San Francisco: American golfer of Indian origin Megha Ganne finished a creditable Tied-14th at the US Women’s Open Championship here.
As Megha fell by the wayside with a final round 77, Filipina Yuka Saso overcame back-to-back double bogeys early in the round to make the playoff before going on to become the first player from the Philippines to win a golf major.
Earlier she shocked the big names in women’s golf by taking the lead in the first round of the US Women’s Open.
The high school student is the first amateur in 15 years to do so since Jane Park achieved the feat in Newport Country Club in 2006, two years after Ganne was born.
She was in sole lead at 5-under before she dropped a shot at the 18th to fall into a share of the lead.
Ganne shared the lead with English professional Mel Reid at The Olympic Club’s Lake Course where the women played a Major for the first time.
The New Jersey girl, Ganne, had come into her second US Open the hard way as she won a three-way play-off to gain one spot last month.
She had earlier played the US Open in 2019 and missed the cut. She is hoping to go to Stanford for college after finishing high school.
Ganne, whose parents Sudha and Hari are first-generation migrants, backed her interest in golf and she also revealed that she had a couple of good conversations with Brooks Koepka, who has won the US Open for men twice.
Ganne’s resume includes starts at the 2017 US Women’s Amateur, the 2018 US Women’s Four-Ball Championship and the 2019 the US Women’s Open in Charleston. She is also a four-time-finalist at the Drive, Chip and Putt National Championship at Augusta National.
