OOLTEWAH, TN — Rachel Heck’s hands quivered. Her heart pounded, sending reverberations through her body. Somehow she pulled back her putter and smacked the ball toward the hole, hitting it close enough for that putt to be conceded.
Three weeks ago, Heck, a former NCAA individual champion and Annika Award winner at Stanford, was working as an on-course commentator at the U.S. Girls’ Junior. As she watched those girls battle it out in match play, she craved to be in their shoes. She missed those tingly sensations over a pressure putt or a pivotal shot.
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Heck, now 24 and playing in her ninth U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course in her home state, got exactly what she wanted Thursday during the Round of 64. And she came through, as she has time and time again on one of amateur golf’s biggest stages.
Heck knocked off No. 4 seed and world No. 22 Anna Davis 1 up in the first round of match play in a match she controlled for a majority of the afternoon. It wasn’t easy, though. With a chance to win the match on the par-5 17th hole, she missed a birdie putt and had to go to the 18th and try to do it again. With Davis not in the hole after her par putt crept past on the left side, Heck had two putts from about 10 feet to win, and through the trembles and quivers knocked it to about a foot, advancing to Friday’s Round of 32.
“It was so fun to feel those emotions again, the adrenaline and the nerves” Heck said. “I haven’t felt that in a long time since nationals, probably my senior year, which is over two years now. This is the feeling I really wanted when I decided I wanted to get back into amateur golf and and play some more. I wanted the opportunity to come down to stretch in a match and have my heart racing. So out there, when I was getting nervous or hit a bad shot, I kept reminding myself that this is why I came back to play.”
Heck will face Gianna Singh on Friday in the Round of 32.
Finishing her stroke play round early Wednesday afternoon at 4 over, Heck said she was constantly refreshing leaderboards well into the evening hoping her score would be enough to get into a playoff. She watched as she went from outside the cut line to on the number and eventually in. On Thursday morning, Heck arrived at The Honors Course at 7 a.m., just in case she had to earn a spot in match play.
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She made it on without needing a playoff, but she did earn was a matchup with Davis, who beat Heck by eight shots in stroke play. Davis also was a quarterfinalist last year, falling to eventual champion Megha Ganne at Bandon Dunes.
But in match play, anything can happen. And Heck, who has played only twice in WAGR-ranked events this year and is ranked 2,573rd in the world, craved an upset.
Davis, who was on the U.S. Curtis Cup team earlier this summer, took a 1-up lead after four holes, but Heck proceeded to win three of the next five holes to lead 2 up at the turn. With her father, Robert, on the bag, the normally jovial Heck was beaming with every shot, whether good or bad. She constantly shared laughs with her dad, whether birdie putts circled around the hole before falling or hitting her worst shot of the day, which came on the par-5 11th when she lost a ball in the right fescue, which opened the door for Davis to close the gap. One of her biggest grins of the day came as she and her dad worked on where to drop her ball for the third shot.
“I’m definitely appreciating it a lot more than I did a few years ago,” Heck said. “A few years ago, every tournament I entered, I had the goal of winning and I had really high expectations for myself. And right now, honestly, I feel like I’m playing on house money. I don’t really play golf that much. I don’t practice golf that much. I play, maybe, for like an hour once a week, maybe go play nine holes every now and then, and that started like two months ago. So I’m just kind of living the dream right now.”
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After Davis tied the match on the 13th, Heck won the 14th and 16th holes to go 2 up with only two to play. That’s when the nerves creeped in and she missed a birdie on the 17th, but then came the 18th and she rose to occasion like she has time and time again.
Two times Heck has reached the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur, including in 2023 at Bel-Air in Los Angeles after spending 17 days in rigorous Air Force ROTC Field Training. What’s she’s doing at The Honors Course is not normal, but for Heck, it’s familiar.
“I’m in a totally new era of golf for me,” Heck said. “This isn’t my full-time job, and it never ever will be. But I remind myself that I have done this before. I have … maybe not two years off golf … but I have had months off golf. I went to my field training and then played really well at Bel-Air. So when I am playing well, I’m reminding myself it’s not a fluke, like the person who won those championships and what not. That’s still me. So I’m reminding myself that I’ve done this a million times, and now it’s a little different. But I still got it in me.”
Rachel Heck celebrates with her caddie and father Robert Heck after winning her match 1 up on the 18th hole during the round of 64 of the 2026 U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Honors Course in Ooltewah, Tenn. on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026.
After her heart settled, she shared a warm embrace with Davis, her parents and fiance, Grant Worthington, who has walked every hole this week alongside Heck’s mother, Stacy. Heck, from Memphis, had never been to The Honors Course before this week.
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This U.S. Women’s Amateur has been circled on the calendar for some time. Heck never thought she would have a chance to play this week, thinking she would be a professional. Then when she decided to remain an amateur but put golf on the back burner, being able to compete in her home state was going to be a challenge. She started researching where she needed to sign up for qualifying then found out she was still exempt for the championship.
“That was the best email I’ve ever gotten,” Heck said. “So that took a ton of that stress away. It’s just so, so, so special to be here in my home state, playing well, playing the game I love so much, and it’s cool to love it again.”
Unlike the past, Heck still feels like she’s the underdog. Her resume is almost second to none of the final 32 competitors, but she has likely played the least amount of golf of any of them leading up to the U.S. Women’s Amateur. In the past, she always felt as if she was expected to win. That pressure always was on her shoulders.
“I haven’t played that much golf, so I can just feel so free out there,” Heck said. “I’m just having a lot of fun. So I’m gonna try to keep that mentality going to tomorrow and just see what happens.”
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With nothing to lose, Heck is right where she wants to be, even if she can’t feel her hands.
Cameron Jourdan is an assistant editor of Golfweek, covering college and amateur golf, the PGA Tour and plenty more. Follow Cameron on X/Twitter (@Cam_Jourdan) or Instagram (@GolfweekJourdan).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Rachel Heck craved the pressure. Now she’s embracing it again at the U.S. Women’s Amateur
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