The No. 3 seeded LSU Tigers won the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship on Sunday, beating the No. 2-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. It marks the first-ever NCAA basketball title for LSU, women’s or men’s.
Ladazhia Williams led the Tigers starters with 20 points, while Jasmine Carson came off the bench to score 22. Angel Reese, who was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player, added 15 points and 10 rebounds, to record the most double-doubles (34) in a single season.
Iowa’s star guard Caitlin Clark, the 2023 Player of the Year, led all scorers with 30 points and added eight assists and two rebounds.
In their postgame press conference, players and coaches shared their thoughts on the national title tilt:
Kim Mulkey on winning her home state of Texas and securing LSU’s first-ever national basketball title: “With about 1:30 to go, I couldn’t hold it. I got very emotional. That’s really not like me until the buzzer goes off, but I knew we were going to hold on and win this game. I don’t know if it’s the mere fact that we’re doing this in my second year back home. I don’t know if it was the fact that I am home. I don’t know if it was looking across there at my daughter and my grandchildren. I don’t know if it was looking across at LSU. I don’t know what it was, but I lost it.”
Angel Reese, when asked about the “Twitter outrage” after directing the “You can’t see me” gesture to Clark and then pointing at her ring finger: “I’m happy. I mean, all year I was critiqued about who I was. I don’t fit the narrative. I don’t fit in a box that y’all want me to be in. I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto. Y’all told me that all year. But when other people do it, y’all say nothing. So this was for the girls that look like me, that’s going to speak up on what they believe in. It’s unapologetically you. That’s what I did it for tonight. It was bigger than me tonight. It was bigger than me.”
Jasmine Carson on her 16-point second quarter: “It was a surreal moment. Every player dreams of being on a big stage like this and having the game of your life, and for it to come to fruition, it meant a lot. I was just taking in the moment. I was just living in the moment. Usually I don’t even celebrate after I make a shot, but tonight I just let it all out. I made a three. I was like — I just had to let it out. I didn’t have nothing to lose. This was my last game of my college career, and I ended it the right way.”
Iowa coach Lisa Bluder on the officiating: “I can’t comment on the officials. It’s very frustrating because I feel like I can’t talk to them. They won’t even listen. That’s what’s frustrating is there wasn’t even a conversation that could be had. When your two seniors (Monika Czinano, McKenna Warnock) have to sit on the bench — [they officials] don’t know they’re seniors. I get it. But those two women didn’t deserve it. I don’t think so. And then Caitlin getting a T. I don’t know. It’s too bad. Yeah, it’s too bad.”
Bluder on her 2022-23 squad: “I’m so proud of my team. I’m proud of the women they are. I’m proud of what they stand for. … I’m telling you, this is brutal. It’s really tough to walk out of that locker room today and to not be able to coach Monika and the McKenna ever again, that’s tough. I’m very grateful for the season we had, and I don’t want anything to take away from that. We played the National Championship Game.”
Caitlin Clark on her impact on the women’s college game: “I think the biggest thing is it’s really, really special. I don’t think it’s going to set in for me for quite some time. I want my legacy to be the impact that I can have on young kids and the people in the state of Iowa, and I hope I brought them a lot of joy this season. I hope this team brought them a lot of joy. I understand we came up one win short, but I think we have a lot to be proud of and a lot to celebrate. I was just that young girl, so all you have to do is dream, and you can be in moments like this.”
On Her Turf provided live updates and highlights throughout the game, so read on to relive all the action.
2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship: March Madness results and scores
LSU vs. Iowa: Live first-quarter updates
9:36 1Q: And the national championship game is underway! Forty minutes for all the marbles. LSU wins the tip but Iowa is the first to get on the board as Monika Czinano makes a jumper, assisted by none other than Caitlin Clark.
The most important start of the year!#NationalChampionship pic.twitter.com/KzeFoeGnG0
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) April 2, 2023
8:29 1Q: Clark hits her first 3 of the game, breaking a single tournament record. Her average range has been 25’11”.
The shot that broke the single-tournament record for most 3’s by @CaitlinClark#NationalChampionship x 🎥 ABC / @IowaWBB pic.twitter.com/M2ZSvQlHY5
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) April 2, 2023
3:29 1Q: LSU takes a 20-18 lead as Iowa’s Monika Czinano heads to the bench after her second foul.
LSU takes the lead!#NationalChampionship x 🎥 ABC / @LSUwbkb pic.twitter.com/iUksNJadmV
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) April 2, 2023
0:00 1Q: At the end of the first quarter, LSU leads 27-22. Four players already have two fouls, including LSU’s Angel Reese, who’s also recorded 7 points. Caitlin Clark leads the scoring with 14 points and two assists, plus two turnovers.
LSU coach Kim Mulkey told ABC’s Holly Rowe after the first quarter: “I just didn’t like the way we started with three turnovers. Holly in the first couple minutes of play. Just take a deep breath. You got a freshman out there making those turnovers but I didn’t take her out. You let her work her way through it. … We’re gonna play aggressive. They either gonna call it aggressive on both areas, or let them play. We can do either.”
LSU vs. Iowa: Live second-quarter updates
5:42 2Q: The Tigers stay out front, holding a seven-point lead midway through the second quarter. LSU’s Jasmine Carson has eight points off the bench, going 2-2 from the three and 2-2 from the free-throw line.
4:15 2Q: Again! Jasmin Carson hits her second of back-to-back threes, lifting LSU to a 49-38 lead. She’s 4-4 from the 3.
🚨 JASMINE CARSON IS 4-4 FROM THE 3FG 🚨
📺 ABC pic.twitter.com/UCVpRRhckK
— LSU Women's Basketball (@LSUwbkb) April 2, 2023
0:00 2Q: As the teams heads to the locker rooms, LSU holds a 59-42 lead. LSU’s 59 most points are the most ever in a championship game in a single half. Jasmine Carson leads all scorers with 21 points, hitting her fifth 3 at the buzzer. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark has 16 points — and three personal fouls.
OH MY GOODNESS @JazzC2_ WITH THE BUZZER BEATER
📺 ABC pic.twitter.com/WAXZejsAqU
— LSU Women's Basketball (@LSUwbkb) April 2, 2023
Carson told ABC’s Rowe at the half: “I mean it’s good for my team. You know, most of the starters got into foul trouble, so you know I’ve been working for this my whole life, and you know it just feels great to finally be playing on this stage.”
LSU vs. Iowa: Live third-quarter updates
8:50 3Q: LSU’s LaDazhia Williams opens the second half scoring, putting the Tigers ahead 61-42. Some stats from the NCAA after the first half note that LSU’s 59 points in the first half is the most any team has scored in a women’s Final Four half since Georgia scored 57 in 1985. Iowa was down 17 at the half … no team has come back more than 15 points down in a championship game.
7:54: Caitlin Clark hits the three to set the record for most points in NCAA tournament history. She now holds the single-tournament record for most 3-pointers made with 24 and the single tournament record for most points scored with 178. Sheryl Swoopes previously set the record with 177 points through five games.
Iowa’s @CaitlinClark22 has broken the single-tournament record for most 3-point FG made with 24 and the single tournament record for most points scored with 178 points!#NationalChampionship x @IowaWBB pic.twitter.com/R9czm6w41X
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) April 2, 2023
3:51 3Q: Caitlin Clark hits her seventh 3-pointer of the game to bring Iowa within 10 points, 69-60 (LSU leads).
2:45 3Q: Kim Mulkey loses a timeout on a challenge as the lead tightens to 69-62.
1:04 3Q: A “crippling possession” for Iowa, as Monika Czinano gets her fourth personal foul followed by Caitlin Clark charged with a technical. LSU gets four three throws, two missed by Angel Reese and two made by Alexis Morris. LSU leads 75-64.
Caitlin Clark got hit with a technical foul in the National Championship, her 4th personal, for this…
Thoughts? 🤔pic.twitter.com/GuE0A7wYOs
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) April 2, 2023
0:00 3Q: At the end of the third, the score remains 75-64, LSU.
LSU vs. Iowa: Live fourth-quarter updates
Before the start of the final 10 minutes, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder tells ABC’s Holly Rowe regarding both starters picking up their fourth foul on same possession: “Obviously it’s a tough one. I mean, obviously, three of our starters with four fouls is not a good thing. But we’re gonna go back with Caitlin. I mean, it’s a national championship game. We got 10 minutes left. We’re down nine. We gotta go with Caitlin.”
8:01 4Q: Iowa’s Addison O’Grady misses two free throws as LSU leads 79-69.
6:25 4Q: Iowa’s Monika Czinano fouls out, as LSU extends its lead to 14, 85-71
5:20 4Q: Caitlin Clark hits her eighth three of the game, and leads all scorers with 28. LSU remains in control, 89-76.
1:11 4Q: LSU’s Kateri Poole hits the dagger as LSU extends the lead to 98-82.
Katerie Poole 🗡️
📺 ABC pic.twitter.com/ZNwzoeKxsw
— LSU Women's Basketball (@LSUwbkb) April 2, 2023
0:00 4Q: The LSU Tigers win their first-ever national basketball title, 102-85, as coach Kim Mulkey earns her fourth national title and first with the Tigers.
THE TIGERS TAKE IT#NationalChampionship x @LSUwbkb pic.twitter.com/XqcNBuQt2X
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) April 2, 2023
Postgame reaction
LSU’s Angel Reese gives all the credit to her teammates.
The new MOP @Reese10Angel speaks with @autumnjohnsontv, “We beat every odd they said we couldn’t beat!”#NationalChampionship x @LSUwbkb pic.twitter.com/J1aUB6lVZv
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) April 2, 2023
How to watch the 2023 NCAA D1 Women’s Basketball Championship
| TEAMS | TIME | TV/STREAMING* | LOCATION |
| No. 2 Iowa vs. No. 3 LSU | 3:30 p.m. ET | ABC, ESPN+ | American Airlines Center; Dallas, Texas |
*Bonus viewing: WNBA greats Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi will be back for another edition of “The Bird and Taurasi Show,” at 3:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Starting lineups
No. 2 Iowa:
- McKenna Warnock (F)
- Monika Czinano (F)
- Caitlin Clark (G)
- Gabbie Marshall (G)
- Kate Martin (G)
More about Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder: Bluder ranks fourth all-time among Division I active coaches with 850 career wins (first among Big Ten active coaches), and she’s also the all-time leader for Big Ten regular season conference wins with 248. The Hawkeyes have made postseason tournament appearances in 21 of Bluder’s 23 seasons at Iowa, receiving 17 NCAA tournament and four WNIT (2003, 2005, 2016, 2017) bids, and making four Sweet 16 appearances.
No. 3 LSU:
- Angel Reese (F)
- LaDazhia Williams (F)
- Flau’jae Johnson (G)
- Kateri Poole (G)
- Alexis Morris (G)
About LSU head coach Kim Mulkey: This year marks Mulkey’s second year at LSU and her fourth appearance in the national title game as a head coach. She holds a 3-0 record in national championship games, winning three titles as the head coach at Baylor. She’s the only person in men’s or women’s DI history to win national championships as a player, assistant coach and head coach.
What’s at stake for Iowa and LSU
For Iowa: The Hawkeyes upset the No. 1 overall seed, the defending national champions South Carolina Gamecocks, to advance to their first national title berth in program history. Iowa was tabbed as the No. 2 seed for the fifth time in school history, the Hawkeyes boast a 14-4 record in the NCAA tournament on the No. 2 seed line. Caitlin Clark was tabbed as the Naismith National Player of the Year on Wednesday.
For LSU: The 2023 tournament marks LSU’s sixth Final Four appearance, but this will be the first time the Tigers are playing for a national championship. The last time LSU advanced to the Final Four was in 2008, the final year of five consecutive Final Four appearances. Prior to Friday’s win over Virginia Tech, LSU had never won a game in the Final Four — men’s or women’s. LSU has won a men’s basketball national title (1935), but there was no official championship game then.
How they got here
| NO. 2 IOWA (31-6) | ROUND | NO. 3 LSU (33-2) |
| Defeated No. 15 Southeastern La., 95-43 | First Round | Defeated No. 14 Hawaii, 73-50 |
| Defeated No. 10 Georgia, 74-66 | Second Round | Defeated No. 6 Michigan, 66-42 |
| Defeated No. 6 Colorado, 87-77 | Sweet 16 | Defeated No. 2 Utah, 66-63 |
| Defeated No. 5 Louisville, 97-83 | Elite Eight | Defeated No. 9 Miami (FL), 54-42 |
| Defeated No. 1 South Carolina, 77-73 | Final Four | DefeatedNo. 1 Virginia Tech, 79-72 |
Fun facts, players notes ahead of national title game
More about Iowa:
- Caitlin Clark became the first player in DI women’s basketball history to notch a 1,000 point and 300 assist single season. She also became the Big Ten’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing Megan Gustafson.
- Clark produced the first 40-point triple-double in men’s or women’s NCAA Tournament history against Louisville in the Elite Eight. (41p, 12a, 10r)
- Iowa’s win I the Final Four versus South Carolina was the first win in program history against an AP No. 1 team.
- Against Louisville and USC, Clark is the first player to net back-to-back 40-point performances in the NCAA tourney.
- Against South Carolina, Iowa extended its program record for most wins in a single season (31).
More about LSU:
- Angel Reese tied the NCAA record with her 33rd double-double of the season in the Final Four.
- Reese is the first player to ever have 100 points, 70 rebounds, 10 blocks and 10 steals in a single NCAA tournament, per ESPN Stats and Info. She will enter the national championship game with 113 points, 81 rebounds, 14 blocks and 13 steals through five tournament games this year.
- From when coach Kim Mulkey was hired at LSU on April 25, 2021, to LSU’s win over Miami in the Elite Eight on March 26, 2023, marks a span of just 700 days that Mulkey turned a 9-13 program into a national championship contender.
- LSU finished the regular season 27-1, matching the best regular-season record in program history from 2004-05. That LSU team reached the Final Four in 2005, but fell to Mulkey’s Baylor team en route to her first national championship as a head coach.
Past champions of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship
| YEAR | CHAMPION (record) | COACH | SCORE | RUNNER-UP | SITE |
| 2022 | South Carolina (36-2) | Dawn Staley | 64-49 | Connecticut | Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| 2021 | Stanford (31-2) | Tara VanderVeer | 54-53 | Arizona | San Antonio, Texas |
| 2020 | Baylor (37-1) | Kim Mulkey | 82-81 | Notre Dame | Tampa, Florida |
| 2019 | Notre Dame (34-3) | Muffet McGraw | 61-58 | Mississippi State | Columbus, Ohio |
| 2018 | South Carolina (33-4) | Dawn Staley | 67-55 | Mississippi State | Dallas, Texas |
For a complete list of champions, visit NCAA.com.
What they’re saying ahead of Iowa-LSU national title game
Lisa Bluder: “I know a lot of people lost a lot of money in Vegas and elsewhere last night. Not a lot of people betting on the Hawkeyes. So we’re just going to keep believing. We have one more game to our season. Our team was just thrilled we get to spend two more days together. Honestly I think that’s what they were most excited about. They’re playing for a national championship, and they get to spend two more days together.”
Caitlin Clark: “I think the thing for me is I understand things aren’t going to go my way. I think accepting that — and that’s not always something I’ve had throughout my college career — when I haven’t gotten fouls called, when I’ve had turnovers, when I’ve had missed shots, it’s kind of thrown me off my game a little bit. I think the physicality is something I’ve just come to accept at this point in my career. People are holding me. I have scratches. I have bruises. But so does everybody else. You can’t complain. …That’s the game of basketball. All you’ve got to do is respond, and that’s what’s going to be best for your team.”
Kim Mulkey: “I don’t want to use the word ‘powerhouse.’ We’ve won games. We have not won championships. Are we ahead of schedule? I think it’s obvious we’re ahead of schedule. We’re sitting here playing for the national championship. So the hard part now is, when it’s all over, win or lose, you go back to recruiting, you go back to trying to duplicate what you did this year and just continue on a trajectory that is positive. To someday maybe winning an SEC Championship, maybe winning a National Championship, or being what you would say a contender every year — but we’re ahead of schedule.”
Angel Reese: “To my teammates: This is what we came here for. I mean, we’re in this moment, to be in a national championship game with nine new pieces in Kim Mulkey’s second year … Be happy for ourselves, but the job isn’t finished, and we’re hungry. I think that’s the difference between us and a lot of teams. We’re not going to stop fighting until the end, and I think we just have that dog mentality within the team.”
ALSO FROM ON HER TURF: Remembering History — Janet Guthrie races into motorsports history with celebrated 1977 Indy 500, NASCAR season
As Women’s History Month closes, we take a closer look at Althea Gibson, the Black American two-sport athlete whose legacy is still being celebrated even 20 years after her death. It may be 50 years since Gibson last competed in any of her sports – notably tennis and golf — but her presence in venues where she played is still felt.
As recently as last Aug. 25 – on what would have been her 95th birthday – Gibson was honored in New York City with the unique distinction of having a street named after her. The road located at West 143rd Street between Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard and Malcolm X Boulevard is now co-named Althea Gibson Way, honoring the 11-time tennis Grand Slam champion near where she grew up in Harlem.
”It was truly an inspiration for me to watch her overcome adversity,” said tennis icon Billie Jean King, who was just 13 when she first saw Gibson play. ”Her road to success was a challenging one, but I never saw her back down.”
King was on hand in 2019 when the USTA honored Gibson with the dedication of the Althea Gibson Sculpture Garden at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The centerpiece of the garden is a sculpture of Gibson, created by artist Eric Goulder, which includes an augmented reality experience. Developed by MRM/McCann, visitors can activate exclusive content about Gibson’s life and legacy.
RELATED: Ganassi, PNC make push to empower women in racing: ‘Diverse teams yield better results’
“She was beautiful and graceful and intimidating all at the same time on the court,” King added. “When she came to net, she was very intimidating. I’ve said to Venus [Williams] that she was like a 21st-century Althea.”
Born to sharecroppers on a cotton farm in South Carolina in 1927, Gibson’s journey to tennis glory started when she was just a child, growing up in Harlem on a stretch of 143rd Street that had been designated a “Police Athletic League” play area. During daylight hours, the street was barricaded so that neighborhood children could play organized sports. Gibson quickly became proficient in paddle tennis, and by 1939 — at the age of 12 — she was the New York City women’s paddle tennis champion. In 1950, on her 23rd birthday, Gibson made her debut at Forest Hills, becoming first Black athlete to compete in the U.S. National Tennis Championships (the precursor to the U.S. Open).
Her participation received extensive national and international coverage, and Gibson went on to make headlines the next year when she won her first international title, the Caribbean Championships in Jamaica, and later that year became one of the first Black competitors at Wimbledon. Her first of six Grand Slam singles titles came at the 1956 French Open, and she captured three more in 1957, winning the Australian Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open. Gibson added six Grand Slam doubles titles to her resume as well, highlighted by three straight at Wimbledon.
“Who could have imagined? Who could have thought?” Gibson said in 1988 when she presented her Wimbledon trophies to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. “Here stands before you a Negro woman, raised in Harlem, who went on to become a tennis player … and finally wind up being a world champion, in fact, the first black woman champion of this world,” she said. “And believe it or not, I still am.”
That 1957 season was undoubtedly a highlight, and that year she became only the second Black American, after Jesse Owens, to be honored with a ticker tape parade in New York City. A month later she defeated Louise Brough in straight sets to win her first US Open title, noting: “Winning Wimbledon was wonderful and it meant a lot to me,” she wrote in her autobiography, “But there is nothing quite like winning the championship of your own country.”
In all, Gibson reached the finals of eight Grand Slam events in 1957, winning two singles titles, the Wimbledon and Australian doubles championships and the U.S. mixed doubles crown. She also became the first Black woman to appear on the covers of Sports Illustrated and Time, and her year finished with a streak of 55 matches won on the season.
Gibson kicked off 1958 with two more wins to extend the streak to 57, and additionally that year she defended her Wimbledon and U.S. National singles titles and won her third straight Wimbledon doubles championship — with a third different partner. Additionally, she was the No. 1-ranked woman player in the world in both 1957 and 1958 and was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years as well.
But late in 1958, having won 56 national and international singles and doubles titles, Gibson retired from amateur tennis. At the time there was no prize money at major tournaments, and direct endorsement deals were prohibited. Players were limited to meager expense allowances, strictly regulated by the USTA.
“The truth, to put it bluntly, is that my finances were in heartbreaking shape,” she wrote. “Being the Queen of Tennis is all well and good, but you can’t eat a crown. Nor can you send the Internal Revenue Service a throne clipped to their tax forms.”
Six years later, after spending time playing exhibition matches and pursuing her career in the music industry, Gibson became the first Black woman to join the LPGA tour. She had begun working with Jerry Volpe at Englewood Golf Club in New Jersey. Volpe was a local legend who gave lessons to several celebrities including Ed Sullivan and Mickey Mantle, and he was shocked by how little money Gibson had earned in tennis, so he gave her an honorary membership at Englewood, where she was the club’s first black member.
Gibson found a welcoming community among the women on tour and a team of advocates ready to have her back in the most discriminating situation. At one event where Gibson had to change her shoes in the parking lot because she wasn’t invited into the clubhouse, all the players changed in their cars in solidarity with her.
“We viewed her as a positive,” LPGA founder Shirley Spork said. “…And she was well liked by the players, accepted by the players. She was a Wimbledon tennis champion, so the gallery would come to see her try to play golf. That was an asset for us because she was a tennis star. Having her out there helped us go forward, to gain more galleries and gain more interest in getting sponsors.”
From 1963 through 1977, Gibson made 171 LPGA starts, and her best finish was a T-2 following a three-way playoff at the 1970 Len Immke Buick Open. She broke course records during individual rounds in several tournaments, and her highest ranking was 27th in 1966. She retired from professional golf at the end of the 1978 season.
“Althea might have been a real player of consequence had she started when she was young”, said Hall of Fame golfer Judy Rankin. “She came along during a difficult time in golf, gained the support of a lot of people, and quietly made a difference.”
She regained her amateur status in 1984 and reportedly enjoyed the game for the remainder of her life. No other black woman matched Gibson’s Grand Slam accomplishments for four decades – until Serena Williams won the U.S. Open title in 1999 and Venus Williams won Wimbledon until in 2000.
“For players like myself and a lot of other African-American players on the tour, Althea Gibson paved the way for us,” Venus Williams said after her U.S. Open debut in Arthur Ashe stadium in 1997 at age 17. “So, it’s important that we recognize this, that I recognize it, and for me to know my history. “
In 2000, after winning the U.S. Open, Venus again recalled Gibson’s accomplishments.
“I knew she was watching when Serena won the U.S. Open and she’s happy to see another black woman win in her lifetime.”
In 1975, Gibson became the state commissioner of athletics in New Jersey, a job she held for 10 years. She then served on the state athletics control board until 1988, and the governor’s council on physical fitness until 1992. But her health and finances declined in the 1990s and it was her former doubles partner, a British player named Angela Buxton, who rallied financial assistance for Gibson. She lived for nearly another decade, dying in September 2003 at age 76.
In 1980 Gibson became one of the first six inductees into the International Women’s Sports Hall of Fame, joining a list of pioneers including Amelia Earhart, Wilma Rudolph, Gertrude Ederle, Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Patty Berg. Other inductions include the National Lawn Tennis Hall of Fame, the International Tennis Hall of Fame, the Florida Sports Hall of Fame, the Black Athletes Hall of Fame, the Sports Hall of Fame of New Jersey, the New Jersey Hall of Fame, the International Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame and the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 1991 Gibson became the first woman to receive the Theodore Roosevelt Award, the highest honor from the NCAA.
In her 1958 retirement speech, Gibson noted, “I hope that I have accomplished just one thing. That I have been a credit to tennis, and to my country.”
When her statue was unveiled at Flushing Meadows in 2019, the USTA made a point of confirming Gibson achieved that wish: “By all measures,” reads the inscription on her New Jersey statue, “Althea Gibson certainly attained that goal.”
Learn more about the legendary women who blazed athletic trails in this five-part series, “Remembering History,” as On Her Turf celebrates Black Heritage Month and Women’s History Month with features on Alice Coachman, the 1991 FIFA Women’s World Cup champion U.S. Women’s National Team, tennis great Althea Gibson, race car driver Janet Guthrie and the 50th anniversary of Billie Jean King‘s win over Bobby Riggs in “The Battle of the Sexes.”
Programming Update: Due to expected inclement weather and earlier tee times, NBC Sports will present live coverage of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur final round tomorrow, April 1, beginning at 8 a.m. ET on Peacock, NBC Sports digital platforms and ANWAgolf.com. GOLF Channel and Peacock will present live coverage starting at 10 a.m. ET, and previously scheduled coverage will air from noon-3:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
Flashback to April 2, 2022.
It’s 8:20 AM in Augusta, Georgia. Rachel Kuehn stands on the first tee of Augusta National Golf Club. Her brown hair is tied back in a ponytail, adorned with a black and white bow, and she’s wearing a pink skirt that matches the azaleas lining the hills of Augusta National. It’s the final day of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, and Kuehn is within striking distance of the lead.
A senior on the Wake Forest University women’s golf team, Kuehn has played golf since she was two. In a childhood filled with softball games, tennis matches and gymnastics meets, golf tournaments gradually gained her favor. Her fixation on golf was not unique: her mother, Brenda, had a legendary career at Wake Forest and in the amateur/professional ranks, and both of her brothers play or have played college golf.
Two years before that cool Augusta morning, Kuehn’s freshman debut at Wake Forest was cut short due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Tournaments were canceled, students were sent home and the world spun into a frenzy. Many of the ways that people socialized and exercised – bars, movie theaters, concert venues, gyms – were shut down indefinitely. However, many golf courses and driving ranges remained open as golf provided an outdoor, socially-distanced space for people to be active.
By reputation, golf is often considered a leisurely game reserved for retirees and vacation-goers. But for Kuehn and millions of others, golf is medicinal. At a time when the world felt so chaotic, playing a quick nine holes with a loved one went a long way.
RELATED: Shine bright like a diamond: Ingrid Lindblad prepared to finally solve ANWA puzzle
“During COVID, there wasn’t much to do except play golf,” Kuehn said. “I was incredibly lucky that my golf course stayed open throughout the pandemic, and my brother got the chance to come work from home. This meant that we got to spend more time together, specifically playing golf. We are all incredibly competitive. In my family, there is no such thing as just playing for fun. We are always playing for something. Looking back, as unfortunate as it was that the world pretty much shut down, it gave my family and a lot of other families a chance to slow down and spend time together.”
A Norwegian study conducted in 2015 found that this “green exercise” is an effective way to reduce stress. Golf involves (distanced) social interaction that has been proven to reduce anxiety and the effects of depression. In fact, a Swedish study in 2009 found that golfers have an increased life expectancy of “about five years.”
Golf gives Kuehn a chance to shut everything else off and clear her head. “When practicing or playing, I have the chance to be totally present in what I’m doing. The practice facility is my happy place, where I get the chance to do what I love.”
At last year’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur, Kuehn went up against seventy-one of the best female amateur golfers in the world. After heroic birdies on her last two holes of the qualifier at Augusta National’s neighboring course, Champions Retreat, Kuehn finished just inside the top 30 and got the chance to play a third day and see 365 of the most spectacular acres of land in the U.S.
RELATED: The field and format for the Augusta National Women’s Amateur
To the outside world, ANGC is a place of mystery and allure. The exclusive club limits its membership to roughly three hundred people, with new members accepted only when an existing member passes away or gives up their membership. The few who are allowed to walk the grounds each year get the unique opportunity to look behind the veil.
Spectators wrapped around the first tee box and lined the fairway ahead of Kuehn. Of the forty thousand fans on the grounds, it felt like every set of eyes were focused on her. As she shakily put her tee in the ground, Kuehn went through her pre-shot routine, her eyes trained on her target off in the distance.
“I was so unbelievably nervous on the first tee,” Kuehn remembered. “The sense of history and tradition I could feel just looking around still gives me goosebumps.”
Amid the dense crowd forming behind her, two figures loomed in the front row. Annika Sorenstam is one of the greatest women’s golfers of all time, winning ninety international tournaments as a professional and earning $22 million before retiring from professional golf in 2008. Next to Sorenstam sat Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State and one of the most influential women in American history. As those two figures looked on, Kuehn felt the enormity of the moment.
“If there was ever a time to hit the fairway, this is it,” Kuehn thought to herself.
She hit her drive, and thousands of heads turned as they followed her ball, soaring through the air. It landed in the rough and bounced several times before coming to a stop. Fairway missed.
Kuehn picked up her tee and paced forward. Her nerves faded away as she walked with her caddy by her side. She may have missed the fairway, but she was at peace with that. It was the perfect time to remind herself that golf is a game of imperfections; a game of managing your mistakes and approaching the next shot with a clean slate.
With a renewed focus, Kuehn scrambled and sunk a putt to save par on the first hole. After that, she found her groove.
Kuehn caught fire with birdies on the second, third and fourth holes. Walking up the fifth fairway, she saw a massive white scoreboard putting up a new name, letter by letter. K…U…E… she got goosebumps and looked away before they could finish. That scoreboard has displayed the names of Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth. And now hers.
RELATED: Davis returns to Augusta with new level of fame
“I’ve been lucky enough to go watch the Masters, and I have seen some of the most famous names in golf on those leaderboards,” Kuehn said. “To see my own last name put up made me feel like all the hours I’ve put in were worth it. It felt like the pinnacle of my golfing experience.”
The Augusta National Women’s Amateur is a monumental step in the right direction for the game of golf. While the exclusivity of Augusta National adds to the sense of mystery surrounding the course, it is also a reminder of inequality in the sport based on race, gender and economic opportunity.
Augusta only allowed male members for many years, which is consistent with the “old white man’s game” stereotype that golf has developed. The club finally invited its first female members in 2012, one of whom was Rice.
“This event has given worldwide coverage to the women’s amateur game,” Kuehn said. “The amount of people that have come to watch the event or followed at home on television has been remarkable. I have no doubt that many young girls have picked up the game as a result of the event. This is a testament to Augusta National’s commitment to continually growing the game.”
Kuehn capped off her flawless front nine with a birdie on seven and pars on eight and nine to shoot a 4-under 32.
When asked if her stellar front nine affected her mindset, she remarked, “I was just enjoying it… it’s fun when you’re hitting golf shots in places that you’ve seen countless times on TV.”
By the end of the day, she carded a 3-under 69 – the second lowest round of the day. She finished just three strokes shy of first place in solo 7th. While her run at the title fell short, her face didn’t show it. The only emotion there was gratitude.
The growth in the women’s professional game coincides with a boom in women’s recreational participation. As mentioned in a study by the National Golf Foundation, since 2014, the number of female participants has grown by 43% – from 8 million to almost 11.5 million.
This increase in participation was most dramatic during the pandemic. Like every other group that was stuck in quarantine, women were looking to get outdoors, move their bodies and experience some social interaction again, and golf was the perfect solution. The increase in participation is evident when passing a driving range or walking through a golf course parking lot. Nowadays, it’s common to see women of all ages: women practicing their game, women trash talking their friends, women lacing up their shoes before a round.
Golf’s surge in popularity isn’t restricted to the golf course. In fact, a study from the National Golf Foundation shows that, of the population of golf participants in the U.S. in 2021, 33% are classified as “off course only.” For many people, golf is a trip to play mini golf, hit the driving range or go to Topgolf with friends. Gone are the days when the only way to be considered a golfer was to play at an exclusive course with expensive clubs.
These changes are even evident at Augusta National, Kuehn observed.
She walked off the 18th green last April into the hordes of spectators, many of whom were young girls. Kuehn smiled and waved as they congratulated her on a spectacular round of golf.
As Kuehn walked by, one little girl assured her:
“I don’t play yet, but I will soon.”
How to Watch the 2023 Augusta National Women’s Amateur
Programming Update: Due to expected inclement weather and earlier tee times, NBC Sports will present live coverage of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur final round tomorrow, April 1, beginning at 8 a.m. ET on Peacock, NBC Sports digital platforms and ANWAgolf.com. GOLF Channel and Peacock will present live coverage starting at 10 a.m. ET, and previously scheduled coverage will air from noon-3:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
- Wednesday, March 29th: Augusta National Women’s Amateur Round 1 (1:30pm ET on Golf Channel and Peacock)
- Thursday, March 30th: Augusta National Women’s Amateur Round 2 (1:30pm ET on Golf Channel and Peacock)
- Saturday, April 1st: Augusta National Women’s Amateur Round 3 (8am ET on Peacock and the NBC Sports App, 12pm ET on NBC)