Tag Archives: US Women’s Amatuer

U.S. Women’s Amateur – August 4 through August 9 2026

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The professional majors are all completed so you may think there are no more big competitions to follow other than the FEDEX Cup; however, there are some prestigious amateur championships to be contended in the next few months.

This week is the U.S. Women’s Amateur with stroke play rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday and match play rounds on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The championship is being hosted at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, TN. The good news is that the Golf Channel will be broadcasting match play. The times of broadcast (EST) are:

Thursday, August 6: Round of 64 (11 am to 2 pm)

Friday, August 7: Round of 16 (3 pm to 6 pm)

Saturday, August 8: Quarter Finals (9 am to 12 Noon)

Sunday, August 9: Championship Match (3 pm to 6 pm)

If you follow women’s amateur golf then you will recognize the names of many of the players that should make it to match play: Farah O’Keefe (#4 WAGR), Aphrodite Dang (#7 WAGR, #14 AJGA), Asterisk Talley (#8 WAGR, #1 AJGA), Soomin Oh (#9 WAGR) and Riane Malixi (#9 WAGR).

Also, exempt into the field are the following: (1) Clairy Lin is Canadian (16 years old) and is the current U.S. Girls’ Junior Champion and (2) Dawn Woodard of Greenville, SC the 2025 Senior Women’s Amateur champion. Woodard is 51 but she is not the oldest player, that honor goes to Sue Wooster of Australia who is 64. It would be fun to see a senior player make it to match play. On the other side, the youngest play is Maggie Ma of the USA who is 14 years old.

One other player I will keep my eye on is Rachel Heck. She is 24 years old and played at Stanford and is probably most famous for being in the ROTC Air Force program while on the Standford golf team winning 9 individual tournament titles and NCAA Individual champion in 2021.

There are so many great amateur players that it is hard to predict who will win. So if I were to pick from the players above I would think two good bets would be Farrah O’Keefe who won the NCAA Individual championship this year; or Asterisk Talley the #1 AJGA player. I can’t see Heck or Woodard winning against the younger girls but it would be something to see if it did happen.

If you love amateur golf then you will be happy to know that next week the U.S. Amateur will be conducted at Merion Golf Club where Justin Rose won the U.S. Open in 2013. The U.S. Amateur will be August 10 through August 16, 2026.

They just keep getting younger: 10-year-old Latanna Stone makes history

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In June, 14-year-old, Andy Zhang became the youngest player to qualify and play in the US Open.  This week another young golfer makes news.  Latanna Stone, age 10, qualified for the US Women’s Amateur.

When I heard about Andy Zhang I thought he was too young.  I was curious what a few of the golf experts I follow on twitter thought of his age.  I sent a tweet and got a reply from Stina Sternberg, Senior Editor, Golf Digest.  Below is the twitter conversation.

Twitter conversation with Stina SternbergI was a bit surprised by Stina Sternberg’s reply.  I still felt that 14 was too young.  My opinion is that 18 would be a reasonable age requirement.  After all, the USGA has “age limits” for other championships (e.g. junior and senior events).

When I saw the news this week that a 10-year-old made the US Women’s Amateur, I said out loud (to myself) — “ridiculous.”  I have no doubt the young girl is very talented but I just don’t agree with a 10-year-old competing in the event.

You might have caught that in the tweet above, Sternberg said “If you qualify, I don’t care if you are 10…”  So imagine my surprise when I saw this tweet from Sternberg…

Stina Sternberg wrote a great article about Latanna Stone.  Sternberg explains Stone’s background and highlights the fact this young girl is home schooled and has a  “professional website”.  Sternberg suggests it is time for the “USGA to revisit its own regulations.”  Sternberg goes on to state that the USGA should have them “wait until they’re at least 14 to qualify for the U.S. Amateur.”  I still think 14 is too young but I’m glad to see Sternberg does feel 10-years-old is too young.

I know it is common for kids today to spend a lot of time playing and practicing their chosen sport.  My friends with kids spend hours traveling around on weekends to take the kids to soccer, basketball, baseball, and hockey games.  But, these kids compete against other kids.  I support all the AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) competitions and the USGA’s junior competitions where young golfers compete against their peers.

So why the urgency to play in the other events?  Because the can? Only the young golfer (and the parents) know the real motivation.  I must admit I wonder if the parents worry about their child suffering from burnout or repetitive motion injuries (which could happen just when they should be peaking for a professional career.)

The bottom line is that until the age limits change these kids have a right to play in the events.  It’s impossible to deny the amazing talent they posses.  So, congratulations to these young golfers for making it to the highest level of amateur golf.  I just hope these young golfers get to be “kids” too!