BANDON, OREGON | Rising Stanford senior Megha Ganne conquered the wind and Brooke Biermann to win the 125th U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes on Sunday. In the scheduled 36-hole championship match, 11th-seeded Ganne beat the 41st-seeded Michigan State grad, 4 and 3, to win her first USGA championship in 15 tries.
Ganne, No. 11 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, comfortably qualified for match play by shooting 5-under 139. She defeated Kaleiya Romero, Anna Davis, Kary Hollenbaugh, Eila Galitsky, Ella Scaysbrook and Biermann on her way to claiming the Robert Cox Trophy.
“I’m not gonna lie, I was thinking about this trophy like the entire day, which makes it really distracting to play golf,” Ganne said. “But I was trying absolutely my hardest to think about the shot in front of me.”
By virtue of winning, Ganne will receive an invitation to the 2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur and an exemption for next year’s U.S. Women’s Open. She will also be an automatic selection to next year’s U.S. Curtis Cup team, which will face Great Britain and Ireland at Bel-Air Country Club, provided she remains an amateur. Ganne was part of the winning U.S. Curtis Cup side in 2022.
During the morning 18 of Sunday’s final, Ganne took control early. Birdies on the first and third holes gave her a two-hole lead, but Biermann won the fourth and fifth holes with birdies to square the match.
The pair were tied through 11, but Ganne won the 12th, 13th, and 14th with pars and led 3 up at the break.
In the afternoon, Ganne birdied the 19th hole and took a commanding four-hole lead. Even when Bierman won holes, she couldn’t sustain her momentum and went into the 27-hole turn 3 down.
“Unfortunately, the putter went cold today,” said Biermann, who also earned an exemption into the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open, provided she remains an amateur. “But you know, overall, I felt like I gave it my all, and I had a blast.”
Ganne birdied the 29th hole to restore her lead to 4 up with seven to play. That proved too much for Biermann to overcome, and Ganne closed out the championship with a 3-foot par putt on the 33rd hole.
Last year’s finalists were this year’s medalists. After 36 holes of stroke play on Monday and Tuesday, defending champion Rianne Malixi (68-67) and No. 1-ranked junior Asterisk Talley (69-66) shot 9-under 135 to claim co-medalist honors by a stroke.
“Nothing new,” said Talley about sharing the stage with Malixi.
Malixi is the first defending champion to medal the following year since Beth Daniel was champion in 1975 and medalist in 1976.
In the round of 64, Malixi and Talley lost their matches, the first time U.S. Women’s Amateur co-medalists lost in the first round since 2015, when Angel Yin lost to Justine Dreher and Jennifer Hahn lost to Vanessa Ha.
Arianna Lau beat Malixi with an eagle on 18 to win by a hole. The 64th seed was the last player to make match play by surviving a 15-for-6 playoff. The incoming freshman at Northwestern from Hong Kong made it all the way to the quarterfinals before losing to Biermann, 3 and 2.
Australia’s Ella Scaysbrook, the 63rd seed and another playoff survivor, dominated Talley, 6 and 4. She steamrolled to the semifinals where she met Ganne.
Through 11 holes, it looked like the Australian would advance to the final as she led by four holes with seven to play. But Scaysbrook started making mistakes and Ganne put the pressure on, tying the match on the 17th and winning the first playoff hole (No. 10) to make the final.
“I reminded myself that I have literally won so many matches from 2 down, 3 down, 4 down,” Ganne said. “Matches start on the back nine no matter what the score is turning onto the back nine.”
After Biermann beat Kelly Xu, 3 and 2, in the round of 64, it took her 22 holes to defeat Olivia Duan after being 2 down through 11 holes. In the round of 16, Biermann was 2 down to Cindy Hsu through 14 holes but brought it back to win the match in 19 holes.
Biermann beat Lau in the quarterfinals and met Lyla Louderbaugh in the semifinals. She led by three holes with three to play, but Louderbaugh charged back, winning the final three holes of regulation, the last with a 35-foot birdie putt on 18 to send the match to extra holes. However, Louderbaugh’s mistakes on the playoff hole meant a par was good enough for Biermann to advance to the final against Ganne.
“Coming down the stretch [Lauderbaugh] threw everything she had, which was great golf,” Biermann said. “You just have to stay calm and also like I guess only focus on what I can control.”
RESULTS
Everett Munez