The 2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur field boasted 48 of the 50 top-ranked amateurs in the world, and that talent showed up in a major way Wednesday in the first round at Champions Retreat. The 72 women in the field began the battle for the top 30 and ties to earn a spot at Augusta National on Saturday for the final round, and 31 of them posted scores under par on a picture-perfect day in Evans, Georgia.
Leading the field after the first round were the No. 7 amateur and reigning NCAA individual champion, Maria José Marín, and No. 10 amateur Soomin Oh, who both shot 7-under 65s to hold shares of the lead going into Thursday’s second round.
Marín kept a clean scorecard with seven birdies and 11 pars as she made her way around Champions Retreat in the morning without any trouble. Oh joined her late in the afternoon, likewise avoiding any blemishes on her card and finishing with a birdie on No. 18 to prevent Marín from holding a solo lead going into the second round.
Close behind are other members of the top 10 in the world rankings, as world No. 3 Andrea Revuelta and 2025 ANWA runner-up Asterisk Talley both shot 6-under 66s to stay hot on the heels of the leaders after 18 holes of play.
The first round saw yet another fast start at the ANWA, and the cut line appears likely to wind up in red figures. There are currently 31 players at 1 under or better, with the top 30 and ties making the cut, and all of the top five in the world rankings are inside that number after the first round.
Top-ranked Kiara Romero was able to grind out a 2-under 70 to stay in the hunt. The No. 2 and No. 4 ranked amateurs, Paula Martin Sampedro and Farah O’Keefe, each managed their way to a 1-under 71 to set themselves up for a trip to Augusta National. And world No. 5 Meja Örtengren posted a 5-under 67 and is firmly in the hunt.
As last year’s championship proved, the name of the game at the ANWA is consistency, and the challenge for those at the top of the leaderboard is avoiding a letdown on Thursday. Those able to maintain a solid level — and carry that scoring power into Augusta National — are the ones who will challenge for one of the most coveted trophies in amateur golf on Saturday.
That low scoring leaves those who got off to slower starts with work to do on Thursday at Champions Retreat if they’re going to earn one of the coveted Saturday tee times. That group includes world No. 6 Megha Ganne, who struggled to a 77 a year after flying out of the gates with a 63 to take the first round lead. She’ll need to produce that kind of round on Thursday to make it inside the cut line, because the scoring power shown by the field in the first round was incredibly impressive.
2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur leaderboard
T1. Maria José Marín, Soomin Oh (-7)
T3. Vanessa Brovilos, Asterisk Talley, Andrea Revuelta (-6)
T6. Meja Örtengren, Amelie Zalsman, Raegan Denton (-5)
T9. Avery Weed, Arianna Lau, Lauren Kim (-4)
T12. Chloe Kovelesky, Gyubeen Kim, Ava Merrill (-3)
T15. Kiara Romero and eight others (-2)
T23. Farah O’Keefe, Paula Martin Sampedro and seven others (-1)