Record number of Canadians in the field for the seventh playing of the
prestigious amateur event set for April 1-4
Four Canadians set for Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals on April 5
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Seventy-two of the world’s best women’s amateur golfers are set to compete at the seventh playing of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA) in Augusta, Ga. later this week.
Three Canadians will be in the field with led by 16-year-old Aphrodite Deng of Calgary, Alta., 20-year-old Lauren Kim of Surrey, B.C. and 19-year-old Vanessa Borovilos of Etobicoke, Ont., setting the record for number of Canadians playing in the prestigious annual championship.
Deng is currently Canada’s lowest ranked amateur golfer on the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR) at No. 11 and will be making her debut at the ANWA. Last season, Deng won the 76th U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship, becoming the first Canadian to do so and earned her exemption to Augusta. Deng added two additional wins last season including the 2025 Junior Invitational at Sage Valley and the 2025 Mizuho Americas Open. She was named the junior player of the year by the American Junior Golf Association. In addition, Deng won the Marlene Stewart Streit Medal as the Low Amateur at the 2025 CPKC Women’s Open, finishing T20 at 4-under. Earlier this month, Deng finished T4 at the Girls’ Junior Invitational in South Carolina.
Kim (No. 18 WAGR) will make her third appearance at the ANWA, setting the record for appearances by a Canadian. The 2023 Canadian Women’s Amateur champion is currently in her junior year at the University of Texas and has won two collegiate titles in her career – the first in her freshman year at the Jackson T Stephens Cup and last year at the Betsy Rawls Invitational. She also represented Canada at the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship last fall. This season, Kim has earned four top 10 finishes, including a runner-up finish last week at the Charles Schwab Women’s Collegiate Invitational and six top 25 finishes for Texas.
Borovilos (No. 25 WAGR) will also make her first appearance at the ANWA, but not in Augusta, having competed in four editions of the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals, winning the Girls 10-11 age division in 2018. She is currently in her sophomore year at Texas A&M University and won her second career collegiate title in February at the Moon Golf Invitational. Her first win came as a freshman at the Chevron Collegiate. In addition to her win last month, Borovilos has added two additional top fives this season and three top 10’s for Texas A&M.
The Field
The field of 72 athletes features the some of the top female amateurs in the world, including the top 23 players currently on WAGR, 48 of the top 50 and 67 players within the top 100.
No. 1 on WAGR, Kira Romero (San Jose, Calif.) leads the field and will be competing in her third ANWA after finishing T7 last year. Romero received the 2025 Mark H. McCormack Medal as the leading female on WAGR and made the cut at both the CPKC Women’s Open (T36) and U.S. Women’s Open (T45) last year. She is in her junior year at the University of Oregon and won her second tournament of the year last week at the Charles Schwab Women’s Collegiate Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
Several players in the field have competed in Canada recently including the 2025 Canadian Women’s Amateur and multiple World Junior Girls Golf Championships.
Three members of the Republic of Korea’s past two World Junior Girls Championship winning teams will be at ANWA including Soomin Oh (No. 9 WAGR) who won both team and individual honours in 2023, Seojin Park (No. 28 WAGR) who earned team honours in 2024 and 2025 and Yunseo Yang (No. 33 WAGR), 2025 team honours. Yang also recently won the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship in New Zealand in February.
In addition, all three members of Spain’s 2022 championship team will be in Augusta including Paula Martin Sampedro (No.2 WAGR), Andrea Revuelta (No.3 WAGR) and 2022 individual champion Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio (No.27 WAGR).
Two-time CPKC Women’s Open Low Amateur medalist and 2022 ANWA winner, Anna Davis of Spring Valley, Calif. will be competing in her fifth championship.
Other past World Junior Girls Championship participants include…
Meja Örtengren (No. 5 WAGR) – Sweden
Maria Jose Marin (No. 7 WAGR) – Colombia
Arianna Lau (No. 35 WAGR) – Hong Kong, China
Sara Brentcheneff (No. 38 WAGR) – France
Chloe Kovelsky (No. 42 WAGR) – United States
Louise Landgraf (No. 46 WAGR) – France
Rocio Tejedo (No. 47 WAGR) – Spain
Charlotte Back (No. 61 WAGR) – Germany
Nikki Oh (No. 69 WAGR) – United States
Scarlett Schremmer (No. 71 WAGR) – United States
2025 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship runners-up Macy Pate of Winston-Salem, N.C. (No. 30 WAGR) and Eunseo Choi of New Zealand (No. 55 WAGR) are also in the field.
Tournament Format
The 72-player field will compete over 54 holes of stroke play with a cut following the second round. The top 30 players and ties will advance to the final round. If there is a tie following 54 holes, the champion will be decided by a sudden death playoff.
The opening 36 holes will be contested on the Island and Bluff nines at Champions Retreat Golf Club in Augusta. On Friday, April 3 a practice round for all competitors will take place at Augusta National Golf Club, followed by the final round on Saturday, April 4 at Augusta National.
Past Champions
2019 – Jennifer Kupcho (USA) -10
2021 – Tsubasa Kajitani (Japan) +1 *defeated Emilia Migliaccio in playoff
2022 – Anna Davis (USA) -1
2023 – Rose Zhang (USA) -9 *defeated Jenny Bae in playoff
2024 – Lottie Woad (England) -8
2025 – Carla Bernat Escuder -12
Canadian Results at ANWA
Lauren Kim and Monet Chun are tied for the best finish by a Canadian at ANWA at T14, Chun in 2023 and Kim in 2024. Kim’s appearance in 2026 will give her the most by a Canadian with three.
Brigitte Thibault (Rosemère, Que.) – 2019 (MC), 2021 (MC)
Savannah Grewal (Mississauga, Ont.) – 2022 (MC)
Monet Chun (Richmond Hill, Ont.) – 2023 (T14 at +3)
Lauren Kim (Surrey, B.C.) – 2024 (T14 at +2), 2025 (MC)
Where to watch
Round 1 – Wednesday, April 1 – Golf Channel – 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Round 2 – Thursday, April 2 – Golf Channel – 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.
Round 3 – Saturday, April 4 – TSN & NBC – 12:00 – 3:00 p.m.
*All times are EDT
For the full field, historical information and more on the ANWA, please click here.
Canadians set to compete at 2026 Drive, Chip, and Putt National Finals
Four Canadians will be competing in the 12th annual Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals taking place on Sunday, April 5 at Augusta National.
Yien Li of Aurora, Ont. will be competing in the Boys 7-9 division, Evelyn He of Toronto, Ont. will be competing in the Girls 10-11 division, Nathan Khera of Oakville, Ont. in the Boys 10-11 division and Audrey Lu of Woodbridge, Ont. in the Girls 12-13 division.
Prior to this year, 18 past Drive, Chip and Putt National Finalists have gone on to compete in ANWA including Canada’s own Savannah Grewal, who won the Girls 14-15 division in 2017 and went on to compete at ANWA in 2022. Vanessa Borovilos, the 2018 Girls 10-11 division champion will join the list this year.
To view all the 2026 finalists, please click here. The Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals will be broadcast on the Golf Channel beginning at 8:00 a.m. EDT. For more information, please visit drivechipandputt.com.
