The 2026 MGA Women's Amateur Championship will be held at Bearpath Golf & Country Club, Tuesday through Thursday, July 14–16. Eighty-nine competitors will play 54 holes of stroke play for the Patty Berg Memorial Trophy. A tie for the Championship will be broken by a sudden-death playoff.
At a Glance
| Dates | Tuesday–Thursday, July 14–16, 2026 |
| Venue | Bearpath Golf & Country Club, Eden Prairie |
| Format | 54 holes of stroke play |
| Field | 89 competitors |
| Course | 6,251 yards · par 36–36—72 · Course and Slope Rating: 76.7/133 |
| At stake | The winner receives an exemption into the 2026 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship, August 3–9, 2026, at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn. |
Live Scoring will be available on the MGA web site mngolf.org. Follow us for updates, photos, and results — Instagram: MNGolfAssn · X: @MNGolfAssn
Genevieve Birkeland · StoneRidge GC
2025 Class A Girls' State High School champ
Ava Hanneman · Minneapolis GC
2025 Class AAA Girls' State High School and Minnesota State Junior Girls' champ, and 2025 MGA Junior Girls' Player of the Year and Ms. Minnesota Golf
Olivia Herrick · Dellwood CC
Seven-time MGA Women's Player of the Year, three-time Women's Amateur Match Play champ (2010, 2016–2017), four-time MGA Women's Mid-Amateur champ (2014–2015, 2018, 2024), and two-time Minnesota Women's State Amateur champ (2009–2010)
Betsy Kelly · TPC Twin Cities
2009 Class AAA Girls' State High School champ, and 2021 and 2022 Minnesota Women's State Open champ
Carmen Jirele · YOC MN
2024 Class AAA Girls' State High School champ
Bella Leonhart · YOC MN
2025 Chaska Invitational champ
Lindsey Lund · YOC MN
2024 and 2025 Class A Girls' State High School champ
Amelia Morton · StoneRidge GC
2024 MGA Junior Girls Players of the Year and 2024 Minnesota State Junior Girls' champ
Raquelle Nelson · The Links at Northfork
2023 Class A Girls' State High School champ
Grace Petzold · Wayzata CC
2023 Class AA Girls' State High School champ
Adele Peterson · Bearpath Golf & Country Club
2020 MGA Women's Senior Amateur and 2022 MGA Women's Senior Amateur Match Play and MGA Women's Senior Amateur Four-Ball champ
Alyssa Raghuveer · The Club at Golden Valley
2024 MPGA Junior Public Links champ and Team Minnesota member
Nicole Reineke · StoneRidge GC
2024 MGA Women's Amateur Match Play and MGA Women's Amateur Four-Ball champ
Olivia Salonek · Keller GC
2021 and 2023 Minnesota State Junior Girls' champ
Taylor Thor · USGA/Minnesota GC
2025 MPGA Junior Public Links champ
Kathryn VanArragon · StoneRidge GC
2018 and 2022 Class AAA Girls State High School and 2019, 2023 MGA Women's Amateur champ and 2026 MGA Women's Match Play champ, four-time MGA Junior Girls' Player of the Year (2019–2020 and 2022–23) and two-time MGA Women's Player of the Year (2023, 2025), and 2023 Ms. Minnesota Golf
Emma Welch · MN Golf Community
2024 MGA Women's Amateur and 2025 MGA Women's Amateur Four-Ball champ
Jordana Windhorst-Knudsen · The Jewel GC
2024 Class AA Girls' State High School, 2024 Minnesota Girls Junior PGA, and 2024 Minnesota Junior PGA Players Tour Tournament of Champions champ
23 players
There are 23 players in the field with a “plus” USGA Handicap Index (that is, having an index that is better than scratch), with Emma Welch, MN Golf Community, atop the list at +4.5.
12 years, 9 months, 27 days
The youngest player in this year's field is Alexandra Farrell, Interlachen Country Club, at 12 years, 9 months and 27 days.
The 2026 MGA Amateur Championship marks the second time the state amateur championship, men's or women's, has visited Bearpath Golf & Country Club. In 2000, John Harris posted a 54-hole total of 211 to capture his fourth state amateur title, coming 26 years after his first in 1974. Harris, the 1993 U.S. Amateur champion and a Walker Cup player and captain, remains one of the most decorated amateurs in Minnesota golf history. Bearpath has hosted other MGA championships, including the 2013 MGA Senior Amateur, where Jim Lehman drained a 40-foot birdie putt on the penultimate hole of the tournament to edge David Kokesh by a stroke at even-par 216. The club has also hosted numerous USGA and MGA qualifiers.
Bearpath was established in 1996 as the centerpiece of the gated Bearpath community in Eden Prairie, a residential development spanning more than 400 acres in the southwest Twin Cities suburbs. The club officially opened on August 5, 1996, with Jack Nicklaus on hand for the grand opening, carding an even-par 72 in his first round on the course he designed.
The golf course architect is Jack Nicklaus, and Bearpath remains the only Nicklaus Signature Design in Minnesota and the upper Midwest. Routed over more than 200 acres of rolling, wooded terrain, the layout stretches to 7,250 yards at par 72 and features bentgrass greens, tees and fairways. From 2021 to 2023, the club completed a master plan renovation led by Nicklaus Design, prompted by a return visit from Nicklaus himself. The project addressed erosion along Riley Creek and included the re-grassing and resizing of all greens, the repositioning and re-lining of every bunker, reshaped fairways and approaches, and new practice facilities featuring an 18-hole putting course. Wetlands and mature hardwoods frame many of the holes, and the well-guarded greens place a premium on precise approach play and course management to test the state's best amateur players.
| Hole | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
| Yards | 346 | 512 | 370 | 355 | 327 | 163 | 355 | 156 | 494 | 3,078 |
| Hole | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Par | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 36 |
| Yards | 370 | 195 | 501 | 132 | 355 | 124 | 320 | 371 | 415 | 3,173 |
Bearpath Golf & Country Club Officials
Greg Olson, General Manager; Phillip Olson, Head Golf Professional; and Jim Snell, Golf Course Superintendent
To enter the MGA Women's Amateur Championship, a player must be an associate member of the MGA (through membership of an MGA member club) and carry a USGA Handicap Index of 12.0 or lower at the time of entry.
Complete pairings and the Terms of Competition are available online HERE!
Founded in 1901, the Minnesota Golf Association is the governing body over amateur golf in the state, responsible for administering the Rules of Golf, and committed to upholding and promoting the game of golf and its values for all golfers in Minnesota. The MGA conducts 23 major amateur championships and 15 USGA qualifying events each year. Thanks to the support of its member clubs and associate members, and the efforts of its volunteers and staff, the MGA provides a variety of services such as handicapping, course rating and measuring, an online golf news and information resource, mngolf.org, and an official publication, The Minnesota Golfer magazine, which benefits all golfers throughout Minnesota.