EVANS, Ga. (WJBF) – University of South Carolina junior Hannah Darling leads by one after the opening round of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at Champions Retreat Golf Club.
Darling (-6) shot 66 to take a one-shot lead over Francesca Fiorellini (-5) of Italy and South Carolina commit Eila Galitsky (-5) of Thailand. Darling, a two-time First Team All-American is making her third ANWA appearance. She most recently won the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate and finished runner-up at the Valspar Augusta Invitational in March.
Ingrid Lindblad (-5), the world’s top-ranked amateur, leads a group of three that are one shot off of the lead. She finished one shot behind the winner in 2021 and 2022.
Fiorellini and Galitsky also shot 67 to join Lindblad at -5.
“I have put a lot of hard work into this, for this tournament, but I wasn’t expecting this round, but I’m very happy, and let’s see what the next round reserves,” said Fiorellini, a UCLA commit making her ANWA debut.
“I just wanted to put myself in a good position for me not to be super stressed tomorrow about making the cut, and I think I did just that,” said Galitsky.
The opening round was delayed for an hour by inclement weather in the Augusta area, with tee times beginning at 9 a.m. Clouds and rain in the morning gave way to sun and wind in the afternoon. The tournament serves as the official beginning of golf-related events leading up to the Masters Tournament and has become one of the crown jewels of the amateur women’s golf schedule.
The field includes players from 17 different countries and six continents. 59 U.S. colleges are represented. Stanford has the most representatives from a single school with nine.
The first two rounds are being played at Champions Retreat before the field of 72 is cut to the top 30 plus ties. The entire field will play a practice round at Augusta National Golf Club on Friday before the final round on Saturday.
WJBF will have live reports from Champions Retreat during newscasts throughout the day on Wednesday. Golf Channel will provide live coverage of the first and second rounds beginning at 1:30 p.m. both days.
For the full scoreboard, click here.
Lauren Kim of Canada plays her stroke from the No. 1 tee during round one of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at Champions Retreat Golf Club, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. 
Jensen Castle of the United States plays her stroke from the No. 3 tee during round one of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at Champions Retreat Golf Club, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. 
Members of the Greenbrier High School Girls Golf Team watch the opening tee stroke on the No. 1 tee during round one of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at Champions Retreat Golf Club, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. 
An Augusta National Women’s Amateur flagstick blows in the breeze before the start of round one of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at Champions Retreat Golf Club, Wednesday, April 3, 2024. 
Megan Schofill of the United States plays her stroke from the No. 15 tee during round one of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at Champions Retreat Golf Club, Wednesday, April 3, 2024.
This story will be updated throughout the day.
