Bandon, Oregon, United States: Winning matches at the quarter-final stage of a USGA championship is always a difficult task, whether it's the talented opponent greeting you on the first tee or just the enormity of the moment. Add sustained winds from 15-20 miles per hour – with gusts into the mid-30s – and that challenge gets multiplied in spades.
For the second consecutive day, Bandon Dunes Golf Resort showed its teeth for Friday’s matches, making the quarter-finals as much about survival as the physical skills of the talented competitors.
In some cases, players faced as much as a five-club wind – number 63 seed Ella Scaysbrook, of Australia, hit a wedge into the par-four 11th hole in Wednesday morning’s 15-for-6 play-off. During her 5&4 quarter-final win over Canadian Taylor Kehoe she needed a seven-wood to reach the putting surface.
American Brooke Biermann, a 3&2 winner over Hong Kong’s Arianna Lau, the number 64 seed, went from a pitching wedge for her approach into the fifth in the Round of 64 on Wednesday to a three-wood on Friday.
Scaysbrook and Biermann will be joined in Saturday’s semi-finals by two other Americans, Stanford University rising senior Megha Ganne and University of Kansas rising junior Lyla Louderbaugh.
Scaysbrook, 110th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), has a chance to become only the second number 63 seed to take this title, joining Jensen Castle, who achieved the feat four years ago at Westchester Country Club.
Like Castle, Scaysbrook emerged from a play-off to garner one of the last spots in the draw. She also has plenty of experience playing in windy conditions, having competed many times in Melbourne, which has a similar climate to southwestern Oregon.
The 19-year-old got things rolling right from the outset, holing a long putt from the fringe at the opening hole. “It’s definitely something that you want to do on the first hole. [It] gives [you] a bit of confidence when you do something like that,” she said.
After a Kehoe birdie on seven trimmed her lead to one hole, Scaysbrook won three consecutive holes that included an eagle on the par-five ninth.
“Just go out tomorrow and see what happens,” said Scaysbrook, who hopes to join 2019 champion Gabriela Ruffels as a US Women’s Amateur winner from Australia. “I'm proud I made it this far anyway,” said Scaysbrook, whose passage to the last four has been helped by compatriots Sarah Jane Smith, an LPGA Tour player, and her husband, Duane, who have shared caddie duties for her throughout the week.
The Smiths live in Orlando, Florida and annually house players from their native country each summer as part of Golf Austarlia's development programme.
Ganne, 11th in the WAGR, eliminated world number six Eila Galitsky, of Thailand, 2&1. It was the third consecutive top-20 player Ganne has defeated en route to her second semi-final US Women’s Amateur appearance, but first since she was 15 years old in 2019. On Thursday, she eliminated world number 14 Anna Davis and number 20 Kary Hollenbaugh.
Louderbaugh, bidding to become the first left-handed winner in US Women’s Amateur history, took out world number one Kiara Romero, in a 20-hole thriller.
Six years ago, Ganne was an incredulous teen when she took Albane Valenzuela to 19 holes in the semi-finals at Old Waverly Golf Club. Much has changed since. Now the four-time Drive, Chip & Putt national finalist is a standout at Stanford, where she helped one of the country’s top programmes claim the 2024 NCAA title. A year ago, she had to withdraw from the US Women’s Amateur on the morning of the first round due to food poisoning.
“I’ve been to the semis before when I was like a baby,” said Ganne. “So, I don’t remember much. But I do remember that I wanted to be in the final. I didn’t get this last time, so definitely thinking about how to make my way there [this year].”
Against the long-hitting Galitsky, the 2023 Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific champion and the 2025 Southeastern Conference’s Freshman of the Year, Ganne played the equivalent of two-under-par golf (with match play concessions) over the 17 holes of the match. Birdies on six and seven gave her a three-up lead, one that Galitsky never could overcome, despite trimming the deficit to one-down with a winning par on 11.
“My golf coach (Katie Rudolph) and I have always made sure I know how to hit it underneath the wind, low, knock-down shots,” said Ganne, a member of the victorious 2022 USA Curtis Cup Team. “It’s a shot that I have a lot of comfort with. That’s pretty much the golf swing I was using for every approach that I hit out here today. Honestly, the whole way through I felt pretty good.”
Ganne was impressed with Galitsky’s power game. She said: “I was definitely blown away by how powerful of a player Eila is and how far she hits it. I think that was a little bit intimidating off the bat to be playing against.”
Louderbaugh, who got exempt into the championship by virtue of winning this summer’s Kansas Women’s Amateur by eight strokes, is having a coming-out party this week. Virtually unknown nationally and 249th in the WAGR, she showed tremendous composure against Romero, the 2023 US Girls’ Junior champion who rallied from two-down with two to play to force extra holes. Louderbaugh hit poor approach shots on both 17 and 18 – the latter into the penalty area right of the green – and seemed to have lost all the momentum against her decorated opponent.
On the 19th hole – the 10th at Bandon Dunes – she appeared to secure the victory only to see her 10-foot birdie putt have a hard lip-out. But on the 20th hole, the par-four 11th, Romero’s eight-iron approach was blocked to the right of the green and she was unable to convert her 15-footer for par. Louderbaugh, who won the NCAA Columbus (Ohio) Regional by eight strokes for her first collegiate title, calmly two-putted from 25 feet, holing a two-footer to close out the victory.
“It feels awesome,” said Louderbaugh, 20, who was ousted in the Round of 64 in her first US Women’s Amateur last year. “This is definitely one of the biggest moments of my career, and it’s super exciting to see my game [and] how it compares to the world number one. I’m there. Like I have what it takes to be right there with her. I’m really proud of myself for that.”
Louderbaugh will face Biermann in the first semi-final on Saturday morning. The two squared off last year in the Missouri Women’s Amateur, with the latter prevailing en route to the title.
On Friday, Biermann, who graduated from Michigan State in May and qualified for this year’s US Women’s Open at Erin Hills, overcame a chip-in eagle by Lau, an incoming freshman at Northwestern University, to rally yet again for a win.
Biermann stuck a beautiful approach on 11 to three feet for a winning birdie to tie the match, then won the next two holes to seize control. Winning pars at 15 and 16 ended Lau’s bid to become the first number 64 seed to win a USGA championship.
