Maria Jose Marin leader in the clubhouse after 2026 ANWA opening round
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EVANS — It was a memorable Augusta National Women's Amateur start for Maria Jose Marin.
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The University of Arkansas star embraced her 10-year-old brother, Emilio, after completing her round on No. 9 (she started on the 10th tee).
"I love him with my whole heart, and I'm really happy that he's here with me," Marin said.
She had another reason to be happy on Wednesday at Champions Retreat. The 19-year-old kicked off her fourth ANWA start as the leader in the clubhouse with a bogey-free 65, highlighted by a 31 on the second nine. The experience in this event played a big factor in her approach this time around.
“I think this being my fourth year, I kind of know more about the course, how are the conditions, how it's going to play," she said. "I think I can build a really good strategy around this place, and I think that's what I did, along with my coach and my dad. We talked about it yesterday a lot, and yeah, they just told me, you know the place, you know what you're doing, just trust yourself, trust your game, and yeah, just be you.”
Despite that experience, the nerves of playing against a loaded field with a potential Saturday final round at Augusta National Golf Club looming are still ever-present.
“I don't think the nerves ever go away," she said. "This tournament matters a lot to a lot of ― well, to all of the players and to me especially it matters a lot. When something matters to you, I think being nervous, it's totally fine. Especially knowing that playing a round at Augusta National is in the back of your mind, they're not going anywhere.”
She sits atop a clogged leaderboard with Soomin Oh joining her at 7-under-par later in the afternoon. There are currently nine players in the field within three shots of Marin and Oh.
Marin finished T-14th (2023) and T-30th (2024), but missed the cut last year. She's taken that experience and used it as fuel for 2026, including a pair of Top-10 finishes for Arkansas.
“I feel like last year gave me a lot of ― it was a lot of learning. There was a lot of tears, and of course this tournament means a lot to me. Not making the cut, it hurt a lot," she said. "But I learned that I've got to stay with my two feet on the ground, that I have to be really patient with my game, that if things are not going my way, I don't have to push it, that I just have to wait for golf to do its thing.”
Three of the six ANWA champions held the lead after the first round: Jennifer Kupcho (2019), Anna Davis (2022) and Rose Zhang (2023).
Marin tees off Thursday at 9:55 a.m. with Davis and Stanford's Paula Martin Sampedro.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Maria Jose Marin leads 2026 Augusta National Women's Amateur