PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA | In 2021, 17-year-old Megha Ganne qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. And she delivered not just an “I’m happy to be here” performance. Ganne not only earned low-amateur honors with her T14 finish, but she was tied for the lead after the first round.
Today, Ganne makes her professional debut at the same major championship, this time at Riviera Country Club.
“Five years have gone by, so I would hope that I am drastically different than I was then in some ways,” the 22-year-old said. “And in some ways I still feel like I’ve maintained a lot of good parts of myself that I love looking back on when I was 17 at Olympic. So I have definitely grown as a golfer, as a person, and as a teammate. Four years at Stanford will definitely change you, so I feel like for the better.”
Ganne still has a few classes left before she graduates next week, but the Stanford senior finished off her college golf career with a bang. Last week, Ganne helped the Cardinal to their fourth national championship and second in three years. As a result, the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur champion finished first in the LPGA Collegiate Advancement Pathway and earned Epson Tour status through 2027.
Ganne says she’s excited for what’s next and is embracing the unfamiliar.
“I’ve been saying this over and over again,” Ganne said. “But I think just being comfortable being uncomfortable is going to be my goal for the next 12 to 18 months here.”
Ganne first played in the U.S. Women’s Open as a 15-year-old in 2019, missing the cut at the Country Club of Charleston, but her low-amateur finish in 2021 propelled her into the limelight and was a launching point for the New Jersey native. She fulfilled a dream with that performance, but her best days were ahead. Ganne was part of the winning U.S. Curtis Cup team at Merion in 2022. When she enrolled at Stanford in the fall of ’22, she was the No. 1 junior player in the world.
While she didn’t win any tournaments as a freshman, she earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors. As a sophomore, she won the first of her three collegiate titles, the Carmel Cup, during Stanford’s march to the national title.
“Life goes on. Then you wake up the next day and go practice and do really well at the next event you play.” – Megha Ganne
Last August, Ganne won the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bandon Dunes, defeating Brooke Biermann, 4 and 3, in the final. But injuries earlier this year prompted her to sit out of multiple college events leading up to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April, where she made a record sixth appearance.
Following the inactivity, Ganne missed the cut and beat only six players in the 72-player field. Still, Ganne had been curious about what her reaction would be to playing poorly in a big tournament.
“At ANWA I learned the answer,” Ganne said. “And the answer is absolutely nothing. Life goes on. Then you wake up the next day and go practice and do really well at the next event you play.”
More importantly, Ganne didn’t want to waste what time she had left with her Stanford teammates.
“I think the moments with the teammates are irreplaceable,” Ganne said. “Moments in the locker room, I found myself lingering after practice for 30 more minutes or trying to get more meals together knowing that me and Kelly [Xu] were leaving.”
During last week’s NCAA Championship at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California, Ganne made the most of her remaining time. She finished runner-up to the University of Texas’ Farah O’Keefe in stroke play before winning all three of her matches on the way to the national title. On Wednesday, Ganne was named the recipient of the 2026 Inkster Award as the highest-ranked women’s Division I collegiate golfer in her final year of eligibility, earning her a sponsor invitation to the LPGA’s Standard Portland Classic in August among other benefits.
As Ganne makes her pro debut in what will be her fifth major and fourth U.S. Women’s Open, she will lean on advice from LPGA Hall of Famer Lydia Ko, winner of three majors among 23 LPGA titles. Ganne said Ko has been practicing at Stanford and has been a great resource for the team.
“We get to play golf with [Ko] sometimes, and we look at our golf games and there is nothing too glaring,” Ganne said. “Being a professional is about the little stuff and the stuff you can’t really see, like invisible little details, and that stuff comes with experience, time, maturity, and having a good team around you.”
“I think that was probably some of the hardest bit for me when I turned pro, playing all year pretty much. But that’s something that you’ve got to learn and pretty much try and listen to your body. I think that’s the best way to have a sustainable, long career.” – Lydia Ko
Ko, who watched Stanford during the stroke-play rounds of the national championship, said the time she spent with the team gave her an inside look into the college golf experience since she never played herself. She’s impressed by athletes like Ganne who are able to balance schoolwork while being successful in golf. And at the next level, with the busy schedule of a professional, finding a balance is critical.
“I think that was probably some of the hardest bit for me when I turned pro, playing all year pretty much,” Ko said. “But that’s something that you’ve got to learn and pretty much try and listen to your body. I think that’s the best way to have a sustainable, long career.”
Ganne isn’t the only member of Stanford’s national championship team in the field this week. Teammates Meja Örtengren and Paula Martín Sampedro are also competing at Riviera. Sampedro, No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, will start her senior year at Stanford in the fall.
“First of all I’m very sad that [Ganne’s] leaving because I’ve been at Stanford for three years and she’s been there since the very first day,” Sampedro said. “I don’t know that place without her, so we’ll definitely miss her a lot next year. But I’m super pumped for her to make her pro debut here; I don’t think it can get a lot better than the U.S. [Women’s] Open. Hopefully I’ll be with her soon on tour.”
When Ganne was asked about what she would tell her 17-year-old self if she could go back to 2021, she said she’d probably tell herself the same thing that she tells herself now that she’s starting her pro career.
“I felt like I was on top of the world [after winning low amateur], but I guess it just keeps getting better,” Ganne said. “And this journey is long and there are ups and downs, but your best days are still ahead.”
2026 U.S. WOMEN’S OPEN LEADERBOARD