11th U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball — Preview & Coverage
Charleston, S.C.
For the first time in five years, the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball will be decided without its defending champions in the field. Natalie Yen, who routed the bracket alongside Asia Young last May at Oklahoma City Golf & Country Club, is now a freshman at Texas A&M. Her partner went home to Bend without a defense partner, and 2024 champions Asterisk Talley and Sarah Lim are also absent from the 64-side draw.
That leaves the 11th playing of the championship—May 2–6 at the Rees Jones–designed Ralston Creek Course at Daniel Island Club, just outside historic Charleston—as the most wide-open four-ball field since the event debuted at Bandon Dunes in 2015. Thirteen sides arrive with full exemptions, including the team that came within three holes of last year’s title. The other 51 sides earned their way through 29 qualifying sites between August and December.
Eighteen-hole stroke-play rounds Saturday and Sunday will trim the field to 32 sides for match play. By Wednesday afternoon, two teenagers will likely be hoisting the trophy—or, if a 64-year-old former USGA champion has anything to say about it, defying a five-year teenage streak.
What you need to know
Daniel Island Club: Ralston Creek by the Numbers
Daniel Island Club sits on a marsh-laced peninsula a few miles north of downtown Charleston, with two championship layouts woven through tidal creeks and Lowcountry waterways. The Beresford Creek Course, designed by Tom Fazio, opened in 2000. Six years later, Rees Jones delivered Ralston Creek—the venue for this week’s championship—a course that hosted the 2009, 2010, and 2011 Korn Ferry Tour Championships and, in 2023, the U.S. Junior Amateur won by Bryan Kim.
At 6,501 yards from its championship tees, Ralston Creek will play as the third-shortest setup in event history—ahead of only Bandon Dunes (Pacific Dunes) in 2015 (6,005) and the closely matched Maridoe and Grand Reserve setups. The par-72 layout splits evenly into two par-36 nines, with five par-4s on the front and four on the back, and balances three par-3s and three par-5s across the round.
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Out |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Par | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 36 |
| Yards | 382 | 388 | 560 | 144 | 347 | 516 | 401 | 335 | 173 | 3,246 |
| Hole | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | In |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 36 |
| Yards | 408 | 514 | 174 | 417 | 372 | 138 | 381 | 360 | 491 | 3,255 |
Schedule of Play
Two days of stroke play kick off the championship Saturday and Sunday. The low 32 sides advance to a five-round match-play bracket that runs Monday through Wednesday, finishing with an 18-hole final. The schedule is identical to the format used since the championship’s 2015 debut.
| Date | Day | Round |
|---|---|---|
| April 30 | Thursday | Practice round |
| May 1 | Friday | Practice round |
| May 2 | Saturday | Stroke play, Round 1 |
| May 3 | Sunday | Stroke play, Round 2 — cut to low 32 sides |
| May 4 | Monday | Round of 32, match play |
| May 5 | Tuesday | Round of 16 & quarterfinals |
| May 6 | Wednesday | Semifinals & 18-hole championship match |
The Field: 13 Exempt Sides Lead the Way
The USGA accepted 382 side entries (764 individual golfers) for the 2026 championship—the third-largest entry total in event history, trailing only the record 436 in 2024 and 425 in 2021. Thirteen sides are fully exempt based on past USGA performance or Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking standing. The remaining 51 spots came through 18-hole qualifiers held at 29 sites between August 25 and December 11, 2025.
| Side | Hometown | Exemption Source |
|---|---|---|
| Savannah Barber / Alexa Saldana | Fort Worth, Texas / Mexico | 2021 champions |
| Athena Singh / Keira Yun | Morehead, Ky. / Lexington, Ky. | 2025 runners-up |
| Bella Dovhey / Sophia Dyer | Orlando, Fla. / St. Petersburg, Fla. | 2025 semifinalists |
| Savannah Cherry / Lauren Slatton | Brentwood, Tenn. / McMinnville, Tenn. | 2024 semifinalists |
| Sydney Hackett / Melanie Walker | Charlotte, N.C. / Southern Pines, N.C. | 2024 semifinalists |
| Chloe Johnson / Faith Johnson | — | 2025 quarterfinalists |
| Anya Mathur / Ailis Tribolet | Scottsdale, Ariz. / Chandler, Ariz. | 2025 quarterfinalists |
| Kate Tilma / Meg Tilma | Wichita, Kan. / Wichita, Kan. | 2025 quarterfinalists |
| Olivia Duan / Catherine Rao | — | WAGR top 400 |
| Ryann Honea / Emma Kaiser Bunch | — | WAGR top 400 |
| Mary Miller / Sophie Linder | Savannah, Ga. / Carthage, Tenn. | WAGR top 400 |
| Jude Lee / Nikki Oh | Walnut, Calif. / Torrance, Calif. | WAGR top 400 |
| Lara Tennant / Ellen Port | Portland, Ore. / St. Louis, Mo. | WAGR top 400 |
Contenders to Watch
With Yen/Young and Talley/Lim out, the path to the trophy runs through a small handful of returning sides with deep four-ball experience—and a wildcard veteran duo whose presence reframes the conversation entirely.
Athena Singh & Keira Yun
Three holes from the 2025 trophy at Oklahoma City G&CC, the Kentucky teenagers return as the most credentialed side in the field. They led their semifinal from start to finish over Florida’s Dovhey/Dyer before running into a Yen/Young side that simply outdrove them all week. Singh told reporters in Oklahoma her biggest takeaway was learning to manage difficult course setups—exactly the kind of education that transfers to a Rees Jones championship test in coastal wind.
Bella Dovhey & Sophia Dyer
The Florida tandem grinded through one of the longest quarterfinal matches in event history a year ago—21 holes against the Leovao twins—before falling to Singh/Yun. Dyer described the format as a revelation, and the chemistry showed: nobody outside the eventual finalists pushed harder in the bracket. A return to coastal conditions in Charleston suits both players’ games.
Savannah Cherry & Lauren Slatton
One of two returning 2024 semifinalist sides, the Tennessee pair survived a 20-hole quarterfinal over Kacey Ly and Celina Yeo at Oak Hills C.C. before bowing out in the semis. Two more years of college experience between them should harden the side’s match-play instincts in the second-day grind.
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Lara Tennant & Ellen Port
In a championship that has been won by a teenage duo for five consecutive years, Tennant and Port are the field’s built-in counter-narrative. Port is a seven-time USGA champion and a former Curtis Cup captain. Tennant is a multi-time U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur champion. They earned their spot through the WAGR top-400 exemption—an extraordinary credential at their ages—and their experience in coastal wind conditions makes them a serious match-play threat. The previous-oldest co-champion was 22-year-old Taylor Totland in 2017.
Savannah Barber & Alexa Saldana
The 2021 champions still hold the record for the largest winning margin in a championship match—5 and 4 over Bourdage/Weidenfeld at Maridoe Golf Club. They lost in the Round of 32 last year at Oklahoma City but enter Daniel Island as the only past champions in the field. With four years of college golf between them since their title, they are the field’s most physically mature side.
Sister Sides: Tilma & Johnson
Sister sides have a strong championship pedigree—the Craig sisters (Caroline and Catie) and Lehigh sisters (Katelyn and Lauren) tied for low 36-hole score in 2024 with matching 128s. Both Kate & Meg Tilma (2025 quarterfinalists) and Chloe & Faith Johnson (also 2025 QF) hold exemptions in 2026. Built-in chemistry, shared swing DNA, no need to manage personality dynamics—sister sides historically punch above their seeding.
Mary Miller & Sophie Linder
Both players are inside the WAGR top 400 and bring SEC-tested course-management to the four-ball format. Miller posted one of the lowest 36-hole scores at Oak Hills in 2024 (130) alongside Abby Newton. The home-region setting—Miller is from Savannah, an hour’s drive from Daniel Island—adds a comfort factor.
USGA History at Daniel Island Club
This will be the second USGA championship contested at Daniel Island Club, and the first conducted on the Ralston Creek layout for a women’s national title. The club’s prior USGA hosting—the 2023 U.S. Junior Amateur—produced one of the most memorable finals in recent junior golf, with Bryan Kim defeating New Zealand’s Joshua Bai 2 up after multiple weather delays pushed the match a full day past schedule. It was the first time in 21 years the U.S. Junior Amateur finished a day later than scheduled.
Daniel Island has also hosted three Korn Ferry Tour Championships (2009–2011), the 2018 Trusted Choice Big “I” National Championship, and the 2025 Bryson Invitational. This will be the second U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball contested in South Carolina, joining the 2017 edition at The Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach.
Past Champions: A Decade of Four-Ball
Since the championship debuted at Bandon Dunes in 2015, 18 different players have hoisted the trophy across 10 contested editions (the 2020 championship was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Erica Shepherd remains the only player to win both the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball (2019) and the U.S. Girls’ Junior (2017).
| Year | Champions | Margin | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Mika Liu & Rinko Mitsunaga | 4 and 3 | Bandon Dunes (Pacific Dunes), Ore. |
| 2016 | Hailee Cooper & Kaitlyn Papp | 19 holes | Streamsong (Blue), Fla. |
| 2017 | Alice Chen & Taylor Totland | 4 and 3 | Dunes G. & B.C., Myrtle Beach, S.C. |
| 2018 | Katrina Prendergast & Ellen Secor | 1 up | El Caballero C.C., Calif. |
| 2019 | Megan Furtney & Erica Shepherd | 2 and 1 | Timuquana C.C., Fla. |
| 2020 | Canceled (COVID-19 pandemic) | ||
| 2021 | Savannah Barber & Alexa Saldana | 5 and 4* | Maridoe G.C., Texas |
| 2022 | Thienna Huynh & Sara Im | 1 up | Grand Reserve G.C., Puerto Rico |
| 2023 | Gianna Clemente & Avery Zweig | 3 and 1 | The Home Course, Wash. |
| 2024 | Asterisk Talley & Sarah Lim | 4 and 2 | Oak Hills C.C., Texas |
| 2025 | Natalie Yen & Asia Young | 5 and 3 | Oklahoma City G&CC, Okla. |
How Four-Ball Match Play Works
Four-ball is a partner format where each player plays her own ball throughout the round. On every hole, the better of the two scores from each side is the side’s score. In match play, that score is then compared to the opposing side’s better score, and a hole is won, lost, or halved—same as singles match play.
The format is distinct from foursomes (alternate shot), where one ball is shared between partners. Foursomes punishes mistakes; four-ball rewards aggression. A side can leverage one player’s strengths—say, a longer hitter on par-5s—without putting the other partner’s tee shot at risk. The winning side is typically the one that consistently posts birdies, especially on reachable par-5s and short par-4s.
At Daniel Island, look for sides to be aggressive on the par-5s 3 (560), 6 (516), 11 (514), and 18 (491), as well as the short par-4s 5 (347) and 8 (335). The par-3s, particularly the 174-yard 12th and 138-yard 15th, will set up key match-play moments where one well-struck iron can flip a hole.
What’s on the Line
Beyond gold medals and a year’s custody of the trophy, the winning side earns a substantial competitive runway:
- A 10-year exemption from qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, provided the side remains intact and amateur
- Exemption for each player into the 2026 U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn.
- Exemptions into the 2026 U.S. Girls’ Junior, U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, and U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur (if age-eligible)
- Names inscribed on a plaque in the Hall of Champions at the USGA Golf Museum in Liberty Corner, N.J.
The runner-up side and both semifinalist sides also earn multi-year exemptions back into the championship, provided their pairings remain intact.
Daily Coverage Hub
AmateurGolf.com’s on-the-ground coverage from Daniel Island will populate this section daily through May 6. Bookmark this page for round wraps, leaderboard analysis, match-play brackets, and player features.
Future U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Sites
- 2027: Farmington Country Club, Charlottesville, Va. (May 15–19)
- 2028: Blessings Golf Club, Johnson, Ark. (May 13–17)
- 2029: Desert Mountain Club, Scottsdale, Ariz. (May 12–16)
- 2030: Erin Hills, Erin, Wis. (May 18–22)
- 2035: The Country Club of York, Pa. (May 19–23)
- 2037: Bandon Dunes Golf Resort, Ore. (TBD)
The 11th U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball arrives at a moment of unusual openness. The defending champions are gone. The 2024 champions are gone. Thirteen credentialed sides will arrive at Daniel Island with reasonable expectations of reaching the weekend, and a sixty-something pair of USGA legends will play 36 holes alongside teenagers chasing their first national title.
By Sunday afternoon, 32 sides will be left. By Wednesday evening, only one. Daniel Island has a way of producing unexpected finals—Bryan Kim’s rain-delayed 2023 Junior Amateur win unfolded across 32 holes—and four-ball, with its built-in volatility and aggression incentive, will only amplify that pattern. AmateurGolf.com’s on-the-ground reporting begins Saturday.
Coverage of the 2026 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship is produced by AmateurGolf.com. Updates begin May 2 and continue daily through the championship match May 6. All championship and player photographs courtesy USGA / Ted Pio Roda.
