In Golfweek’s and Golf Channel’s 2025-26 NCAA Division I women’s golf preseason rankings, the Stanford Cardinal yet again took the top spot.
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Welcome back to Golf Thursday, golf fans.
The 2024-25 NCAA Division I runner-up tops the list of my rankings, too. Let’s just say it seems like the smart choice. As we get ready for the fall stretch of the 2025-26 college golf season, let’s take a look at the top three teams from those two lists and my own list.
Cameron Jourdan, Brentley Romine and I agree that Stanford deserves to sit atop the preseason rankings. Anne Walker’s tenure with the Cardinal has been nothing but dominant. They’ve made match play at the NCAA DI National Championship each year since they won their first team title in 2015. Last year’s second-place finish to Northwestern in the championship match will only light a fire under the returning Cardinal squad.
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Let’s talk about that squad for a minute. Walker will see all seven experienced golfers return to her roster for the 2025-26 season, plus two incoming first-years. The veteran starters have each had undeniably good offseasons.
Megha Ganne strides into her senior season with the Cardinal after winning the 2025 U.S. Women’s Amateur. Paula Martín Sampedro, who won the 122nd Women’s Amateur Championship, the European Ladies Amateur Championship and took over the World No. 2 Amateur spot this summer, has all the momentum going into her junior year. Sophomore Meja Örtengren won her first title on the Ladies European Tour at the Hills Open. Sophomore Andrea Revuelta climbed to No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings with a third-place finish at the European Ladies Amateur Championship. And we know that senior Kelly Xu is always going to bring the experience, energy and music to every tournament.
There’s no denying that Stanford will be great this season. There’s also no denying that the team will continue to be great, even after Ganne and Xu have graduated and (very possibly) moved on to the professional level (for example, 16-year-old star Asterisk Talley has just committed to the Cardinal’s class of 2027). So, putting the three-time national champions at No. 1 is pretty justified.
Here’s where the discrepancy begins. It’s easy to put the most dominant, dynamic and cohesive team in college golf at the top of your list, but how do we rank the rest? Romine puts Texas at No. 2, while Jourdan gives it to Oregon. I’m inclined to agree with Jourdan and go with Oregon in my second spot. There’s just no questioning the skill and leadership world No. 1 Kiara Romero brings to the 2025 Big Ten Conference champions.
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Texas has been quiet the last few seasons, but although their coaching and four returning starters put them above USC for Romine and Jourdan, I have to go with USC for my No. 3. They’re getting a fantastic addition in sophomore Elise Lee, who showed out in her first year for Northwestern in its 2025 National Championship win. She’s already making a mark in these early-season contests for the Trojans. Jasmine Koo, Catherine Park and Bailey Shoemaker are all household names in women’s amateur golf, so a good college team year is bound to happen.
Neither Jourdan nor Romine even scrapes the concept of the Northwestern Wildcats until No. 9 on Jourdan’s rankings and No. 13 on Romine’s. On my rankings, I would venture to put Northwestern at No. 6, just behind Texas at my No. 4 and Duke at my No. 5.
You have to give the defending champions some credit. Senior Dianna Lee, sophomore Hsin Tai Lin, and junior Ashley Yun are all returning to the lineup for the Wildcats, plus first-year Arianna Lau is set to make a huge impact. Lau is the highest-ranked recruit in Northwestern’s history, and she’s already helped the Wildcats to a T-3 position going into the final round of the Annika Intercollegiate. Sophomore Megan Meng is up there on this week’s leaderboard as well.
I think that if Northwestern can keep up this start to their fall season, they’ll be just as good a contender as they were last season. They shocked everyone last year because when you face Stanford, you’re a clear underdog (undercat?). The Wildcats were severely overlooked last year, and they’re being overlooked again this year.
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From a surface-level analysis, looking at other teams’ star-studded rosters, you’re not going to notice the names you see on the amateur leaderboards every week in the offseason. But looking at experience, composure and sheer talent from the best first-year Northwestern has ever onboarded, I think those ladies are bound to succeed this season. Sure, they might not win the national championship again, but it’s a severe understatement to not even consider them until the bottom half.
Keep an eye on your alma mater this college golf season, especially those Division II and III schools, and see how they tackle their fall invites. (Go Eastern Eagles!) See you next week, golf fans.
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Five at The IX: Quotes from defending champion Lydia Ko ahead of the 2025 Kroger Queen City Championship
2024 Kroger Queen City Championship winner Lydia Ko spoke to the media on Wednesday, Sept. 10, ahead of defending her title. Here are some snippets from that press conference.
THE MODERATOR: All right, very pleased to be joined by defending champion of the Queen City Championship presented by P&G, Lydia Ko. Lydia, welcome back to TPC River’s Bend. When you think back on your win last year, what sticks out the most?
LYDIA KO: Yeah, you know, obviously had a great final round. I didn’t even realize until I was watching the TV today that that was a course record here.
Yeah, you know, I think it’s a great golf course. The course dried up a lot from Monday to Sunday, just with the weather being really hot, so I feel like we got a little bit of everything.
It was, I think, extra special winning this one after the stretch I had in Europe, and it was my first tournament back after the Women’s Open, so I kind of proved it to myself that I don’t need to prove it to anybody else, that that wasn’t just a lucky stretch of three weeks.
But, yeah, you know, I won the U.S. Women’s Am in Ohio. I had multiple wins in Ohio state, so it was kind of nice to add to that collection.
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Q. Has the course changed from year to year?
LYDIA KO: Obviously, we played at I think Kenwood before we came to TPC River’s Bend, and the two golf courses are very different. I do think this year the course is not as dry as what it got to on the weekend of last year.
I don’t know if the team is planning to dry up the course as the week goes on. As of now, it’s not as dry, so definitely hitting longer clubs into the greens.
If it stays this way, I wouldn’t be surprised if the scores aren’t as low as it was.
Q. This field is usually stacked. What is it about this event and area that brings you and some of the bigger names on our Tour back here to Cincinnati?
LYDIA KO: This time of year, I think it’s a little bit easier with travel. We have a little bit of a break until our fall Asia Swing. Playing here and then in Arkansas, it’s not as difficult as going from maybe on the west coast to going somewhere in New Jersey.
So I think logistically it’s easier for us. It’s also the last few weeks leading up to our Asian swing again, so some people are trying to get into those stretch of events.
You know, each tournament counts going to CME, so it kind of goes both ways, where people, either if they’re comfortably in CME, might cruise and maybe only play a couple and no Asia. If you’re trying to work your way in, you’re trying to get as many points as you can.
It’s a great location. The golf course is great. The tournament organizers have always put on a good job. So it’s great to come to an event where we feel like there is a lot of support. And whether it’s the sponsors or the golf course or the local community, they are just excited to have us.
I think that makes us more excited to put on a show. It is that time of the year where people do kind of — there is a bit of a change in schedule, just kind of seeing how the next couple months is going to pan out.
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Q. You touched on this a moment ago. The time you won here last year. You described it as a fairytale. How do you feel coming back and what the year has been like since then?
LYDIA KO: Yeah, it’s been over a year since Paris and obviously St. Andrews. It’s gone by really quick. I honestly just got my Paris Olympic flags last week or a couple weeks ago. I was giving out to some of my team and the club reps that helped me out here. I was like, ‘I’m sorry, it’s like a year late.’
But it’s crazy to think it’s been a year. It’s crazy to think that even happened a year ago. Time goes by so fast, and maybe I wish I was playing more in that form then than now. But I think there is — that’s the thing about golf and the season. It’s just so long, and it’s really hard to be consistent week in, week out.
But that’s what we’re thriving for. I had my first top-10 finish in a few months in Canada, and that’s also a very special place for me in my career. So hopefully that will give me good momentum coming into this week. I’ve got my sponsors’ event in Korea for Hana Bank next week as well.
Yeah, it would be a great time of the year to ramp it up again. I’m excited to play in Korea for the International Crown with three very new teammates.
Yeah, it’s an exciting time. There is still — I’ve still got six kind of events to go, so still, so a lot of golf to be played. But I’m excited, and I feel like my game is not far off, and it’s just about dialing it in.
That’s the name of the game. It’s a game of inches and a couple shots here and there that can make a huge difference. Yeah, hopefully be able to just keep building the momentum and see where that puts me at the end of the year.
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Q. Your putter was red hot in Canada. What was the difference or what did you find that you can carry into this week?
LYDIA KO: I have no idea, but I was so excited that my putting was so good. I’ve been — like my driving has been decent. I’ve hit — my driving is normally the thing that puts me down, if anything.
But even when I missed the cut at Evian or wasn’t playing as well, I would hit between 9 to 11, 12 fairways out of 14, which is not bad; especially if you’re in the double digits, it’s pretty good.
But then I was still missing cuts, so like my iron game has not been as sharp, and my putting literally went out the window starting the week of Frisco. You know, that’s a part of my game that I kind of bank on a lot. I just worked hard with my putting coach, Chris, and Paul out there, and Holton.
But sometimes you do everything right and it doesn’t fall. I honestly don’t even know what the difference was in Canada, but I was so excited. I told like all my coaches, and I called Paul at Scotty Cameron. I had the best putting week.
So, yeah, it’s exciting. I have a new putter this week, but it’s the same putter. It’s the same putter; it’s just black instead of being brown.
So I tried so many putters in the off week during that time that I was struggling to see maybe just something new would just change it up a little bit for me.
But I realize that the gamer that I had was the one. My started lines and everything was good. I just wasn’t holing as many putts. Yeah, I’ve got a new same putter. I said it’s like I’ve got a hotter version of my old putter, yeah.
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