Golfers Who Won the NCAA and U.S. Women's Amateur Championships

A golfer who wins one or the other of the U.S. Women's Amateur and the NCAA Division I Women's Championship is claiming one of the two biggest titles in American amateur women's golf. But a golfer who wins both? She earns a place on a very short list of golfers who've achieved that distinction.

So far, only six golfers have won both these prestigious amateur tournaments. One reason the number is so low is that the NCAA women's tournament has only existed since 1982. (The U.S. Women's Amateur dates to 1895.) There were college golf championships for women prior to 1982, but they were not NCAA tournaments.

(Related: Golfers who won both the men's NCAA title and the U.S. Amateur)

These are all the golfers who won both the NCAA Division I individual championship and the U.S. Women's Amateur:

• Pat Hurst: Hurst, playing collegiately at San Jose State, won the NCAA individual championship in 1989. A year later, she became the first golfer to put her name on this list with her victory in the 1990 U.S. Women's Amateur. Hurst, who also won the U.S. Girls' Junior in 1986, went on to record six LPGA Tour victories. One of those was a major — the 1998 Nabisco Dinah Shore.

• Vicki Goetze: In 1989, only 16 years old, Goetze won the first of her two U.S. Women's Amateur titles. She beat another future LPGA Tour player, Brandie Burton, in the final, becoming (at the time) the third-youngest winner of that championship. Goetze got her name on this list by claiming the NCAA title in 1992 at the University of Georgia. She also beat Annika Sorenstam in the finals of the 1992 USWA. She competed for many years on the LPGA Tour as Vicki Goetze-Ackerman, but never won.

• Grace Park: Park won her Amateur Championship crown over Jenny Chuasiriporn by a 7-and-6 score in 1998. The next year, playing for Arizona State, Park claimed the NCAA crown. She went on to win six times on the LPGA Tour from 2000-2004 before retiring early to start a family. One of those wins, the 2004 Kraft Nabisco Championship, was a major.

• Virada Nirapathpongporn: Playing at Duke University, Nirapathpongporn won the NCAA individual championship in 2002. A year later, she defeated Jane Park in the championship match of the USWA, by a 2-and-1 score. Nirapathpongporn turned pro in 2004. She won twice on the Futures Tour but never established herself on the LPGA and retired from competitive golf in 2011.

• Emma Talley: Her U.S. Women's Amateur title happened in 2013, when she beat Yueer "Cindy" Feng, 2-and-1, in the title match. In 2015, Talley won the NCAA championship by one stroke over runners-up Leona Maguire and Gaby Lopez. She played collegiately at the University of Alabama.

• Rose Zhang: Zhang beat Gabriela Ruffels on the second extra hole (38th hole overall) to win the 2020 U.S. Women's Amateur at the age of 17 years old. Then in 2022 and 2023, playing for Stanford, she became the first golfer to win the NCAA Division I women's golf championship twice, doing it back-to-back. Zhang turned pro shortly after her second NCAA title and won her first LPGA Tour event as a pro two weeks later. She also won the 2021 U.S. Girls' Junior.

Of the six golfers who make the list, only Goetze pulled off the feat of winning both the NCAA championship and U.S. Women's Amateur in the same year.

So far, none of the golfers on the list above went on to also win the U.S. Women's Open. (Fewer than 10 golfers so far have won both the U.S. Women's Amateur and U.S. Women's Open.) Hurst came the closest, getting into a playoff at the 2006 U.S. Women's Open before falling to Annika Sorenstam.