AUGUSTA, Ga. — For many in the field, Friday will be their first time teeing it up at Augusta National Golf Club.
For Megha Ganne, it’s another April.
The four-time Drive, Chip and Putt finalist made her first Augusta National Women’s Amateur start this week. She battled tough conditions that made for a vastly different tournament than 2019.
“Everyone that I’ve spoken to who played here last time said these conditions are much more difficult,” she said. “I think you can see that with the cut.”
Ganne finished the first two rounds this year at 77-80 and missed the cut of 7 over by six shots, four shots higher than the 2019 tournament. As a player that tends to make in-round adjustments after mistakes, she quickly found out that wasn’t going to be possible at Champions Retreat.
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“This course is not the type where you can get one back on the next hole, which I think is how I play a lot of my golf,” she said. “You can’t attack pins, you can’t be aggressive with your putter, so it’s really hard to convince yourself to make birdies when even the leaders are at even par. I didn’t have my A-game and without that, it was really a struggle to keep it in play this week. I think I compounded those mistakes and didn’t have the chance at those birdies like I usually could.”
She entered the ANWA without having played competitive golf for two months. Ganne originally qualified for the inaugural junior tournament at nearby Sage Valley Golf Club in Graniteville, South Carolina, which was to be held in March. It was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns.
“I didn’t actually know it was canceled until recently before the tournament,” she said. “I was really hoping to get one event in, because the last event I played in was January. I still get a chance to play next year, so it’ll be good. It was just kind of annoying to not have any tournaments before this big one.”
As for her practice round at Augusta National, the 17-year-old from Holmdel, New Jersey, isn’t feeling any nerves and wants to enjoy the opportunity.
“I think it’s going to be a really special round. No pressure, since I’m not going to be playing on Saturday,” she said. “It’s truly like a once-in-a-lifetime-type experience and it’s mind-blowing to me that this is going to be my fifth trip there. I’m just going to soak it in.”