EVANS, Ga. — Megha Ganne arrived to Augusta with all the hype and vibes of competing in her sixth and final Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
The Stanford standout is the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion and she has so much history here. But that fell by the wayside from the moment she teed off because of her struggles, although that’s a word Ganne doesn’t like to use when talking about golf.
Ganne missed the cut after shooting 77-74 for a seven-over 151 total. On Thursday, she made a double bogey, two bogeys and two birdies. In her first round, she made two double bogeys and three bogeys, mistakes she’s not used to making.
“A lot of good, a lot of bad, too,” Ganne said. “Golf is a very hard game, everyone knows that. I love the game a lot when it’s super easy, and I also love it a lot when it’s super hard because it makes me appreciate the times when it’s super easy.
“I definitely try to peak for events like this. It’s not the best feeling coming into here not feeling like my game is where it’s supposed to be. Just didn’t feel great over the ball this week. Honestly, really proud of myself for just going out here and doing it anyway.”
Ganne declined interviews on Tuesday before the event, telling tournament officials that she had to go to physiotherapy. Asked if she’s injured, Ganne said: “Yeah. Just stuff all around. My body hasn’t felt the way I wanted the last few months. Even apart from that I just don’t feel great over the ball. I’m excited to get to a place where I do. I know I have a lot of good golf left in me.”
She has a lot of great opportunities ahead, too. She’s playing in the ACC Women’s Golf Championship this month, followed by the Chevron Championship, the LPGA’s first major championship. She’ll have some time off next week to try to figure things out.
David Cannon
“It’s not often I find myself at the bottom of a leaderboard, so it’s an interesting takeaway for me this week, but I’ve had more good takeaways than bad ones, which has been nice,” Ganne said. “I’ve obviously had many stretches where I don’t play where I want to, but this week was kind of cool for me because I’ve never really felt as uncomfortable over the ball as I did, and yet I was like, ‘wow, you’re such a competitor that you love being out here anyway.’
“It’s like I was trying to beat myself by one. I was five over and trying to get to four over, which taught me a lot about myself and, l guess I’m not as result oriented as I thought, and I’m just trying to always better myself by one or two. So that was a cool takeaway. I’m sure I’ll go back a little bit and just see where I can clean up my game. And I know it’s still in there.”
Ganne will play Augusta National on Friday. For those that made the cut, it’s a practice round. For Ganne and those who didn’t make the cut, they can play for fun. And that’s exactly what Ganne plans to do.
“I’m really excited for [Friday],” Ganne said. “I think there’s been years where I’ve missed the cut, and I would not have said that about [Friday]. But I do think, on the sixth time around, I gain a little bit of perspective, that the end was just a stepping stone in the rest of my career, and the week is, honestly, so special.
“I have had three competitive rounds at ANWA, so I do feel like I’ve gotten that chance already, so, I’m excited to really just go have fun and I think playing as bad as I did this week was, was cool in a way, and I think important for me, because I think this tournament gives me so much perspective of what this tournament’s about, and it’s not just about you.”
After missing the cut in her first two attempts, Ganne had made the cut in each of her last three starts, so to end her ANWA career with a missed cut was particularly disappointing.
“I don’t know. I don’t like to use the word struggles,” Ganne said. “Didn’t feel great and excited to feel great again.”
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
