She is now Emilia Migliaccio Doran and works for the Golf Channel. What most people remember is that a week later Japanese golfer, Hideki Matsuyama won The Masters; so it was the “year of Japan at Augusta National.” Kajitani doesn’t have any recent amateur golf competitions in the WAGR and she withdrew from ANWA last year so I doubt she is a contender in 2025.
#2 and #3 in the World behind Lottie Woad: The world amateur golf rankings are a great place to start and after world #1, next in line are:
Jasmine Koo (American), University of Southern California, WAGR #2, D1 College rank #2
Mirabel Ting (American), Florida State University, WAGR #3 and it should be noted that Ting is the #1 ranked player in the DI NCAA College Women’s Golf Rankings.
Division 1 NCAA Rankings: Any of the Top 10 college golfers (list below) could win at Augusta. Certainly the #1 ranked player, Mirabel Ting should be a favorite.
Here is a screenshot of the Division 1 College Ranking
NCAA D1 Women’s Ranking as of 3/29/2025
Other Standout College Players that are Well-Known or Trending before Augusta:
Louise Rydqvist (Sweden), University of South Carolina, WAGR Rank #9 – A standout for the Gamecocks and co-winner of the Darius Ruckers Invitational is playing well coming into Augusta. Her DI college rank is #14.
Hannah Darling (Scotland), University of South Carolina, WAGR #15 – A standout for the Gamecocks. DI college rank is #11. Last year had the low first round at Championships Retreat (where the first rounds of ANWA are played); and was T7 for the overall championship.
Kendall Todd (American), University of Arkansas, WAGR 30 – She may be ranked 30 in WAGR but she has been playing some great golf in 2025. She is ranked #12 in the D1 rankings. She is coming of a co-win at the Darius Rucker Invitational and she was 3rd in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur last summer. And the weekend before this year’s ANWA she won the Clemson Invitational and became only the sixth player in NCAA history to score a 61 for a round.
Bailey Shoemaker (American), University of Southern California, WAGR #41 – Shoemaker came in 2nd last year and set the ANWA course record for the girls with a blistering 66. She lost by one to Woad. Her showings in her college starts in 2025 are not great; and has a DI rank of #89. I probably would not even highlight her if not for her stellar performance last year. I’m sure she has something to prove after coming so close last year.
Teen Phenoms in the Field:
Asterisk Talley (American), #1 junior golfer in the world and ranked #14 in WAGR.
Gianna Clemente (American), #2 junior golfer in the word and ranked #21 in WAGR.
Rianne Malixi (Philippines), WAGR #4 – She was on a tear last year when she won the U.S. Girls Junior and U.S. Women’s Amateur (beating Asterisk Talley in both). The 17 year old is committed to play golf at Duke. She is not listed in the AJGA junior rankings but I think that is because she plays so many big tournaments all over the world. Her WAGR ranking of four (#4) speaks for itself.
My Sentimental Favorites:
Rachel Heck is no longer in college but she played on the NCAA National Championship Stanford women’s golf team; and became a “great story” because she was also ROTC (Air Force) while at Stanford. Players in the top 30 in WAGR automatically qualify for ANWA. Heck is currently ranked 25 in WAGR but during her college days was as high as #13 in the world. She missed the cut last year so I don’t see Heck being a favorite to win; especially since she is in the Air Force (and admits she has not played much golf). It would certainly would be a great story if an active duty military woman won the ANWA. Golf.com released a video of Heck in uniform talking about her golf and the Air Force.
For me, a player that I will definitely want to see do well is Megha Ganne. I first saw Ganne during the Drive, Chip and Putt (DCP) competition and she caught my eye because she was from New Jersey (and I was living there at the time). She competed in the DCP competition four times and I have followed her career since DCP. Ganne plays college golf at Stanford and her D1 ranking is #10 and #12 in WAGR so she’s got the game to win the ANWA.
Predictions
UPDATE: 7p.m. 4/1/2025 – Rianne Malixi WD from field. I was planning on saying Rianne Malixi could be the one to surprise everyone with a win because she seems to just play well in big events; but she is reported to have back issues and may not play; which would be a real shame.
For the college golfers, Kendal Todd is high on everyone’s list because she has been playing so well. Also, it’s hard not to go with Mirabel Ting who is the #1 D1 NCAA golfer and #3 Women Amateur Golfer (WAGR). But I would love to see Bailey Shoemaker win just because she had such a heartbreak loss to Lottie Woad in 2024.
One thing that would not surprise me is if some complete unknown (to the general golf viewing public) wins. No one expected Anna Davis to win back 2022. Davis was a complete unknown to most but after winning ANWA everyone that follows women’s golf knows Anna Davis; if not by name by the “girl that wore the bucket hat at Augusta National.”
Golf Expectations 