Golf Channel duties can wait: Emilia Doran advances to match play at U.S. Women's Amateur

USA Today

20 hours ago

BANDON, Ore. — Last Monday, Emilia (Migliaccio) Doran woke up at 6 a.m. ET in Charlotte, North Carolina. She finished playing a practice round at Bandon Dunes in Oregon at 9:30 p.m. PT.
To say the last week has been a whirlwind for Doran would be an understatement, but it's far from over. She has traveled across the country, worked in her role as an on-course reporter for Golf Channel covering the Korn Ferry Tour in Utah and then arrived at the U.S. Women's Amateur the morning before her afternoon tee time on Monday. Now, she's one of 64 players with a chance to hoist the Robert Cox Trophy on the bluffs above the Pacific Ocean.
Doran advanced to match play at the 2025 U.S. Women's Amateur, finishing at 2 under after two rounds of stroke play. It comes on the heels of one of her busiest weeks of the year, but it's a lifestyle she has grown accustomed to in recent months. Instead of putting on a Golf Channel headset Wednesday and calling shots from the best female amateurs in the world, Doran will have clubs in her hand and be competing herself.
"I know that I can play good golf, and I know I can still be right there, even though I'm not practicing every day," Doran said.
Her path to match play at the U.S. Women's Am goes back to last year's competition at Southern Hills. Doran was in a 20-for-10 playoff that went to the second hole and became a 9-for-8. Migliaccio, playing in the first threesome, carded a triple-bogey 6 and didn't advance to match play.
That week, Doran also flew in late after working in her role as an on-course reporter and didn't get any practice rounds at the famed Perry Maxwell layout in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She felt as if she wasn't able to play her game that week and compete to the level she knows she can.
There was also an adjustment period for Doran in recent months, learning how to maintain a work-life balance. She had to figure out how and when she could practice on the road while making sure she was fully prepared for her on-course role with Golf Channel.
"It was definitely an adjustment," Doran said. "Last year it felt hard, at times, to try and manage both and compartmentalize myself. You want to practice, but you have a 3 p.m. show so you have to get up at 7 a.m. to practice. So it ends up being a late night, early morning."
Doran said she has gotten better at determining when to bring her clubs on the road and when they need to stay at home. But the year in between U.S. Women's Amateurs was still a long wait.
At the North & South Amateur at Pinehurst, she was in an 11-for-3 playoff and lost, failing to reach the Round of 32.
That made making match play at Bandon Dunes even more rewarding.
"I've had two experiences now where I'm like, 'all right.' Bandon Dunes, we're coming out here, and we're firing," Doran said.
Competing on the final year of her exemption from being on the 2022 Curtis Cup team, Doran made the trip to Bandon Dunes last Monday to get a practice round in. She teed off at 4 p.m. local time and finished at 9:30 p.m. Then she traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah, to cover the Korn Ferry Tour's Utah Championship last weekend.
She was able to get a couple 18-hole practice rounds in at Oak Ridge in Utah, where the Korn Ferry Tour event was held last year, while covering this year's championship. With her television duties not starting until the afternoon, the mornings were reserved for practice and preparation.
She was finished with TV duties at 7 p.m. Sunday, then Doran and her husband, Charlie, left Salt Lake City at 10:45 p.m. and flew into Eugene, Oregon, to stay the night, not arriving at the hotel until 12:30 a.m. Then, the couple woke up at 6:30 a.m. on Monday and made the two-and-a-half hour drive to Bandon Dunes to get ready for her afternoon tee time. Charlie, her caddie for the week, had never seen the course, so they walked all 18 holes to get ready for the afternoon.
"He loves being out here just as much, if not more, than I do," Doran said of Charlie. "He loves watching me compete. I know he's feeling every single shot I hit. We play a ton of golf together. He knows my numbers and stuff really well. As a caddie, he has good golf IQ.
"It's just wonderful. It's also just great to get 5 hours to talk and connect and appreciate what it means to be out here."
More: U.S. Women's Amateur live updates: Who's going to make the cut at Bandon Dunes?
Rounds of 69 and 73 have added up to a match-play appearance at Bandon Dunes, and now the Golf Channel headset will have to wait to go back on her head.
Two years ago in the U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach, Doran missed the cut and had a headset on by Friday afternoon calling the action on the Monterey Peninisula. This week, her focus is solely on golf until she's finished playing. TV will wait.
"Play two good rounds of stroke play, and then you get a chance at match play," Doran said. "That's been really exciting."
And in match play, anything can happen.