New Jersey native Megha Ganne experienced the highs of winning a team title in 2024 when the Stanford women collected their third NCAA title.
This time around, the 21-year-old Stanford senior got all the thrills as an individual, as she won the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes after defeating Brooke Biermann of Montana, 4 and 3, in the 36-hole final.
Ganne earned an exemption into next year’s U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally at The Riviera Country Club as well as guaranteed spots on the 2025 USA Women’s World Amateur Team that will compete in Singapore in October. She also joins an illustrious list of champions that includes Babe Didrikson Zaharias, JoAnne Gunderson Carner, Juli Inkster, Beth Daniel, Morgan Pressel, Lydia Ko and Zhang.
“It’s so crazy,” Ganne said. “It's so much harder than it seems to win one of these, and it takes not only like a lot of patience, but so many things working in your favor: good health, good luck, good fortune and good timing. All those things coming together just feels like it's fate. I feel very blessed right now.”
Many who have followed Ganne’s amateur career--which included four visits to Augusta National Golf Club for the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship, appearances in the Junior Ryder Cup and Junior Solheim Cup, a semifinal run in the U.S. Women’s Amateur at age 15, playing in the final pairing of the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open and being low amateur at The Olympic Club as a 17-year-old, and a 3-0 performance on the victorious 2022 USA Curtis Cup Team--could see this moment coming.
It took a while for Ganne to figure out the mental fortitude it takes to win matches against top players. Five times – three U.S. Women’s Amateurs and two U.S. Girls’ Juniors – Ganne lost in the opening round of match play. In her final U.S. Girls’ Junior in 2022, she was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. A year ago, she was bothered by a hip injury and then had to withdraw from the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Southern Hills Country Club due to food poisoning on the morning of the first round.
“I can't say I loved how I played match play my whole life, but definitely worked on it the last three, four years, especially after going to Stanford,” said Ganne, a product of LPGA-USGA Girls Golf and First Tee. “I really wanted to contribute points during our national championship. So, I was like just let's figure out how to become a better match play player. I think I just worked on it and changed my mentality a little bit.”
En route to the final, the No. 11 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR® dispatched three consecutive top-20 players – Anna Davis (14), Kary Hollenbaugh (20) and Eila Galitsky (6) – before rallying from 4 down with seven to play in her 19-hole semifinal triumph over No. 63 seed Ella Scaysbrook, a player who had never trailed in any of her matches until the last hole on Saturday.
Ganne never trailed against Biermann, but the match was tied after nine holes before a balky putter by the latter on Nos. 11-13 opened the door for the New Jersey native to grab a 3-up lead by the lunch break.
Biermann, who survived three extra-hole matches this week to reach the final, never managed to cut the deficit closer than 3 down the remainder of the match. Ganne converted a 35-foot birdie at the 22nd hole for a 4-up lead. Biermann did convert winning birdie putts from 15 and 3 feet on Nos. 24 and 27, but in between she bogeyed the 25th hole when she missed the green and could not recover for par.
“Megha is a great player,” said a gracious Biermann, who had never made a cut in any of her five previous USGA appearances. “Unfortunately, the putter went cold today. Overall, I felt like I gave it my all and I had a blast out here.”
Ganne conceded her birdie on the 29th hole when Biermann’s approach went over the green into a sandy area and she took two shots to reach the green. But showing no quit, Biermann answered with a 10-foot birdie on the par-5 31st hole. She just couldn’t sustain any momentum. She left her 25-footer from the fringe on the 32nd hole 5 feet short, and then missed the putt to go 4 down with four to play.
Two putts by Ganne on the par-3 35th ended the festivities and drew a nice applause from the approximately 350 spectators. She immediately put her hands over her face to take in the greatest moment of her golf career. Then it was time to celebrate, first with her Pebble Beach-based caddie Logan Goettsch, whom she first met when winning the Carmel Cup, a college event on the Monterey Peninsula.
Then she hugged parents Hari and Sudha, her longtime instructor Katie Rudolph, who was there all week, Stanford assistant coach Demi Runas and her manager at Excel Sports, Ashley Kim. Stanford women’s head coach Anne Walker was in Spain and sent upbeat text messages and photos of her family from afar.
It also culminated quite a summer for Stanford’s women’s golf team. Ganne’s teammate Paula Martin Sampedro, No. 2 in the WAGR, won The Women’s Amateur at Nairn Golf Club, the European Women’s Amateur and posted a top-10 finish in the AIG Women’s Open. Now Ganne can bring back the Robert Cox Trophy to the Palo Alto campus.
“I think I love playing any sort of tournament, but I really do love being in the spotlight,” said Ganne. “I like performing under pressure and I think it brings out the best in my game.”
