Biermann, Ganne to Meet in 36-Hole Final at Bandon Dunes

Semifinal Saturday at the 125th U.S. Women’s Amateur turned into Drama at the Dunes.

For only the third time in the championship’s illustrious history – and the second time in seven years – both semifinal matches went extra holes and featured wild comebacks.

Stanford University rising senior Megha Ganne, of Holmdel, N.J., rallied from 4 down with seven holes to play to eliminate No. 63 seed Ella Scaysbrook, of Australia, in 19 holes.

Brooke Biermann, of Wildwood, Mo., a 2025 Michigan State graduate competing in her final amateur competition before entering LPGA Tour Qualifying School this fall, also needed 19 holes to eliminate University of Kansas rising junior Lyla Louderbaugh, of Buffalo, Mo.

It was the third extra-holes match of the week for Biermann, who played 41 holes of match play on Thursday in eliminating a pair of opponents. Louderbaugh, bidding to become the first left-handed champion in U.S. Women’s Amateur history, was 3 down with three to play.

For the third consecutive day, breezy conditions permeated Bandon Dunes, although the gusts didn’t get into the 30s like they did for Friday’s quarterfinals.

Biermann, 22, and Ganne, 21, will now square off in Sunday’s 36-hole final. The two finalists are exempt into the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally at The Riviera Country Club, in Pacific Palisades, Calif., but the runner-up must be an amateur. The champion has the option of competing as a professional. The winner also will be an automatic selection to the 2026 USA Curtis Cup Team for the Match at Bel-Air Country Club, in Los Angeles, a week after the Women’s Open.

Ganne, competing in her seventh U.S. Women’s Amateur and No. 11 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking®/WAGR®, looked to be the latest victim of Scaysbrook, who was bidding to become the second 63rd seed to win this championship (Jensen Castle in 2021) and the second from her country to hoist the Robert Cox Trophy (Gabi Ruffels). When Scaysbrook rolled in a 40-footer on No. 11 to regain her 4-up advantage, all the momentum was with the 19-year-old.

“I won't say exactly what I was thinking, but you can imagine,” said Ganne, who last made the semifinals as a 15-year-old in 2019, where she lost in 19 holes to then-Stanford rising senior Albane Valenzuela. I think I was a little bit flustered in that moment because I felt like I was gaining some momentum after I went back to 3 down on 10.

“I reminded myself that I have literally won so many matches from 2 down, 3 down, 4 down. Matches start on the back nine no matter what the score [says]. [I] reminded myself of that and how many times I've done it. Today is no different.”

While Ganne took the par-3 12th when Scaysbrook made a double bogey, her opponent opened the door for Ganne on the par-5 13th hole when she missed a 4-foot birdie putt that would have tied the hole. Now only 2 down, Ganne suddenly had more pep in her gait, and she eventually tied the match with a par on 17 when Scaysbrook’s approach found the penalty area. 

“That was the first putt I had seen her miss all day and it wasn't that short,” said Ganne of Scaysbrook. “Her putting was beyond impressive. Any time she was around the green or near it I knew I could mark her down for a two there.”

Matching bogeys on 18 after both hit poor drives sent the match to the par-4 19th, No. 10 at Bandon Dunes. Scaysbrook inexplicably sent her approach from inside 100 yards over the green, leading to a bogey and a conceded birdie for Ganne.

“Just really proud of myself now that I … can compete with the best,” said Scaysbrook, No. 110 in WAGR who got the second-to-last spot in the match-play draw following Wednesday’s 15-for-6 playoff.

Ganne said she flashed back to that 19-hole defeat to Valenzuela, then a much more established player who had advanced to the championship match two years earlier at San Diego Country Club. Six years later, it’s Ganne who now owns that experience, having battled through injuries and other adversity. A year ago, she had to withdraw at the last minute from the U.S. Women’s Amateur due to food poisoning. She also had a heartbreaking disqualification in her final U.S. Girls’ Junior start in 2022 for signing an incorrect scorecard.

She also did not make the 2024 USA Curtis Cup Team after playing in 2022 at Merion Golf Club.

“I wasn't flashing back exactly to the shots I was hitting, but I was thinking about how at the time, I was 15, I was playing Albane, who was a senior at Stanford,” said Ganne. “At the time I thought the world of her. And if you told yourself at 15 this is where you would be, you would be pretty proud of yourself. I was like, you're exactly the type of person that could make this happen right now. Let's just go do it.”

Biermann, No. 112 in the WAGR, graduated with a degree in human resources from MSU, but this week it’s been all about her theatrics with three extra-hole matches and two decided by 3 and 2. Biermann appeared as if she would make it two consecutive 3-and-2 decisions until Louderbaugh, the 2025 Kansas Women’s Amateur champion, had other thoughts. A Biermann bogey on 16, the result of a poor pitch shot from left of the green, started the comeback.

Then Louderbaugh, who secured her first collegiate victory in May at the NCAA Columbus (Ohio) Regional, rolled in birdie putts of 15 and 35 feet on Nos. 17 and 18 to send the match to extra holes. In both cases, Biermann had closer birdie attempts to end the match.

“I'm super proud of myself,” said Louderbaugh, who finished second to Biermann in last year’s Missouri Women’s Amateur. “[Proud of] how I was able to manage myself on the golf course and really give every shot my best. Everything that I had.”

Louderbaugh suffered the same fate as Scaysbrook on the first extra hole with her approach going over the green. Biermann was able to calmly two-putt for par to advance.

“I leaned hard on those two [previous matches] I went into extra holes,” said Biermann, who reached the semifinals of last month’s Women’s Western Amateur but had never made a cut in any of her five previous USGA championship starts, including this year’s U.S. Women’s Open. “I stayed calm through those and just relaxed.

“I got to do that [again] today. Coming down the stretch she threw everything she had, which was great golf, and with that, you just have to stay calm and also like I guess only focus on what I can control. Because I can’t control what she's doing, so I just tried to focus on hitting good golf shots, which I think I still did.”

Eleven years ago, Biermann’s parents took her and younger sister, Ashleigh, to the U.S. Open at Pinehurst. It was at that event she decided that golf was something she wanted to seriously pursue.

On Sunday, she’ll get the opportunity against Ganne to claim the most prestigious title in women’s amateur golf.

Thirty-six holes over a challenging test.

More drama at the Dunes awaits.   

What’s Next

Sunday’s 36-hole championship match will commence at 9:45 a.m. PDT and will continue after the lunch break at a time to be determined. Golf Channel has live coverage of the afternoon 18 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. EDT. Admission is free and the public is encouraged to attend.

Notable

• The two eliminated semifinalists – Lyda Louderbaugh and Ella Scaysbrook – each received bronze medals and are exempt into the 2026 and 2027 championships at The Honors Course and Pinehurst Resort & Country Club (Course No. 2), respectively.
  
  
• Ella Scaysbrook never trailed in any of her five matches this week until losing on the 19th hole to Megha Ganne, a span of 77 holes. She had not played Nos. 16-18 since Tuesday’s second and final round of stroke play.
  
  
• The average WAGR rank of the five opponents the two finalists have defeated this week is quite significant. Megha Ganne’s five foes had an average WAGR of 83.4, while Brooke Biermann’s five opponents averaged 114.6.
  
  
• So far this week, Brooke Biermann has played 92 holes in match play to 86 for Megha Ganne.
  
  
• Brooke Biermann would be the first Michigan State golfer to win a women’s USGA championship. James Piot won the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont C.C. Stanford has produced numerous champions, including Rose Zhang in 2020 (U.S. Women’s Amateur) and 2021 (U.S. Girls’ Junior) as well as Tiger Woods’ nine USGA titles.
  
  
• Stanford assistant women’s coach Demi Runas flew in to support Megha Ganne.
  
  
• While Brooke Biermann graduated from Michigan State in May with a degree in human resources, Megha Ganne, who performed in several theatrical musicals/plays prior to matriculating at Stanford, is majoring in science, technology and society (STS).
  
  
• A couple of fellow Australian teammates who competed this week, including Jazy Roberts, stuck around to root on Ella Scaysbrook.
  
  
• With Lyla Louderbaugh being eliminated, no local Bandon Dunes caddies remain in the field. Robin Oliver, who has been looping at the resort for the past decade, worked his third USGA championship this week, but had his best finish. Bandon Dunes caddies had won eight of the previous nine USGA championships at the resort.
  
  
• Finalists Megha Ganne and Brooke Biermann each qualified for the 2018 Drive, Chip & Putt national finals at Augusta National Golf Club in the Girls’ 14-15 division. Ganne, who competed in four finals, finished fourth and Biermann fifth.

Quotable

“I'm very thankful college golf has trained me for 36-hole days. Definitely coming into freshman year I was like, what the heck? These are so long and stuff. Playing in those the last four years has definitely helped me, and probably even the one 36-hole day a couple days ago playing in college helped me. I know that mentally and physically I can handle it, so like it's just you’ve got to mentally check in. It's similar to college.” – Brooke Biermann

“If I'm not happy, I don't know why I would be doing this. I mean, all I'm thinking, like walking up 18 there are two little cute deer babies and I think their mom; I was more focused on that, probably my fault. But [it was] very cute and to me I was like what a special place [Bandon Dunes is]. Whatever happens, happens. I'm here, I'm with my family. Like feel like I already won in a sense with like what a great week I've had. It's all perspective I guess.” – Biermann on her thoughts coming down 18 against Lyla Louderbaugh with a 1-up lead

“I told my dad (Bill Biermann), I just need to get over that hurdle, and the hurdle was the cut. I've played in several match play events and I've gotten to the semifinals multiple times. I love match play. Like that's where the fun begins. So I believe that I could do this.” – Biermann, who had not qualified for match play in her four previous USGA amateur starts  

“I think good fields really motivate me. Strong players. USGA course setups, where they chose the venues, how difficult it is and what a test it is mentally and strategy-wise in your golf game. I think those always bring out a lot of good players that have a lot of love for the game and love the grind. I think they're just great championships.” – Megha Ganne

“I've played in a lot of these but I'm really impressed by the level of play that I feel like has gotten better in the last two, three years. Like I played with [2024 USA Curtis Cuppers] Asterisk Talley and Catherine Park in stroke play and three top-20 players this week [in match play]. Just seeing the amount of [quality] shots, wow, I would be impressed if a PGA Tour pro hit that. I don't know if that's being captured on TV or by the scores. Some of the scores are ridiculous, and I'm really impressed with the state of all the golf I've seen this week. I think it's been really fun to watch.” – Ganne  

David Shefter is a senior staff writer at the USGA. Email him at dshefter@usga.org.