Tag Archives: Women’s Amateur Championship

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.

Great Day for Women’s Golf: Augusta National Announces a Women’s Amateur Championship

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For years I have been wishing Augusta National would take “meaningful action” to support women’s golf. Yes, Augusta welcomed female members in 2012 when Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore were extended invitations to join the club. However like most women who love golf, and as a fan of women’s golf, I wanted to see women play Augusta National.

Today the announcement came! Perhaps this announcement was not the one that women professional golfers hoped for but the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship is monumental for women’s golf. Here is the post from Twitter:

Masters Announcement on Twitter

Augusta National Tweet – Women’s Amateur Championship

The event being conducted within the same time frame as Drive, Chip and Putt and The Masters is excellent! The event will be held right before DCP (the wonderful golf championship for young golfers). Just imagine a young girl participating in DCP, watching the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship and knowing that one day (if she works hard) she may be playing the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship!

Of course, the big question for the LPGA is what does this mean for the ANA Inspiration? Will the top female amateurs, who normally play the ANA Inspiration, now have to choose between the two events? My guess is the LPGA will move the ANA (perhaps the week before the new amateur event). After all, it would be a communications manager’s dream story line – promoting the opportunity to watch the top amateur female golfers playing in the ANA Inspiration who will be then playing in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship the following week.  And if the ANA is after the event, the LPGA promotes the winner of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur playing in the LPGA’s first major of the year. I say it’s a win/win for the LPGA (unless they do not move the date of the ANA)

I can’t wait until 2019 when I can watch the inaugural Augusta National Amateur Women’s Championship.

It’s a good day for women’s golf!