In American Women’s AM, 2 large-scale comebacks end differently
There was a point in the 2025 American Women’s Amateur semifinal at Bandon Dunes in Bandon, Oregon, when the final was on the stone.
Step out of the 11th green Megha Ganne, the 11th seed, to the four Australian Ella Scaysbrook. Shortly afterward, Lyla Louderbaugh played against Brooke Biermann, 22-year-old Michigan State graduate Brooke Biermann.
It seems to be the Robert Cox Trophy Bielman vs. scaysbrook.
Then, an historical moment broke out on the Oregon Coast.
We will start with Louderbaugh. When Biermann made a sloppy burn, the rising junior in Kansas won the 16th hole. Louderbaugh then poured the birdies on 17 and 18, sending the game to the extra holes.
“I mean, keep the putts rolling. From Missouri, I know her, so it’s a fun game. I mean, the putts at 18 are great. She has to do it, she does it.
Even if her lead was gone, Bielman was not desperate. She raised her head in the fanatical conditions, smiled on her face, and headed for her tenth T-shirt.
“If I’m not happy, I don’t know why I’m doing this,” Bielman said. “I mean, I’m thinking, like walking 18 is two cute baby deer babies, I think their mom – I’m more focused on that, maybe it’s my fault. But for me, I’m like something. No matter what happens, what happens, what happens, I’m here. I’m here, I’m with my family. It’s like I’ve won a great week of victory.
“So it’s all opinion.”
Both players’ T-shirt balls found the fairway on the tenth fairway, while Biermann’s goal reached 15 feet. Louderbaugh’s green sailed for a long time, and her third had little chance to stay on the putter surface, while the green tilted back to back linded. Biermann and the two were eager to survive Louderbaugh’s fierce attack and played her ticket to the finals.
This brings us back to Ganne vs. Scaysbrook.
Scaysbrook had four advantages in seven games, but that was when Ganne started to fight back.
“I’m not saying what I’m thinking, but you can imagine it,” Gann said. “I think I was a little panicked at that moment because I felt like I was going back to the 3-countdown after 3. I reminded myself that I literally won so many games, from two downs, three downs, four downs. The game started in the last nine games – whatever the score was – into the back nine.
“Remind yourself of how many times I did it. Today, it’s no different.”
Scaysbrook made a mess of 3-12, making Ganne easy to win. The Australian then missed a four-foot ball and the lead dropped to 2.
Ganne, a 21-year-old rising senior at Stanford, cut Scaysbrook’s lead by birding in 15 shots in the third shot. When the Australian hit his serve on the 17th, Ganne opened the door and kept grabbing her back, she pared with a five-foot player.
Both players sent bogeys to the 5th stroke and made the 2025 American Women’s Amateur the third edition in 125-year history, with more than 18 games in both semifinals.
In their 19th hole, Ganne stretched her close distance within a 10-foot bird, while Scaysbrook flew the second shot across the green. After failing to put the ball on the surface of the putter on the next two shots, Scaysbrook admitted to giving Ganne a victory.
Gann’s huge comeback was organized. No avalanche swept away the Scaysbrook, just methodical debris, now remove the Ganne 36 hole from the Robert Cox trophy.
“I don’t think the things I’ve been working hard on like really buying the whole motivation,” said Gann. “Motivation is something you create in your mind. Obviously, if you can rely on it, you don’t feel like you don’t have motivation. I don’t feel like you have almost no honesty all day, and if I’m honest, I don’t rely on it like I am now, and don’t know what you mean, if you’re going to be, like you, anything will happen. It should be.”
Bandon Dunes, Ganne and Biermann, who once faced with Chip and Putt at Augusta National, will receive the biggest award for women’s amateur golf on Sunday.
After Saturday’s fireworks, two amateurs will have to dig deeper into the right title, a champion, a champion who won the semi-finals in 2019 as a 15-year-old in 2019 before losing to Albane Valenzuela. Ganne also planned a rewrite for her American Woman AM story after a massive comeback Saturday.
“If you told yourself at 15 that this is where you are, you’ll be proud of yourself.” When asked if she flashed until 2019, when four out of four of her people went to Scaysbrook, you’ll be proud of yourself. “I thought, you’re the one who can achieve this now. Let’s do it.”
Josh Schrock
Golf.comEdit
Josh Schrock is a writer and journalist at Golf.com. Before joining golf, Josh was an insider of Chicago Bears in NBC Sports. He has previously reported 49 people and fighters in the NBC Sports Bay area. Josh, an Oregon native and UO alum, spent time hiking with his wife and dogs, pondering how ducks will be sad again and trying to become half-mature. For golf, Josh will never stop trying to break the 90s and never lose Rory McIlroy’s major drought will end (update: he did). Josh Schrock can be contacted at josh.schrock@golf.com.
