María José Marín – Photo by Max Bechtoldt/Women’s Golf Daily News
María José Marín is the champion of the 2026 Augusta National Women’s Amateur after a brilliant final round of -4 68.
Marín came into the day a stroke back of Asterisk Talley, but fell further back after Talley’s red-hot start of three birdies in the first four holes.
Marín’s putter was on fire for most of the day though, and she really grabbed some momentum toward the end of the front nine with birdies on seven and nine.
Marín had a testy shot on the iconic par 3 12th, coming up just short. It didn’t roll down into the water though, staying up and dry, giving her a chance for a fantastic up and down to keep herself in contention and make par.
The turning point of the round came just a few minutes later, when leader Asterisk Talley made a quadruple bogey on the 12th after hitting two shots in the water. Talley really had a disastrous back nine, making bogeys on 11 and 15, plus a double bogey on 16. She ended up finishing six back of the win at -8.
Marín went on to make birdie on the par 5 13, taking firm control of the tournament at that time. She made one final mistake on 15, going long on her third shot, leading to a bogey. She made up for it immediately though with a brilliant tee shot on 16 and an easy birdie make. From there it was smooth sailing in to a four-stroke lead and the 54-hole record for this event.
Marín, a junior at Arkansas, joins LPGA Tour champions Jennifer Kupcho and Rose Zhang as players to win both the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the NCAA Division I National Championship.
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