The Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA) has quickly become one of my favorite events to watch. There are a number of reasons, first and foremost the final round is at Augusta National, second and just as important to me is that it is a great showcase for the best female amateurs in the world; and as a fan of women’s golf it’s fun to see the players that are up and coming.

The first two days are played at Champions Retreat (72 players) and the final day at Augusta National (for the 30 players and ties that make the cut). You can watch all the action on Golf Channel, Peacock and NBC (final round Saturday Noon to 3:30 pm est). You can also watch the live stream on the ANWAgolf.com website. Here is a list of Air Times.

If you follow college golf you will know many of the players. The school with the most players invited is Stanford University (with five current players and four former Stanford students). You can read about all of them on the Stanford University Website. Including Rachel Heck (who just recently said she was not turning pro after college).

A few players I’ll be marking as “favorites” to follow on the ANWA website include:

• Ingrid Linblad – the #1 female player in the world rankings. She is from Sweden, plays for LSU (I try not to think about that since I went to Tulane and LSU is an arch rival). Linblad’s record at AWNA is T3 (2021) and T2 (2022); and she shockingly missed the cut last year so it will be interesting to see how she fares this year.
• Megan Schofill (world ranking 7) – She is the 2023 (current) U.S. Women’s Amateur Champion. She plays for Auburn. She defeated Latana Stone in the U.S. Woman’s Amateur; Stone is also playing this year in the ANWA.
• Anna Davis (world ranking 17) – famous for winning ANWA in 2022 while wearing a Bucket Hat but she normally wears a visor. Maybe she will bring back the bucket hat for Augusta. I suppose it depends if she is superstitious. She plays her college golf at Auburn University.
• Anna Morgan (world ranking 23) – I live in Greenville, SC. so I have to cheer for a Furman student. I played Furman last year and the women’s golf team was on the course and it was impressive to watch.
• Hannah Darling (world ranking 19) – She plays her college golf for the Gamecocks and again, I now follow that team since I live in South Carolina. She is a great player and from Scotland! And her Gamecock teammate, Louise Rydqvist (from Sweden) is also playing ANWA.
• Jansen Castle (world ranking 109)- is from Columbia South Carolina (yes, I have a theme going with my favorites).
• Anabelle Pancake (world ranking 79) – Attends Clemson University. Hometown is Zionsville Indiana and was the runner up in the 2023 Women’s Amateur (not the US but the one run by the R&A).
• Rachel Kuehn (world ranking 15) – Plays for Wake Forest. From Ashville NC. She got a lot of press because her mother, Brenda Corrie Kuehn, was a well known golfer. In fact, Rachel won the winning point for the 2022 Curtis Cup team, and her mother had the winning point in the 1998 Curtis Cup.
• Emilia Migliaccio (world ranking 44) – A former Wake Forest golfer and now works for Golf Channel but has played in all four ANWA events. She was 2nd in 2021. I really would love to see her take the trophy now that she is an “amateur” like the rest of us. In other words, has a job and plays for the love of the game.
• Gianna Clemente (world ranking 32) – She is only 16 but is the 2023 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship and Girls’ Junior PGA Champion. Maybe she will be like Anna Davis and win the ANWA at 16.

It is also fun to see former Drive, Chip, and Putt alumni in the event (nine in total) including Latana Stone (world ranking 30), won DCP twice for her age group (12-13) and won the 2022 U.S. Girls Junior. Runner up at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur and is now at LSU. And there is Kelly Xu won DCP (girls 7-9) in 2014 and now plays for Stanford University and her world raking is 93 .

Of course, there are players that have been in the limelight for years; notably Amari Avery who was featured in the movie “The Short Game” a 2013 documentary about 7-8 year old golfers. Her dad gave her the nickname “Tigress.” (yes after Tiger Woods). She is now at the University of Southern California and her world raking is 20.

I could actually list a number of other players but you can check out all the players bios at ANWA website.

Bottom line is that the Augusta Women’s Amateur is “must watch TV” if you are a golf fan.