EVANS — It’s one thing for one or two players to separate from the pack, but just about the entire 2025 Augusta National Women’s Amateur field went low Wednesday.
None more so than Stanford junior Megha Ganne. The five-time ANWA starter shot an impressive 9-under-par 63, breaking the low mark held by former Cardinal teammate Rose Zhang (a first-round 66 in 2023).
The 21-year-old was asked if she planned on reaching out to Zhang.
“I don’t know if I will. I probably should now that you bring it up,” Ganne said, laughing. “That’s probably the first time I can say I’ve beaten her in something, so I will.”
Ganne started out strong, going on a birdie-birdie-birdie stretch on Nos. 11-13 (the first two rounds feature split tees; she started on No. 10). She carded three more after making the turn in addition to an eagle on the Par-5 No. 3. She had a feeling she’d go low today and executed that vision to a tee.
“I don’t know. Sometimes you can think and talk things into existence,” she said. “So I just kept telling myself the story I want to see today, tomorrow. So, yeah, visualizing is really helpful for me, and I try to do that.”
Ganne’s teammate, Meja Ortengren, summed up the round in one sentence.
“I’m not like surprised, but still impressed,” she said.
Were it not for Ganne’s historic round, defending ANWA champ Lottie Woad would’ve been the talk of the day. The Florida State junior picked up where she left off a year ago, carding a 7-under-par 65. If someone would’ve told her that wouldn’t have been the leader in the clubhouse, she – and many others – may not have believed them
“I saw the scoreboards during the round. So I knew I wasn’t in the lead,” she said. “I feel like before today I would have thought 7-under was a good score. I knew it was going to be soft and very scorable, but I didn’t really see a 63.”
Those playable conditions were felt all throughout the leaderboard. All in all, 29 of the 71-player field carded red numbers. There sits a three-way tied for third place at 5-under, including Kiara Romero (Oregon), Farah O’Keefe (Texas) and Amanda Sambach (Virginia).
The second round takes place Thursday with all eyes on Augusta National for the final round. The top 30 and ties after Thursday will qualify to Saturday, with the entire field teeing it up at Augusta for a Friday practice round.
Other things we saw during the 2025 Augusta National Women’s Amateur opening round
Hurricane Helene affected the course in a positive way for some
The iconic Broccoli Tree on No. 4 of Arnold Palmer’s Island Nine succumbed to last fall’s Hurricane, but the reaction wasn’t all doom and gloom. Its absense – and that of several others – took some of the pressure off and everyone took notice.
“I’m glad the Broccoli Tree is gone because I hit a 5-wood into 4 this morning, and I’m glad I didn’t have to go over a massive tree,” Georgia alum Caterina Don said.
“Yeah, holes 4 and 16 are very different. Those trees used to be in the way, so it’s quite nice they’re not there now,” Woad added. “I mean, it makes the hole easier. I birdied 4 today. Because the drive used to be really difficult. You kind of had to hit it down the right, but now it’s so wide. So it’s definitely an easier hole.”
Ganne agreed, attributing the low scores throughout the round (at least partially) to the absence of a few trees.
“The two trees being gone, sad to see them go for the trees’ sake, but for my sake, it definitely helped my round,” she said. “It just opens the hole up way more. You can hit driver off those holes more comfortably. You have a shorter club in. Those trees would bat your ball down. I think the course is playing at least a stroke easier.”
Another week, another ace?
Southern Methodist University junior Mackenzie Lee made a little history herself with a hole-in-one on No. 6, recording the second such occurrence in the brief history of the tournament. Bohyun Park recorded the first in 2023.
She came into today just looking for a red number (which she found with a 4-under-par 68), but left with much more.
“Yeah, I was coming off of a bad — I don’t want to say bad, but not a great back nine,” she said. “I was having trouble adjusting to like the conditions. I’m not really quite used to not playing with a rangefinder. So it was hard for us to adjust being accurate distance-wise. I made a solid birdie on the hole before that, and I just told my caddie, hey, like I just want to be under par today. That’s it. That’s all I’m looking for. We got a good number, 34 yards downwind, playing 35.”
The trip through No. 6 ended with Lee not exactly knowing what happened.
“I step up to the tee box. I hit a good shot, like it was clean, it was nice. Automatic tee pickup. It’s what I do whenever I hit a good shot, according to other people. So I just did that. Then I look, and then it disappeared, but I was like, okay, maybe it’s just past the hole down a ridge or something,” she said.
“One of the caddies were like, I think that’s in. I’m like no. I’m like no way. I literally just had one last week, like you’re lying to me. No one could see the green because it’s like elevated. It’s in that little swell. No one can see the hole. So we’re like where’s the ball? Where’s the ball? Everyone just runs up there, and they’re like we don’t see it. Someone looks in the hole, and they’re like it’s in. I was like that is insane, like wow.”
That was Lee’s fourth ace in her competitive career and first in, well, about a week. She did the same thing at the Clemson Invitational at the end of March.
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