THE MODERATOR: All right, welcome to the media center at the 2025 FM Championship. Pleased to be joined by the 2025 U.S. Women's Amateur champion, Megha Ganne. Megha, you received a sponsor invite this week. What does it mean to you to be able to tee it up among the best in the world here at TPC Boston?
MEGHA GANNE: It's really cool. This event is really fun so far. Seems very well-run and I'm very excited to play another professional event. I haven't played one in a little bit. Other than U.S. Open haven't played an LPGA event in a while, so really excited.
Q. You are originally from the Northeast.
MEGHA GANNE: Yeah.
Q. How does it feel to be back and playing a professional tournament out here?
MEGHA GANNE: It's great. I am from the Northeast but actually can't say I'm familiar at all with Boston, so it's been nice to see around. I was actually in Cambridge yesterday moving my sister into her freshman dorm at Harvard, so that was really exciting. Gave me flashbacks to my freshman year and move-in day.
It's cool to see the area. I've been eating all the good local food like the lobster rolls and oysters. Yeah, this is a great area.
Q. You were recently named to the USA World Amateur team. Can you speak to that at all?
MEGHA GANNE: Yeah, I'm really excited. It was definitely a Bucket List thing that I wanted to be named to that team before I was done with my amateur career. Felt like it was the one thing I hadn't done yet, so really excited to play with Farah and Kiara and go to Singapore for the first time.
I think it'll be great.
Q. You've had a very well-decorated career and you're only 19 or 20. What are you looking forward to in the future?
MEGHA GANNE: I'm 21 so I'm a little older than that. I'm looking forward to my senior year at Stanford and hopefully to pursue a professional career after that.
But, yeah, I feel like I've had like a long run in golf so far but it still feels like just the beginning so that's exciting.
Q. LPGA Girls Golf hit its millionth member in 2023. As a Girls Golf alumni, what does it mean to see so many young girls introduced to the game?
MEGHA GANNE: It's really cool. I think golf has been so underrated for so long, especially women's golf, and girls playing in middle school, high school, it opens a lot of doors for you later on no matter the level that you pursue it at.
So to see it become more of an avenue for those young girls to let this game take them wherever it takes them is really cool.
Q. What advice would you have to young girls just getting started in the game?
MEGHA GANNE: I mean, anything. Make golf whatever you want it to be. If you want to play at high level, go pursue that. If you don't, if you want it to be a way for you to put yourself out there socially to meet different people that you wouldn't have known otherwise, do that. If you want to go play different courses and travel to different spots, do that.
Golf is so cool because you can use it to do whatever you want. There are so many career paths that I've seen college golfers go to even after they're done playing, whether it's playing or broadcasting or working on like media side, working for an agency, whatever it may be. So use golf to do what ever you would like to do.
Q. I know it's been a whirlwind since the U.S. Women's Amateur victory. Have you come down off that high and how has it been to be a USGA champion over the past few weeks?
MEGHA GANNE: It's been really fun. I feel like I very recently came off that high when I needed to lock in for this event.
But it's been really good. That's what's it about. You have way more lows in golf than you do highs, so I've definitely been trying to ride it as long a possible and will continue to ride it even after this week is over.
Q. What are your thoughts on TPC Boston? How does it set up for your game and what's it like out there for those that may not have seen it yet?
MEGHA GANNE: It's a really good golf course. It's in great shape. It requires good amount of accuracy off the tee. The greens are tricky but not like too tricky, so there is a lot of makable putts out there.
I think, yeah, it rewards a good ball-striker, but it's going to come down to who makes the most putts at the end of the day, which I guess is most tournaments. I like the Northeast style of golf and the tree-lined look suits my eye. I like that about it.
Q. You're no stranger to being on the LPGA Tour around world's best athletes. I know you and Rose are pretty close. Has it been fun to catch up with some of those people you may not have seen yet after the victory?
MEGHA GANNE: Yeah, it is. I haven't seen many people yet, but I'm looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and catching up with them and hearing how things have been. Pro life can get busy so I haven't gotten to see a lot of my friends out here.
Yeah, it's really fun to follow them and get a little glimpse there what their world was like this week is cool.
Q. I know you're locking on for your senior year. What are some of your goals at Stanford this year on and off the golf course?
MEGHA GANNE: Yeah, I would say, I mean, mostly off course goals to be honest. Like I just really want to make the max out of my senior year, spend time with people at Stanford that I probably won't see a lot after graduation.
I'm excited for our lineup this year. I checked WAGR this morning, we have four players in our lineup inside the Top 5 in the world, which is genuinely ridiculous to think about.
So winning a national championship with my team is probably my first goal for this year.
And, yeah, I mean, I just think working on my golf game and also keep living life. I feel like this is the last stretch of time I have where things are kind of chill before the craziness after graduation, so yeah, I think it'll be a good year.
Q. I know something that the FM Championship folks have been really saying they priding on is investing in the players, investing in resources and making sure everybody in the pro field get paid something. As you're looking forward to your potential pro career, how important is that that tournaments take that seriously and make investments into their players?
MEGHA GANNE: I think that it's really important and that makes events like this and FM as a sponsor really admirable. I'm sure it's probably more one that pros have circled on their calendars for that reason. They're the best players in the world and they deserve purses and sponsors that reflect that. I think FM is a really good representative of that, so it's really nice to see.
Q. So obviously a long list of accolades you've accomplished already. To piggyback off a couple questions. Very loaded field; second year of this event; a lot of big names are here. What does that mean for you to come out and test your abilities against some of the best in the world? Is that a steppingstone, something you look forward to, or is that something that is challenging, maybe a Bucket List kind of thing?
MEGHA GANNE: Yeah, it's definitely cool to play in these events, and I think the novelty that I feel when I'm at an LPGA Tour event is probably the biggest thing, and getting exposure to a different vibe out here is the biggest thing I look for.
We play really high level amateur events and I've played in multiple U.S. Opens so I feel like I'm adjusted to the level of play and the field I'll see if I do this professionally, but just the week-to-week stuff is very different out here.
Doing things like playing a pro-am Wednesday, getting here Monday, Tuesday, the longness of the week. That stuff is all new. So I think getting exposure to that is really what I look forward to maybe to feel a little bit more comfortable when I do take that next step.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports