Weeks after playing Augusta National for first time, Georgia native gets ANWA invite

Ava Merrill was beyond excited the morning an email from the Augusta National Golf Club popped up in her inbox.

“There’s no bad thing about an email from Augusta National, is there?” she asked. “That’s a pretty exciting one. You open your mailbox and see that, that’s a good thing.”

That’s when the Johns Creek native and current junior at Vanderbilt knew she had earned a spot in the elite 72-player field for the prestigious Augusta National Women’s Amateur, April 1-4. The field was officially announced on Wednesday.

“The email said I was going to be receiving a package from them,” she said. “And when the envelope came, it was pretty and it’s green and I was certainly excited when I saw it.”

Merrill, the reigning Georgia Women’s Amateur champion, got in the field by being ranked in the top 30 American players who weren’t included among the other qualification standards. Merrill and her father Matt had been keeping their eyes on the world rankings and knew she had a shot. The email and invitation offered confirmation.

Merrill, ranked No. 91 in the Official World Amateur Rankings, has two victories — the 2025 Georgia Women’s Amateur and the 2024 Women’s Florida Legacy Cup — over the last two seasons. She has nine top-10 finishes during those 28 events, including a pair of runner-up finishes at Vanderbilt in the Ron Moore Intercollegiate and the Mason Rudolph Women’s Championship. Merrill was a 2025 honorable mention All-American at Vandy when she finished 14th in the NCAA Women’s Championships.

Three weeks ago, Merrill was able to play Augusta National when the Vanderbilt team was invited to play there. She has watched the Masters for years, but had never been on the property, not even for a practice round.

“The whole time, it was just so cool,” she said. “Driving down Magnolia Lane, being in the locker room and seeing Annika Sorenstam’s locker, on the range hitting balls, when I was on the first tee. They even paused on the 16th tee to skip balls over the pond and onto the green, she recalled.

There were a few nerves. Merrill said she almost topped her drive on the opening hole, but steadied herself and played well. She noticed the elevation changes and admired the greens, which weren’t up to tournament speed but still pristine.

And she will never forget lunch in the clubhouse, especially “these macadamia nut cookies at lunch that were phenomenal. They were so warm and chewy.”

During tournament week, the first two rounds on Wednesday and Thursday are played at Champions Retreat in Augusta. The entire field then gets to play a practice round at Augusta National on Friday, with the top 30 and ties returning for the final round on Saturday.

Ava Merrill of Johns Creek rolls a putt during the 2025 Georgia Women's Amateur, which she won. (Kate Awtrey-King for the AJC)

The Augusta National Women’s Amateur began in 2019 and has rapidly become one of the signature events of women’s amateur golf, second only in prestige to the U.S. Women’s Amateur. In 2022, University of Georgia standout Jenny Bae lost in a playoff to world No. 1 Rose Zhang.

“It’s a smaller field and it’s growing in prestige every year,” Merrill said. “It’s certainly a big deal for everyone in the golf community and I’m super honored.”

The field is led by World No. 1 Kiara Romero of the University of Oregon and No. 2 Paula Martin Sampedro of Sanford. Carla Bernat Escuder of Spain, the 2025 champion who set a scoring record, has turned professional and is ineligible to compete, but runner-up Asterisk Talley, a Stanford commit, is back in the field. Elizabeth Rudisill, Merrill’s teammate at Vanderbilt, also received an invitation.

Merrill graduated from powerhouse Rivers Academy in Alpharetta and played on the boys team that won state GISA championships. She was named to the 2021 AJGA All-American team.

In USGA events, she qualified for the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur and reached the quarterfinals of the 2021 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball with partner LoraLie Cowart, who played at Georgia and Georgia Southern.