Woad, Romero tied after day 2 at Augusta National Women’s Amateur

It’s a tight race heading into the final day of the August National Women’s Amateur with a two-way tie at first and a three-way tie at third.

Lottie Woad, the 2024 ANWA champion, and Kiara Romero, are tied for first both at nine under par for a total of 135 after 36 holes. But it’s a tight race heading into Saturday with a three-way tie for third between Carla Bernat Escuder, Andrea Revuelta and Megha Ganne at eight under par. 

Romero, who is the No. 5 amateur in the world, started the day with a birdie on the 10^th hole and remained bogey free when she finished the first nine with a 33. On the back nine she had a birdie, double bogey on holes 4 and 5, and then finished with three birdies to end the round at four under par for day 2. This brought her overall score to nine under par for the two rounds combined.  

MORE: Megha Ganne sits on top of the leaderboard after day 1 of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur

“I feel like I have a lot more control over the mental side of it. I had a double and a bogey back-to-back on 4 and 5, so I didn’t let that get to me at all,” Romero said of the second round. “I actually ended up with birdieing the last three holes. So, I feel like that kind of shows the way my game has matured from last year.”

Woad, who is the top-ranked amateur, finished the second round two under at 70. This brought her overall score to nine under par. While she held a three-stroke lead at one point, a bogey on the 8^th hole dropped her lead.  

“I knew I was going off earlier than Megha, so I just thought if I could maybe get a few birdies to start I could kind of show that I could catch her, and managed to do that,” Woad said of her round. 

Both Romero and Woad said having played in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur before was beneficial.

“I think already being there once kind of lets me know what I’m preparing for and stuff,” Romero said. “I’m definitely going to enjoy the moment being there, but just going to try to do my best to take notes of the course and see where are the good spots and create a good game plan for Saturday.”

“Yeah, I think I can definitely use last year, you know. I had the lead and then lost it,” Woad said. “[Saturday] if that happens again, then I’d know that I’ve come back from there before. So, I guess they’re positive memories.”

Other players in the final round of the Women’s Amateur

This year 32 player made the cut to Saturday’s final round, which was at one-under 143. The final round will be played at the Augusta National on Saturday, April 5. Before that, all players will be able to play a practice round at the Augusta National Golf Club on Friday, April 4. The final round will air on Saturday, April 5 from noon to 3 p.m. on NBC.

Making the cut for the first time is Carolina Lopez-Chacarra, from Spain, who is in her fifth appearance at the tournament, and Carolina Melgrati, from Italy, who is in her third appearance at the tournament.  in her third appearance, both make the cut for the first time.

There are nine players making their Women’s Amateur debut that made the cut: Emma Kaisa Bunch, Kary Hollenbaugh, Minseo Jung, Ko Kurabayashi, Mackenzie Lee, Elise Lee, Scarlett Schremmer , Caroline Canales and Achiraya Sriwong.

Ko Kurabayashi, of Japan, improved her first-round score by 13 strokes with a bogey-free round. She moved up the leaderboard from 68^th to tied for 27^th to make the final round. 

Women’s Amateur final round information

The cut line this year is the lowest since the Augusta National Women’s Amateur began and the first time the cut is at or under par. The previous lowest cut was at 146, which is two over par, and was set in 2023.

This year, after the first two rounds there are 32 players under par, a new record. The previous record for players entering the final round under was set in 2023 at 13.  

Final round pairings

The pairings for the final round are as follows:

• 7:50 a.m.: Achiraya Sriwong and Caitlyn Macnab
• 8 a.m.: Ko Kurabayashi and Kelly Xu
• 8:10 a.m.: Mamika Shinchi and Emma McMyler
• 8:20 a.m.: Scarlet Schremmer and Eila Galitsky
• 8:30 a.m.: Caroline Canales and Carolina Melgrati
• 8:40 a.m.: Carolina Lopez-Chacarra and Anna Davis
• 8:50 a.m.: Nora Sundberg and Louise Rydqvist
• 9 a.m.: Farah O’Keefe and Gianna Clemente
• 9:10 a.m.: Minseo Jung and Elise Lee
• 9:20 a.m.: Paula Martin Sampedro and Catherine Park
• 9:30 a.m.: Kary Hollenbaugh and Amanda Sambach
• 9:40 a.m.: Jasmine Koo and Mackenzie Lee
• 9:50 a.m.: Meja Örtengren and Emma Kaisa Bunch
• 10 a.m.:  Megha Ganne and Asterisk Talley
• 10:10 a.m.: Carla Bernat Escuder and Andrea Revuelta
• 10:20 a.m.: Kiara Romero and Lottie Woad