Megha Ganne has some Arnie and Tiger in the game. Ask her coach

If they are young and start for a long time, elite players can spend a few months on April visits and around Augusta. Jack Nicklaus has been registered in Augusta for more than a year, and over the past 66 years, his day and night have been recorded for more than a year. Sergio Garcia must be more than half a year.

But among the 25 and under, the leaders of this weird category are not Ludvig Aberg, Tom Kim or Akshay Bhatia. it have Become Megha Ganne of Stanford and is now trying to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. This is her fifth crack. Prior to that, she competed in Augusta in four different years.

Ganne is 20 years old and a lifelong resident of Garden State. She went to Homdel (NJ) High. Her swing coach lives in Lower Manhattan and is a Columbia assistant women’s golf coach. Gann has been Asbury Park Press There are other Jersey papers for a while now. For example, in 2021, when 17 years old, Ganne became a low-slung amateur at the U.S. Open. More column inches are coming soon. On Wednesday, on the first day of the three-round Augusta Women’s AM, Gann shot 63 under 63 at the championship retreat.

The round recorded by the course gave Ganne a two-stroke lead in the second round Thursday, also at the Championship Retreat. After Thursday’s round, 72 players will be cut to 30 strokes and tie. On Friday, every player on the court was invited to participate in Augusta Country. The layoffs returned to Augusta Nationals on Saturday to play.

“I think it’s the most exciting week of amateur golf, the man and woman,” Gann said after the first round. “I think everyone in golf knows that. People tune in.”

If not, you will miss it. It’s an opportunity to watch the best female amateurs in a stroke competition and to watch Augusta National Architects Bobby Jones and Alister Mackenzie intend to compete on Saturday. For example, thirteen, the iconic 5, is at 450 yards. Driver, 5 wood – If you dare! So much anxiety, so fun! Ganne performed well in the 2023 (T9 finish line) and 2024 (T20). The same goes for her swing coach Katie Rudolph, who played for Ganne at Anwa. This year, Rudolph is looking at the rope clue.

“We have been working together since Megha was seven,” Rudolph, a Wake Forest golfer in the late 1990s, said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon. Rudolph meets Arnold Palmer on an outing that wakes up. That’s the game-changer. She met Ganne at the LPGA/USGA Children’s Clinic. That’s the game-changer. She meets her future wife, Jenn, described as a “rehabilitation lawyer” – a random companion to the public course in New York City (Van Cortland Park). That Is a game-changer. They got married in 2017. Steve Eubanks has an interesting piece about Rudolph on the LPGA website.

Rudolph got something from watching Palmer share with Gann (and other players). She said Palmer remained indifferent during this awakening outing until the last few holes when a small group of people gathered to watch him. “Then he opened it like a performer, and he played some great golf balls,” Rudolph said. “That’s what I told Mega. You’re performing there. You’re like an actor on Broadway, performing eight times a week. Sometimes you might feel bad or break up with your boyfriend or anyone else. But you have to dig and find the best thing.” Rudolph said that for the family members who are watching, it might be for themselves. What matters is that you find something.

Rudolph said Gann did so. No matter what day she is in the competition, she will dig deeper. The 63-time round is a magic hat, which is rare for every golfer. What happens when you don’t have it, and it will all be different. Tiger Woods repeatedly said at his peak: It meant the biggest day for him was when he was rocking like he was filming 76 or fighting the flu, and ended up with 71 people.

Whenever Ganne plays in Georgia – her family keeps watching her while driving at Chip & Putt in Anwa. That is, her mother, an endocrinologist; her father, a technician; and her sister, a high school student, she will play golf. (The daughter is the first generation of Americans; parents were born in India.) Augusta has been their spring destination for ten years, returning to its grand heyday.

Ganne is expected to return to Stanford University’s 2025-’26 academic year and graduate in the spring. In other words, she didn’t quickly become a professional, and the wall between Elite’s amateur and early career professionals has never been more blurry. Ralph Lauren offered her Ganne’s stylish outfit this week, and Ralph Lauren mentioned the brand at a Wednesday afternoon-Sunday press conference. It doesn’t matter. That’s the way the world is. Zero found Anwar. Golf is golf.

Ganne’s trio turned into two, as Rianne Malixi, who won the USGA Women’s Amateur and Junior High School Women’s Championship last year, quit due to injury from the lower defender. It took five hours on Wednesday. Waiting for a second shot on the 9th hole, Ganner sat on the fairway and crossed his legs. How interesting. She is 20 years old. She is a child. Millions of kids around the world like to cross legs like that. One in a million people can come to Anva and shoot the first round 63. And more.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments via michael.bamberger@golf.com.