SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – After three rounds of stroke play at Grayhawk Golf Club’s Talon Course, 16-year-old Nikki Oh (-2) won the 2024 Arizona Women’s Amateur Championship. The fifth-ranked junior golfer in the world edged out defending champion Ashley Menne and University of Arkansas rising senior Kendall Todd to become one of the youngest players ever to win the 2024 Arizona Women’s Amateur Championship.
Facing challenges like unforgiving desert landscapes, narrow fairways and high-risk, high-reward holes, Oh decided that playing safe golf and making pars was her best chance to win. The strategy paid off, as her and Menne were the only players to shoot under par for the tournament.
Nikki Oh hits her tee shot on hole 17 during the final round of the 2024 Arizona Women's Amateur Championship (Photo by Alex Johnson)
“I feel like I just played really simple and smart golf this week,” Oh, who had her dad on the bag throughout the week, said. “I like to be really aggressive, but my dad chose smart lines even when I was going for the green, so I just feel like I played really smart golf but played just aggressive enough.”
Although birdies were few and far between throughout the Championship, Oh found just enough to win and found them in a timely fashion.
Trailing Todd for most of the first two rounds, the momentum tilted in Oh’s favor when she birdied holes 16 and 18 to conclude the second day. On the latter, she sank a 20-foot birdie putt after hitting the green with her approach - a shot that most players left short throughout the week.
Nikki Oh hits an approach shot during the final round of the 2024 Arizona Women's Amateur Championship (Photo by Alex Johnson)
That putt made her the co-leader with Todd headed into the final round. Todd jumped out to an early lead with a birdie on two, but Oh maintained the composure she had all week and matched with a birdie of her own on the next hole. Oh took the lead when Todd made bogey on the fifth hole.
Oh never surrendered the lead after Todd’s bogey, but Menne made two birdies on holes 14 and 15 to briefly become the co-leader. The defending champion's run stopped abruptly when her tee shot on the par-3 17th hole missed the island green and found water and gave Oh a clear path to secure the Championship.
By winning the Championship, Oh earned an exemption into the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. Currently the 163rd-ranked amateur golfer in the world, this will be her second run at the U.S. Women’s Amateur; she advanced to the Round of 16 at Bel-Air Country Club last year.
In addition to Oh's overall gross championship, Mia Cesarek earned a Kachina as the Championship Division's net winner.