Kylee Choi Wins the 126th Women's Western Amateur

One of the oldest championships in women's amateur golf has reached match play, as the 126th Women's Western Amateur continues this week at River Forest Country Club in Elmhurst, Illinois. Contested every year without interruption since 1901, the Women's Western Amateur has crowned a who's who of the women's game — Patty Berg, Louise Suggs, JoAnne Carner, Nancy Lopez, Beth Daniel, Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis and Ariya Jutanugarn all lifted the trophy as amateurs — and this year's field of 120 looks every bit worthy of that lineage.

The 126th Women's Western Amateur is complete. Pepperdine's Kylee Choi defeated Gonzaga's Grace Lee 2&1 in Saturday's championship match at River Forest to claim the W.A. Alexander Trophy — joining a champions' list that runs from Patty Berg, Louise Suggs and Nancy Lopez to Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis and Ariya Jutanugarn.

Below is complete coverage of the week, from Choi's breakthrough back through the full match play bracket and stroke-play qualifying.

Champion — Kylee Choi Breaks Through at River Forest

Saturday, July 11. Kylee Choi added one of amateur golf's most prestigious titles to her résumé, defeating Grace Lee 2&1 to win the 126th Women's Western Amateur. The 19-year-old from Murrieta, California, never trailed in the championship match, securing the biggest victory of her career and the W.A. Alexander Trophy.

"Maybe tomorrow when I wake up. It feels like a fever dream right now." — Kylee Choi, moments after the winning putt

The all–West Coast Conference final between Pepperdine's Choi and Gonzaga graduate Lee opened with seven consecutive halves before Choi seized control, winning the eighth and ninth to go 2 up. The margin held through a tense back nine. Choi looked poised to extend it at the 15th, but Lee chipped in for par to stay within two — a moment Choi seemed to sense coming, focusing on a two-putt after a gut feeling Lee would hole out.

Lee won the par-3 16th to draw within one, setting up a decisive par-5 17th. Both players reached the green in regulation with birdie looks from nearly identical spots. Lee's putt slid just right; Choi calmly ran through her routine and rolled in the winning birdie to close out the title.

The breakthrough carried weight. Choi was eliminated in the Women's Western Amateur quarterfinals a year ago and said she had never advanced past a tournament's semifinals — nor won an event in roughly six years.

"I really wanted redemption here. I haven't won a tournament in about six years, so I was not trying to regret anything." — Kylee Choi

Just before the trophy ceremony, Choi raced to FaceTime her mother, who was folding laundry back home in Murrieta. "She was bawling her eyes out. I was too," Choi said. Another name on her call list: childhood friend and USC standout Jasmine Koo, the 2023 Women's Western Amateur champion and No. 13 amateur in the world, whom Choi has been competing against since the two were nine.

Lee, the 2026 WCC Championship runner-up, left River Forest on a high after reaching her first Women's Western Amateur final — with her younger sister Lauren, a Seattle Pacific golfer, on the bag all week. She'll next play the U.S. Women's Amateur at The Honors Course in Tennessee and the Canadian Women's Amateur later this month.

"Those are the moments that you take away and that I'll really remember. I had a really fun week." — Grace Lee

Semifinals — College Rivals Lee and Choi Reach the Final

Friday, July 10. The 126th Women's Western Amateur will crown its champion in the next chapter of a familiar collegiate rivalry, as Grace Lee of Bellevue, Washington, and co-medalist Kylee Choi of Murrieta, California, meet Saturday for the W.A. Alexander Trophy. The two are hardly strangers: Lee, a Gonzaga graduate, and Choi, a rising Pepperdine sophomore, both earned All-West Coast Conference honors last season and finished among the top five individually at the 2026 WCC Championship.

Lee has been the tournament's most dominant match-play competitor, never needing more than 16 holes to close out a victory. She punched her ticket to the final by ending the run of top seed and co-medalist Raya Nakao, 4&3. A three-time All-WCC first-team pick at Gonzaga, Lee recently won the 2026 Washington Women's Amateur — defending her 2025 title — to earn a spot in next month's U.S. Women's Amateur at The Honors Course, and she'll play the Canadian Women's Amateur later this month. Her younger sister Lauren, a Seattle Pacific golfer, has caddied for her all week.

"She keeps my mind off the stress and does a really good job of keeping the energy low key and just having fun out there." — Grace Lee, on sister and caddie Lauren

Choi, ranked No. 72 in the world, took a far tougher road. Her semifinal against Kentucky's Cathryn Brown featured seven lead changes before Choi went 1 up at the 17th and sealed it with a par at the last. The win carried extra weight after her run ended in the quarterfinals a year ago — "I wanted redemption," she said — and she walked off the 18th green in tears, immediately calling her mother, who was following the online leaderboard from home. It was the first time she had reached the final of any tournament.

Choi is coming off a decorated freshman season at Pepperdine: WCC Freshman of the Year, honorable-mention All-America from both the WGCA and Golfweek, and a place on the WGCA Division I All-Freshman Team. She's also had some local help, with River Forest caddie Santiago on her bag keeping her calm through the week's tension.

Semifinal Results

Semifinals complete. The 18-hole championship match is Saturday, July 11, 7:30 a.m. CDT.

Quarterfinal Results

Sweet 16 — Co-Medalists March On, Quarterfinal Field Set

Thursday, July 9 — afternoon. Two of the three qualifying co-medalists are still standing. Top seed Raya Nakao (Oregon State) rolled through the day untroubled, following her 2&1 win over Kaitlyn Schroeder with a 4&3 dismissal of Kaili Xiao. Fellow co-medalist Kylee Choi (Pepperdine) matched her stride, ousting North & South runner-up Emilia Doran 2&1 before ending the run of Marion Miley Bracelet winner Alli Wiertel, 4&2.

The week's most dominant player may be Stanford's Anna Song, who has yet to see the 16th tee — a 6&5 win over Alexandra Gazzoli followed by a 5&3 defeat of Mia Clausen. Ranked No. 312 in the world, she credited a red-hot putter for the surge. She'll meet Choi in a marquee quarterfinal.

The bracket's most poignant story belongs to Kentucky's Cathryn Brown, who knocked out 2025 co-medalist Pimchompoo Chaisilprungruang 3&1 to reach the quarters. Brown plays a No. 4 golf ball each round in memory of her brother Cullen, who died in 2020 after battling osteosarcoma, and carries a marker inscribed "Enjoy the Walk," a phrase he often used.

"You're with them for six hours a day. That's the cool nature of golf. I come out here and just enjoy every single step I take." — Cathryn Brown

Amelie Zalsman (Wake Forest commit), who survived the longest match of the day — a 22-hole marathon over Bentley Cotton in the Round of 32 — then beat Kate Nakaoka 4&3 to book a quarterfinal date with Brown. Elsewhere, Northwestern's Rebecca Wang edged Raegan Denton 1 up to earn Nakao, while Gonzaga's Grace Lee and Princeton's Sarah Lim both advanced to complete the eight.

Friday Quarterfinals

Round of 16 Results

Round of 16 complete. Quarterfinals and semifinals Friday; the championship match is Saturday morning.

Round of 32 — Bracket Chaos as Sweet 16 Is Set

Thursday, July 9 — morning. Match play delivered its usual jolt of upsets at River Forest. Both of the Round 1 co-leaders bowed out early: qualifying medalist Raya Nakao survived, but fellow 5-under opener Kaitlyn Schroeder fell to Nakao herself, 2&1, while Zoe Cusack was ousted by Jaclyn LaHa, 3&2. Co-medalist Rachel Lee also went out, edged 1 up by Kate Nakaoka in one of the morning's tightest matches.

Co-medalist Kylee Choi advanced with a 2&1 win over Emilia Doran, and first-round leader Pimchompoo Chaisilprungruang rolled 4&3 past Alexa Saldana to move on. Marion Miley Bracelet winner Alli Wiertel kept the Illinois hopes alive with a 4&2 win over Katie Li, and Kaili Xiao needed extra holes, outlasting Malena Castro at the 19th.

Round of 32 Results

Round of 32 complete. Zalsman needed 22 holes to outlast Cotton in the day's longest match.

Qualifying Complete — Three Share Medalist Honors

Wednesday, July 8. The 36-hole stroke-play qualifier ended in a three-way tie at the top, with Raya Nakao (Oregon State), of Kaneohe, Hawaii; Rachel Lee of Australia; and Kylee Choi (Pepperdine), of Murrieta, California, each finishing at 6-under 138 to share medalist honors.

Lee made the biggest move of the day, tying the low round of stroke play with a 6-under 66 — seven birdies against a lone bogey — to climb from an opening 72 into a share of the lead. The 18-year-old, ranked No. 167 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, felt right at home on the parkland layout.

"Definitely was a good day out there and I gave myself a lot of chances. This course is actually pretty similar to back where I'm from, because of the sand and the grass." — Rachel Lee

Nakao, an Oregon State senior ranked No. 189, has made just one bogey across her 36 holes, following an opening 68 with a bogey-free 70 that she credited to a hot putter. Choi, a Pepperdine sophomore ranked No. 72 and a quarterfinalist here a year ago, closed with a bogey-free 68, hitting 17 greens with no three-putts all week.

One shot back, Grace Lee (Gonzaga) and Jaclyn LaHa (Virginia) share fourth at 5 under. First-round leader Pimchompoo "Pinky" Chaisilprungruang (UNC Charlotte), who had paced the field for a second straight year, slipped to a second-round 74 and sits T6 at 4 under alongside Mia Clausen — still comfortably inside the number and a threat once match play begins.

Alabama commit Alli Wiertel (Oswego, Ill.) finished in a seven-way tie for 19th at 1 under and earned the Marion Miley Bracelet, awarded annually to the player with the lowest combined stroke-play score across the Women's Western Junior and Women's Western Amateur.

The cut to the low 32 fell at even-par 144, with nine players contesting a playoff for the final seven spots. Among those who survived on the number were Round 1 co-leaders Zoe Cusack and Kaitlyn Schroeder, who each followed opening 67s with a 77. Match play begins Thursday with a double-round day: the Round of 32 in the morning and the Round of 16 in the afternoon.

There's a notable omen in the River Forest history books: the last time the championship was held here, in 2017, medalist honors went to Allisen Corpuz — who would go on to win the 2023 U.S. Women's Open.

Final Qualifying — Match Play Field (Low 32)

Qualifying complete. The low 32 at even-par 144 or better advance to match play, which begins Thursday with the Round of 32 (a.m.) and Round of 16 (p.m.).

Championship Format

The championship opens with 36 holes of stroke play across Tuesday and Wednesday, after which the low 32 advance to match play. A sudden-elimination playoff settles any tie for the 32nd and final spot. Match play begins Thursday with a double-round day — the Round of 32 in the morning and Round of 16 in the afternoon — followed by quarterfinals and semifinals Friday and the 18-hole championship match Saturday morning.

Week at a Glance

The Venue: River Forest Country Club

River Forest Country Club is a classic 1920s parkland design by Frank P. McDonald, later refined by A.W. Tillinghast. Tree-lined fairways, strategic water and some of Chicagoland's finest putting surfaces give the course a timeless championship character, and recent renovations — including rebuilt bunkers using the Better Billy Bunker system with Pro Angle sand — have the club in first-class condition for the week.

The Women's Western Amateur returns to River Forest for the first time since 2017, when Maddie Szeryk defeated Dylan Kim for the title. This is the championship's second stop in Elmhurst in the modern era before it moves on to Purdue's Kampen-Cosler Course in 2027 and Lake Shore Country Club in 2028.