GALLOWAY, NJ – Megha Ganne sure looks like an LPGA Tour player. At first glance, she could easily pass for an LPGA cardholder who grinds for LPGA titles every week. But she’s actually a 17-year-old local high school student playing on a sponsorship exemption.
She has played in some of the best junior golf events and graduated from the US Women’s Open as a low amateur in June. On a cool Saturday morning, she put on a Junior Solheim Cup jacket and had a matching USA bag with her.
When it got warm, she wore a light green shirt and white pants as well as a white Nike hat – the typical modern Tour-Pro look. The Stanford ball tag on her hat indicated where she is likely to become a college golf superstar starting next fall.
Gahne was 2 under through 27 holes within the cut line, but a six over 40 on the second nine resulted in a fall on the leaderboard and a missed cut after rounds 70 and 76. Gahne kept her mindset the whole time and was laughing and smiling with her caddy on the 18th tee.
Gahne certainly has the distance to compete with the longest LPGA Tour players – she has averaged 260 yards from the tee this week – but struggled on the greens on Saturday. Gahne learned a lot about her game despite the missed cut.
“Just a lot of details about my game that I found out, that show up again and again under pressure and in such situations. So I have some things that I want to work on over the winter and be better back next year, ”said Gahne.
She has a lot of things to do, but she’s still confident about some parts of her game.
“I worked a lot on my driving style and my ball hit. I definitely see that it’s more like what these girls had out here. So definitely good things, ”said Gahne.
Ganne was excited to play with Maria Fassi who shot 67 and is currently 13th.
“I was thrilled to see that I was with her. I like to channel their kind of energy every time I play. And she told me on one of the tea boxes that she only sees herself a little better in me. And that’s the best you can hear from one of your idols, ”said Gahne.
Gahne had a lot of support this week at her event in her hometown, once a fan yelled that Homdel loves her. She spent a lot of time after the round signing autographs and taking photos, some young girls came up to her and said that she inspired her.
Overall, Gahne goes with confidence. She said Fassi gave her a glimpse into life on the tour and believes that one day she could imagine playing on the LPGA tour.