After Conquering the U.S. Women's Amateur, What's Next For Megha Ganne?

"I’ve never been tempted to turn pro early," writes Stanford senior and the 2025 U.S. Women's Amateur champion Megha Ganne in an open letter for the USGA.

In a time where our young athletes are expected to make decisions about their futures in this sport as soon as they graduate high school (or even earlier)—this is a refreshing statement to hear—and not at all surprising from the always assured and poised Ganne.

I've had the delight of watching her up close twice this year—at the Augusta National Women's Amateur and at the U.S. Women's Amateur at Bandon Dunes—and I walked away from those instances completely blown away by the the 21-year-old's composure.

Related: Get to Know the 2025 U.S. Women's Amateur Champion, Megha Ganne

Her golf has always been solid, she proved that when played in a Sunday final group of the U.S. Women's Open, with Lexi Thompson no less, at the Olympic Club when she was only 17. One's debut on the biggest stage in women's golf doesn't get any more formidable than that. (She finished T-14, by the way.)

But her mindset is everything. It's what allows her to play with the confidence of a hall of fame, veteran even though she's just getting started. "I’m very emotionally detached from my results, good or bad," she shares. "Like winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur: It was the best thing ever, it was a dream come true, a goal realized, but if I hadn’t won it, my month after would’ve looked pretty similar.

That mindset gives you the freedom to play really well and it gives you the freedom to play really badly. I have no fear of playing poorly. That’s an asset."

It's no secret that Ganne has blossomed during her time on The Farm. She played a crucial part on Stanford's national championship winning team in 2024. She's played in the Curtis Cup and the Junior Solheim Cup, competed at ANWA five times, and of course the captured Women's Am title.

But through it all, it's felt like Ganne has always enjoyed the game, not rushing through these accolades, but cherishing them. She appears to have found that balance between being an elite athlete at one of the best universities in the world, while still being a college kid that loves tailgating and hanging with her friends.

"I’ve gotten pretty much everything I could have asked for out of Stanford golf," Ganne continued in the letter. "We have a national championship; I would love to win another, but I’ve lived every day to the fullest that I’ve been at Stanford, so if it were all over right now, I’d be satisfied. I’m in a good place, where I will definitely enjoy this year, but I’m also looking forward to the next step."

Currently ranked as the fourth best women's amateur in the world, we can expect Ganne to turn her attention to the pro circuit once her senior year is complete.

She told Skratch's own Dan Rapaport when he visited the Stanford campus that we can count on her pro debut at Riviera next summer, the site of the 2026 U.S. Women's Open—a spot she secured with her win at Bandon Dunes.

Two of Ganne's former Stanford teammates Rose Zhang and Rachel Heck, have each gone down different paths which has likely played a part in this guessing game for what the senior will do.

Most notably, Zhang announced that she was turning pro and a week later won her very first LPGA event. Zhang is still enrolled and is finishing her degree while playing on Tour. Meanwhile Heck chose a much different route, maintaining her amateur status because at the end of the day, her goals changed, golf wasn't the end all be all anymore. If you haven't read it already (or even if you have), I implore you to read Heck's letter she wrote for No Laying Up explaining why she didn't go down the professional route, despite being one of the best collegiate golfers in Stanford history.

With Ganne, I really admire the path she's choosing for herself. There's building blocks to becoming a professional athlete—there's no linear path but I do believe that their are best practices for setting up your mind, body, and game for success. The life of a professional golfer isn't easy, and I don't think she's naive about that fact. "I’m just doing what I can to be as prepared as possible. I would put my best golf game out there against anybody. But I think the challenge of taking that next step isn’t fully about where your peak is or your potential.

It’s raising that floor where you have enough endurance to play year-round golf that’s solid and taking care of your body and managing your fatigue so that you can be there week after week. I think the stuff the casual observer doesn’t see becomes the hardest part," she says in concluding the letter.

So what comes next?

Well you better believe that Stanford, who is the top-ranked team in women's college golf, will continue to put themselves in contention to will another title. Ganne will likely give it one more go at ANWA, and come summer, we'll be seeing her professional debut. So get her on your radar—she's already on ours.