The only woman without a bogey through two rounds of the 2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur is the one who stands alone atop the leaderboard. Asterisk Talley, 17, was flawless across her 36 holes at Champions Retreat, signing for rounds of 66-67 to post 11 under, good for a one-stroke lead over Meja Örtengren of Sweden and Maria Jose Marin of Colombia.
Play at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur resumes on Saturday as those who finished at or above the 1-under cutline will take Friday to play a practice round at Augusta National Golf Club, the golf course that will host the deciding final round.
Talley’s 11-under 133 total is two strokes shy of the 36-hole scoring record at the ANWA set by Rose Zhang in 2023. She’s making her third appearance in the event just one year after finishing runner-up to Carla Bernat Escuder by a single stroke.
Talley fired a final-round 68 at Augusta National in last year’s championship to (ironically) finish at 11 under. She is without a bogey in her last 48 holes in this tournament, dating back to 2025.
“It’s been pretty good,” Talley said. “I’ve had a little bit of a slow stretch on both of my rounds, but I think that’s kind of what you need here, just a little stretch of survival, and I think I had that today. I made a couple good pars out there, some missed opportunities but can’t complain about two bogey-free rounds.”
Talley started her second round one stroke off the pace of Marin and Soomin Oh of Korea but quickly made up ground. Birdies on holes Nos. 1-3 pulled her name back near the top of the leaderboard, where it would remain throughout Thursday afternoon.
She put 10 straight pars on her scorecard before jumping off the train at the par-5 14th for her second consecutive birdie on that hole. It was followed up quickly with another on the next to push her total out to 11 under and give her a one-stroke advantage heading into the final round.
“I try to put my expectations first because I feel like I know my game the best,” Talley said. “I think, just kind of blocking out everyone else, it’s easier said than done, but you kind of just get in the zone when you’re on the course, and I think that kind of helps with just taking one shot at a time and not worrying about outside noise.”
Talley, Örtengren and Marin could find themselves in a three-horse race at Augusta National as Andrea Revuelta and Avery Weed occupy fourth place, five strokes off Talley’s pace at 6 under. No matter how players jockey for position on Saturday, all eyes will be on Talley as she entered the week as one of the favorites and looks to make amends for last year’s close call.
“[My expectations] were obviously to try to win it,” Talley said. “Try to play my best golf going into Augusta. I’m excited for Saturday, so trying to up my game this time.”
2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur leaderboard
1. Asterisk Talley (-11)
T2. Meja Örtengren, Maria Jose Marin (-10)
T4. Andrea Revuelta, Avery Weed (-6)
T6. Eight players (-5)
T14. Kiara Romero and five others (-4)
T19. Five players (-3)
T24. Anna Davis and four others (-2)
T29. Four players (-1)