State championship golf will make its return to St. Cloud Country Club Monday, hosting the 2026 Minnesota Golf Association Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship, its first championship since the club hosted the 2023 MGA Players and Women’s Amateur Match Play Championships.
A field of 26 teams will play 36 holes of stroke play to determine a champion following Tuesday’s final round.
Last season, University of St. Thomas’ Kathryn VanArragon and former Xavier University golfer Emma Welch carded four birdies over their final five holes at Pebble Creek Golf Club to capture the championship by one stroke over the team of Madi Hicks and Cora Larson.
The recent MGA Women’s Amateur champion claimed her first win in her first appearance at the championship, while Welch finished runner-up with her older sister, Megan, at the 2019 championship at Elk River Golf Club. Welch claimed the 2021 MGA Mixed Amateur Team Championship as well as the 2024 MGA Women’s Amateur.
VanArragon and Welch return to the championship again this week and will look to become the first team to successfully defend its title since Taylor Ledwein and Megan Welch won back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021.
Hicks and Larson made their inaugural appearance together at the championship last season and despite a pair of late birdies, the former North Dakota State University teammates were unable to catch VanArragon and Welch.
The twosome of Ava Hanneman and Olivia Salonek join forces for the first time this week and should make an immediate impact as the Furman University sophomore and Northern Colorado University senior bring a combined five state championship wins into the week. Both Hanneman and Salonek are past MGA Junior Girls’ Player of the Year winners.
Opened in 1920, St. Cloud Country Club has played host to a number of state championships, notably the MGA Amateur Championship (1973), the MGA Women’s Amateur Championship (1989), the MGA Mid-Amateur Championship (1997, 1999), the MGA Senior Amateur (2011), the MGA Mid and Senior Players’ Championship (2017), the Minnesota State Junior Boys’ Championship (1971) and the Minnesota State Junior Girls’ Championship (1968, 2000).
Tee times for the opening round of the 2026 MGA Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship begin at noon Monday at St. Cloud Country Club.