Baba Drawn Alongside World Number One Zhang

Augusta, Georgia, United States: Japan’s Saki Baba has been drawn with World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) number one Rose Zhang in a blockbuster grouping in the opening round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur (ANWA).

Reigning US Women’s Amateur champion Baba is currently third in the WAGR.

Completing a formidable trio alongside Zhang and Baba is Spain’s Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, the 2022 World Junior Girls’ champion and seventh in the WAGR.

The 72-strong field includes 41 international players, all listed within the top-200 in the WAGR.

Among them are the past three winners of the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) – Japan’s Mizuki Hashimoto (2021), Chinese Taipei’s Tiffany Huang Ting-hsuan (2022) and Thai Eila Galitsky (2023).

Hashimoto, winner of January’s Australian Amateur in which Baba was runner-up, will be in the company of Sweden’s Ingrid Lindblad, the world number two, and Korean Park Bo-hyun.

ANWA debutant Huang is alongside American duo Anna Morgan, a Furman University senior, and Texas Christian University graduate Sabrina Iqbal.

Huang has posted top-10 finishes in three of her four WAGR starts in 2023, including fifth in the Queen Sirikit Cup in the Philippines in February and ninth in her WAAP title defence at Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) three weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Galitsky, who only secured her starting spot following her WAAP victory at SICC, is also drawn with two Americans, Phoebe Brinker and Maisie Filler.

Another intriguing pairing sees Kim Min-sol, runner-up to Galitsky in Singapore and a member of the victorious Korean team at the Queen Sirikit Cup, with American Jensen Castle and Spain’s Carolina Lopez-Chacarra.

New Zealand’s Fiona Xu and China’s Zhang Yahui are in the same flight as are Australian Justice Bosio and Japan’s Nika Ito while her compatriot Yuna Araki and Lim Ji-yoo of Korea also set out together.

Much attention will also be focused on 19-year-old Tsubasa Kajitani who became the first international ANWA champion and the first winner from Japan at Augusta National in any tournament with her play-off victory over Wake Forest's Emilia Migliaccio in 2021. The week after Kajitani’s triumph, Hideki Matsuyama won The Masters Tournament.

The first 36 holes of the fourth edition of the ANWA will be contested over two days (March 29-30) on the Island and Bluff nines at Champions Retreat Golf Club. The entire field will then play Augusta National for an official practice round on Friday (March 31). The final round will take place at Augusta National on Saturday (April 1) and will feature the leading 30 players and ties who make the cut.