The 2023 Augusta National Women's Amateur will almost certainly be the most competitive edition of the tournament yet. Following its debut in 2019, as well as tournaments in 2021 and 2022, the first women's major of the year -- the Chevron Championship -- has been moved away from the weekend of the ANWA, freeing up elite amateurs to focus on three days in Augusta.
All 72 players in this year's ANWA field are ranked in the top 200 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings, and 20 (!) countries will be featured at this year's edition with the United States and Japan placing the most golfers in the field.
The 2021 champion, Tsubasa Kajitani, who missed last year's tournament will be back, and she'll be joined by 2022 champ, Anna Davis. Davis is ranked No. 9 in the WAGR, and all 10 of the top 10 players in the WAGR will play in this week's tournament, including world No. 1 Rose Zhang.
Zhang, if you haven't heard of her, is by far the best amateur in the world. The Stanford sophomore has won six of her last seven amateur events and has been victorious 12 times in the last two years. She set the NCAA scoring record as a freshman, averaging 69.68 strokes per round and won the national championship as a freshman. In 10 starts at Stanford last year, she notched 10 top-10 finishes.
The only thing she hasn't accomplished is winning the ANWA, which she is the favorite to do this time around.
The Augusta National Women's Amateur will be played at Champions Retreat in Augusta on March 29-30 with the final round played on April 1 at Augusta National Golf Club.
Key Players
Yuna Araki -- Japan
Amari Avery -- United States
Saki Baba -- Japan
Anna Davis -- United States
Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio -- Spain
Megha Ganne -- United States
Tsubasa Kajitani -- Japan
Rachel Kuehn -- United States
Ingrid Lindnlad -- Sweden
Carolina Lopez-Chacarra -- Spain
Emilia Migliaccio -- United States
Sayaka Teraoka -- Japan
Rin Yoshida -- Japan
Rose Zhang -- United States
Schedule
All times Eastern
Wednesday, March 29 -- Round 1 Champions Golf Retreat at 7:45 a.m.
Thursday, March 30 -- Round 2 Champions Golf Retreat at 7:45 a.m.
Friday, March 31 -- Day off for practice at Augusta National
Saturday, April 1 -- Round 3 at Augusta National Golf Club at 8 a.m.
Format
The top 72 compete in 36 holes of stroke play at Champions Retreat in Augusta before the field is reduced to the top 30 for the final round at Augusta National. Because there are so few holes played over the first two rounds, this often leads to intense, exciting playoffs on Thursday afternoon where golfers are playing for a pot in the final 30 at Augusta National. Scores carry over into the third round and a champion is determined from there.
TV Times
All times Eastern
Wednesday, March 29 -- Golf Channel from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 30 -- Golf Channel from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 1 -- NBC from 12-3 p.m.
