BANDON, Ore. – Megha Ganne loves performing. In grade school, she starred in over a dozen plays and musicals. Her most memorable roles included the Queen of Hearts in “Alice in Wonderland” and Pinocchio in “Shrek The Musical.”
“That was a formative part of my childhood,” Ganne said, “but I haven’t done one since freshman year of high school.”
While competitive golf has put her acting ambitions on hold in recent years, it hasn’t prevented her from producing great theatre on the course.
Ganne’s incredible comeback Saturday at Bandon Dunes was Tony-worthy.
Four down with seven holes to play in her U.S. Women’s Amateur semifinal match against Australia’s Ella Scaysbrook, Ganne, a rising senior at Stanford, rallied to win in 19 holes to advance to her first championship match, where she will face Michigan State graduate Brooke Biermann in Sunday’s 36-hole final.
Biermann also needed one hole of overtime to defeat Kansas’ Lyla Louderbaugh, which marked only the third time that both semifinals of this championship went to extras. The last occasion was 2018, 118 years after the first, the 1900 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Shinnecock.
Ganne isn’t shy to admit her hopes had dwindled once Scaysbrook drained a 40-foot birdie putt at the par-4 11th hole to go 4 up. But she then tapped into her memory bank, specifically the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur, the only other time she’d advanced to the semifinals. Ganne was 15 years old, the youngest in the match-play field by four years, and facing then-Stanford senior Albane Valenzuela, who jumped out to an early 3-up lead on Ganne. Though she lost that day, Ganne fought back to extend the match to 19 holes. Since then, Ganne, now a seven-time U.S. Women’s Amateur competitor, has dug out of similar holes and won.
Ganne’s message to herself while walking to the 12th tee: “There is no reason you should think bad of yourself right now. If you told yourself at 15 this is where you would be, you would be pretty proud of yourself. You’re exactly the type of person that could make this happen right now. Let’s just go do it.”
Scaysbrook certainly played a role in the ensuing drama. She left her second shot in a bunker at the par-3 12th and conceded that hole. Then she missed a 4-footer for birdie that lost her the par-5 13th. “That was the first putt I’ve seen her miss all day,” Ganne said. Two holes later, Scaysbrook’s chip at the par-3 15th took an unfortunate bounce and rolled into the sand, causing the Aussie to concede another hole.
Ganne tied it up on the par-4 17th, where Scaysbrook fanned her approach off the side of the cliff. Both competitors traded bogeys at the par-5 closing hole to send the match to the par-4 10th again.
Up ahead, Biermann and Louderbaugh were putting the finishing touches on their instant classic. Biermann led 3 up with four holes to play before Louderbaugh made par from the carry bunker at the short, par-4 16th, and then rolled in birdie putts of 15 and 25 feet, respectively, on the last two holes.
But Louderbaugh’s second shot into the shallow 10th green went long, and after she failed to make her par, she conceded the match.
“Coming down the stretch, she threw everything she had, which was great golf, and with that, you just have to stay calm,” said Biermann, who has now played three matches that have surpassed 18 holes.
Biermann’s extended run comes after she’d failed to make the cut in her five previous USGA championships.
“I told my dad, I just need to get over that hurdle, and the hurdle was the cut,” Biermann said. “I know myself. I’ve played in several match play events, and I’ve gotten to the semifinals multiple times (most recently at the Women’s Western Amateur last month). I love match play. Like that’s where the fun begins. So, I believe that I could do this.”
Once the first match wrapped, that paved the way for Ganne to eliminate Scaysbrook, who sailed her approach even longer than Louderbaugh on No. 10. Ganne didn’t even have to stroke her birdie putt before the curtain fell on Scaysbrook.
“All you need to do is just go hit good shots and something will happen for you if it’s meant to be,” Ganne said. “Today was meant to be.”
All that’s left to play out now is Sunday’s final act:
History for Ganne, or tragedy?
