Megan Schofill won the 2023 U.S. Women's Amateur. (USGA)
Megan Schofill will defend her 2023 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Southern Hills starting on August 5. The Auburn graduate is part of a large contingent of college graduates who are chasing one last amateur triumph, and a potential Curtis Cup invite, before likely turning pro in the fall.
On the other hand, the youth movement is quite something in the women’s game right now. Asterisk Talley is having an incredible year having already claimed the U.S. Women’s Four-Ball with Sarah Lim and low amateur honors in the U.S. Women’s Open. Rianne Malixi just beat Talley the 2024 U.S. Girls’ Junior following the heartbreak of her 2023 final loss.
This week’s championship is sure to be full of drama and incredible matchups once it reaches match play.
These are the 16 players we think are most likely to make it to the Round of 16 of the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
Anna Davis
The 2022 Augusta National Women’s champion just finished her first semester at Auburn. After winning the Auburn Regional, her first collegiate win, Davis has been globe-trotting this summer. She has played in the Ladies Italian Open (86th), Women’s Amateur Championship (Round of 64), Arnold Palmer Cup, and CanadianWomen’s Open (39th). Davis lost in the quarterfinals last year to Megan Schofill.
Zoe Campos
Campos won four times last year for the UCLA Bruins and was a pivotal member of the team that reached the championship match before losing to Stanford. Campos has had a quiet summer, and has not played any events since the college season wrapped up.
Gianna Clemente
The 2023 U.S. Women’s Four-Ball champion is no stranger to high-level competition against pros and amateurs. In July, Clemente reached the semi-finals of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur, losing to Asterisk Talley. She won the Mizuho Americas Open, a Stableford junior event, and finished second in The Sally. Additionally, Clemente is on the National Development Team that competed in the inaugural scrimmage against Australia.
Adela Cernousek
Texas A&M’s Cernousek won the NCAA Individual title this spring by three shots over Lottie Woad. She also made the cut in the U.S. Women’s Open and the Evian Championship. The Frenchwoman has the capability of going very low. This past July, she was also a member of the Palmer Cup team.
Jasmine Koo
Koo was part of the dynamite final four of this year’s U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur. She lost to Rianne Malixi. In the spring, she recorded a third-place finish in the Junior Invitational. Her most recent win came in the Junior World Cup in Japan. She is the top-ranked junior according to Junior Golf Scoreboard and will head to USC in the fall. Her excellent resume earned her a selection on the 2024 Curtis Cup team along with Zoe Campos her future teammate at USC Catherine Park..
Rachel Kuehn
A national champion at Wake Forest and a two-time Curtis Cupper, Kuehn has had quite the amateur career. She will tee it up at Southern Hills along with her mom, Brenda Corrie Kuehn. Both mother and daughter have scored the clinching point in the Curtis Cup. Kuehn was the only amateur to make the cut at the Evian Championship. Like many of the players on this list, she also competed in the Palmer Cup. With her close ties to the Curtis Cup, it seems like one last chance to tee it up for Team USA is why she has remained an amateur this summer.
Rianne Malixi
The 17-year-old from the Philippines made it her goal in 2024 to claim the U.S. Girls’ Junior Am title. Mission Accomplished. Now she sets her sights on winning the summer double, which has only been done once - Eun Jeong Seong won the U.S. Girls’ and U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2016. In the Junior Invitational. Asterisk Talley edged out Malixi. It’s been a whirlwind since that runner-up finish. Malixi has played golf on three continents, including a second in the Royal Junior in Japan, her U.S. Girls’ Junior win, and a fourth place in the European Amateur Championship in Finland.
Paula Martin Sampedro
The rising sophomore at Stanford finished third in the NCAA individual while helping the Cardinal to a national team title in May. This summer, Sampedro has finished ninth in the Women’s Amateur Championship and 29th in the Ladies’ European Amateur. She also competed in the Palmer Cup and European Ladies’ Team Championship.
Maria Jose Marin
Marin is fresh off a staggering 18-shot win in the Columbian Open in her home country. Her only other competitive round this summer came at Lahinch in the Palmer Cup. As a freshman for Arkansas, she finished fourth in the NCAA and earned a First-Team All-America selection.
Catherine Park
One of the first three Curtis Cup selections for Team USA, Park earned low amateur honors in the U.S. Women’s Open this June. In her sophomore season, she won three times for USC.
Kiara Romero
The 2023 U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur has had a quiet summer after her first year competing for the Oregon Ducks where she earned All-Pac-12 first team selection after winning twice. She missed the cut in the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open and competed in for Team USA in the Palmer Cup.
Megan Schofill
Schofill went through a murders row of golfers en route to last year’s U.S. Amateur championship at Bell-Air. She took down Jackie Rogowicz, Kelly Xu, Caitlin Pierce, Anna Davis, and Hailey Borja before out-dueling Latanna Stone in the final. Schofill had a rather pedestrian 5th year at Auburn, recording four top-ten finishes and no victories. Her best finish was a second in the Auburn regional and the highlight of her year so far is winning low amateur in the U.S. Women’s Open.
Bailey Shoemaker
Shoemaker entered the lives of many golfers this past April when she fired a final-round 66 at Augusta National to finish runner-up to Lottie Woad in the Augusta Women’s National Amateur. She’s far more than that one performance, in 2022 she reached the semi-finals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur and in 2023 she was knocked out in the Round of 16. She is a two-time Rolex All-American First Team member and was a stalwart for USC as a first year.
Asterisk Talley
In Greek, Asterisk means “Little Star.” An apt name for now, but big things are in Talley’s future. Like the last amateur phenom, Rose Zhang, on the women’s side, Talley could certainly win a U.S. Women’s Amateur before a U.S. Junior Amateur. At 15 years old, Talley has won a 2024 U.S. Women’s Four-Ball and a low amateur at the 2024 U.S. Women’s Open. She finished runner-up in the U.S. Girls’ Junior and won the Junior Invitational in March.
Latanna Stone
Stone is another player on this list who stayed for a fifth year of college in hopes of reaching a few goals after some close calls in 2023. She was the ANWA and U.S. Women’s runner-up. She’d love to cap off her amateur career with a USGA championship and a Curtis Cup appearance. She was part of the victorious 2022 team at Merion. Over her career, Stone has been consistent and steady. That usually bodes well in long events that can see big momentum swings for some players.
Yana Wilson
Another USGA champion on the list. Wilson beat Gianna Clemente in the 2022 U.S. Girls’ Junior final and has signed a letter of intent to play at Oregon in the fall. Last year, Wilson reached the Round of 16 before losing to Latanna Stone. She has played in the Chevron and the Evian this summer and finished third in the Junior Invitational behind Asterisk Talley and Rianne Malixi along with a second-place finish in the Mizuho Americas Open.
ABOUT THE
U.S. Women's Amateur
The U.S. Women's Amateur, the third
oldest of
the USGA championships, was first played
in 1895
at Meadowbrook Club in Hempstead, N.Y.
The
event is open to any female amateur who
has a
USGA Handicap Index not exceeding 2.4.
The
Women's Amateur is one of 15 national
championships conducted annually by the
USGA.
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