Maria José Marín rallies to win 2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur, sets new ANWA scoring record

Maria José Marín added an Augusta National Women’s Amateur title to her growing list of accomplishments on Saturday with a stellar 4-under 68 at Augusta National Golf Club to finish 14 under and set a new ANWA scoring record by two strokes. 

Marín entered the day at 10 under, one shot back of 36-hole leader Asterisk Talley, but the 2025 NCAA women’s individual champion put her head down and charged through her third round to stay attached to the woman in front.

As the old adage goes, the Masters Augusta National Women’s Amateur doesn’t start until the leader reaches the second nine on Sunday Saturday.

That was unquestionably the case as the tournament flipped over the course of an hour for the final two groups on the course. It started with Marín needing to hole a lengthy par putt on the 10th to keep her round on track after trimming Talley’s lead to one. 

Still, Marín was going to need some help from Talley, who was the story of the first 45 holes of the ANWA. The 17-year-old, who finished runner-up at Augusta National last year, played masterful golf across the first two rounds at Champions Retreat and first nine on Saturday. She made the turn without making a bogey all week.

After a 302-yard drive on the 10th, Talley set herself up for a birdie putt inside 10 feet that could’ve pushed her lead back to two shots. That putt slipped by, leaving her with a par, and from there, the unbelievably talented teenager began to battle the nerves that so many leaders have felt on the second nine at Augusta National. 

On the 11th, Talley pushed her drive right but got past all the trees and had just 151 yards into the tough par 4. Her approach hung up in the right greenside bunker; she wasn’t able to get up and down, dropping her first shot of the tournament and into a tie on top with Marín. 

Then, as is so often the case, the 12th hole at Augusta National served as the pivot point for the tournament.

Marín, playing in the group ahead of Talley, came up short of the 12th green as the wind picked up into the players’ faces, but she somewhat miraculously stayed up on the mown bank. Marín capitalized on that break by getting up and down for a gutsy par save to stay tied at the top. 

Talley, playing for that same wind, hit her tee shot well over the green and had it bounce out of the trees and shrubs long into the back bunker. At the time, it seemed like a break, but everything unraveled from there. Talley was unable to create enough spin off the downslope and saw her bunker shot roll across the green, down the hill (on which Marín stayed up) and trickled into Rae’s Creek. 

Faced with the choice of dropping back in the bunker or going across the water to hit from the other side, Talley made an inexperienced mistake of dropping in the bunker, causing the ball to naturally settle down in the sand to make it nearly impossible to make good contact. She then hit almost a carbon copy of her first sand shot, going back in Rae’s Creek. 

Talley would go back across for her next drop, and she made an incredible putt coming back down the hill from 15 feet to make a quadruple-bogey 7 that effectively doomed her chances at picking up the win she so desperately wanted after last year. 

While all that was happening behind her, Marín birdied the par-5 13th, and when she got to the 14th tee, she was the solo leader by four shots over playing partner Andrea Revuelta. 

That news had to come as a bit of a shock to the system for the Arkansas star, and it certainly did to the patrons, who audibly gasped when the leaderboard was changed to show Talley fall back to 9 under. 

After playing the third round with the freedom of being in the chase, Marín was suddenly the one trying to manage the nerves of being in the lead in the final round at Augusta National. That adrenaline seemed to come into play on the 14th and 15th holes, as she hit two consecutive approach shots long. After getting up and down on the 14th, she couldn’t muster the same short-game magic on the par-5 15th and saw her lead trimmed to three with three holes to play after a bogey. 

However, the 19-year-old’s experience as the NCAA individual champion at Arkansas served her well, as she quickly settled herself down on the 16th tee and proceeded to slam the door on any hope from the field that she might similarly collapse down the stretch. With the flag in the iconic back left position that allows players to use the slope to funnel shots to the hole, Marín hit a beautiful tee shot to inside 10 feet to set up a bounce back birdie to extend her lead back to four. 

She backed that up with a stress-free par on the 17th and after successfully navigating the narrow chute off the 18th tee with a 3 wood to the fairway, the rising Colombian star was able to enjoy one of the greatest walks in golf — climbing the hill on No. 18 at Augusta National as the owner of a four-shot lead. 

Marín would make the par she needed to secure the victory and add her name to the prestigious list of Augusta National Women’s Amateur champions. 

It was a phenomenal round of golf from Marín, who held a share of the lead after the first round and was part of the conversation the entire week. While there were moments where Saturday might be Talley’s to cement her place as the next big star in women’s golf, it was Marín who made her presence known. 

The emotions of the moment began to take over as she waited to tap in for par on No. 18, as she removed her sunglasses and soaked in the moment before the tears began as she ran across the green to embrace her family. 

For Talley, it’s a second year in a row she leaves Augusta National wondering what could’ve been, and after holding the lead for most of Saturday, it will take some time for the 17-year-old to get over the heartbreak of her Amen Corner disaster. 

If there’s any consolation to be had for the young star, it’s that she is far from the first player to have a tournament unravel on golf’s most hallowed ground. She wouldn’t even have to look all that far on Saturday afternoon to find the shining example in a green jacket-clad Rory McIlroy of how Augusta National heartache can be turned into cathartic triumph. 

Talley will undoubtedly be back in future ANWA fields, and as she continues to bank experience in big events, she’ll learn the lessons of managing her nerves and her game to avoid the pitfalls of a course like Augusta National. 

Marín showed what that looks like and became the sixth Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion, joining Jennifer Kupcho, Tsubasa Kajitani, Anna Davis, Rose Zhang and Lottie Woad. 

ANWA champions