EVANS, GEORGIA | There will be no shortage of nerves for every woman who steps onto the first tee at Augusta National Golf Club on Saturday for the final round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, but the pressure might feel a little bit heavier on the shoulders of 21-year-old Stanford sophomore Meja Örtengren.
It’s not every contender to win on Saturday who might have the world’s greatest women’s golfer in a green jacket outside the ropes, cheering her on to win one for Sweden.
At least Örtengren might be more prepared this time. Four years ago she was a bit startled on the first tee when a soft “Hey Meja” came from outside the ropes and there was Annika Sörenstam smiling and waving.
“Very surprised by her standing there next to the first tee,” Örtengren said. “Yeah, I was very nervous.”
The ANWA is only seven years old, still too young to leave a legacy of haunting to any one nation like Australia or Ireland suffered for so long in the Masters until Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy exorcised their national (and personal) demons.
But if there’s one country that craves crowning a champion at Augusta above all the others, it may be Sweden. The home nation of Augusta National member Sörenstam is serious about developing ensuing generations of champion women’s golfers, and having to watch winners from America, England, Spain and Japan lift trophies at Augusta National has to inspire a little envy.
Maybe this year – unusually as the only Swede in the 2026 field – Örtengren can do what Ingrid Lindblad, Beatrice Wallin, Linn Grant, Andrea Lignell, Nora Sundberg and Louise Rydqvist could not and win the ANWA. Lindblad finished runner-up to Anna Davis in 2022 and third as the No. 1 women’s amateur in 2024 when Lottie Woad won. Lignell finished third in 2023 when Stanford’s Rose Zhang won, so the Swedes have been knocking hard on the door every year only to fall short.
“I think this is the biggest kind of amateur tournament there is, and it’s been a dream ever since they announced it to win it.” – Meja Örtengren
How much would it mean for Örtengren to break through?
“It would mean a lot,” Örtengren said after shooting her second straight 5-under 67 on Thursday at Champions Retreat to put herself in the final pairing on Saturday at Augusta National with 36-hole leader Asterisk Talley. “I think this is the biggest kind of amateur tournament there is, and it’s been a dream ever since they announced it to win it. I also think that seeing the Swedish girls before me doing well on this stage is a little bit of a confidence boost. I know how they practice, and I see them a lot back in Sweden, so that definitely helps.”
Örtengren has done alright herself, making the cut in her 2022 debut and again last year, finishing T12 and T14, respectively. And she knows how to win, having captured a Ladies European Tour event in Sweden last August to join Woad as an amateur winner on the professional European circuit.
Golf is pretty huge in Sweden despite its location closer to the Arctic Circle than most golfing nations. More than 500,000 registered golfers make it one of the biggest golfing countries relative to population in continental Europe. Its national teams run by the Swedish Golf Federation have become a model for other nations in developing talent, including the United States.
“It’s quite big. It’s getting bigger and bigger,” said Örtengren, who still chooses skiing and skating when she goes home from college. “The last couple of years there’s been kind of a little boom with young people starting to play golf. It’s been more of, like, elderly people playing before, but now it’s starting to be, like, a junior sport, which is really fun. I love to see young girls playing in Sweden. Annika is definitely the biggest kind of supporter of women’s golf as well. So it’s really great to see her, being from Sweden.”
She says there’s no real equivalent in the U.S., particularly in women’s golf, to what Sörenstam means to the game in Sweden.
“I think there’s a lot of people in the U.S. you can look up to, but from Sweden it’s very obvious that Annika has done so much and also is giving back so much to golf in Sweden right now,” she said. “It’s very fortunate to have her in Sweden right now, but there is a lot of, like, younger players coming up right now from Sweden who the younger players are looking up to more.”
Maybe Örtengren (10-under) can be that one to inspire a new generation should she prevail in what’s shaping up as a three-woman race with Talley (11-under) and Colombia’s María José Marín (10-under).
She’s prepared to handle the pressure of potentially competing under the gaze of her Hall of Fame hero and has the experience needed to cope with the challenges Augusta National presents.
“I heard Andrea [Revuelta, her Stanford teammate who is tied for fourth at 6-under] say yesterday that this course gets a little bit less intimidating every time you play it, and I definitely agree with that,” Örtengren said. “I think I was very young and maybe a little bit naive the first time I played here. … But I think this year I’ve settled down a little bit being more comfortable with my game.
“From the tournament rounds [at Augusta National] I think I’ve learned that you need to have a lot of patience out there and be disciplined with your approaches. It can get away from you quite easily if you hit bad shots into the greens, but also you can get a lot of opportunities if you hit the right spots at Augusta. So I think that will be the most important thing, staying disciplined from the fairway and also knowing where the right and bad spots are.”
Is it Sweden’s turn?
“It would be great,” Örtengren said.