The top-ranked female golfer in the Class of 2027 won’t be signing during the week-long early signing period, which began Wednesday.
While Stanford will sign another highly ranked recruit in Anna Fang, the Cardinal will hold off in adding No. 1 junior Asterisk Talley, the reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion who is ranked fourth in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.
The 17-year-old Talley, who hails from Chowchilla, California, remains verbally committed to Stanford and can sign at any point, but Talley is also undecided about her future as she chases an LPGA card through the tour’s Elite Amateur Pathway.
“It’s still definitely in conversation,” Talley said of playing college golf. “It’s definitely an undecided still, but I think it’s something to think about over the next few months, and it’s definitely going to be an interesting path to kind of take. Both have their upsides and their cons, too. It’s definitely going to be a go-with-the-flow kind of thing and see what happens in these coming months.”
Due to NCAA rules, Stanford head coach Anne Walker cannot comment on prospective student-athletes like Talley, though she’ll soon officially welcome Fang, Golf Channel’s No. 2 junior in the class behind only Wake Forest signee Amelie Zalsman, to her program.
Talley isn’t the first No. 1 women’s recruit not to sign during the early signing period; Yuka Saso was verbally committed to Georgia for the Class of 2020, but she never put pen to paper for the Bulldogs, instead turning professional later that November.
While the launch of Talley’s pro career isn’t expected to be as imminent, she currently sits at 15 LEAP points and has plenty of opportunities to get to 20 and earn LPGA status. She is already exempt into four major championships next year, starting with the Chevron Championship in April. Made cuts in majors award one point while top-25s come with as additional point. Non-major LPGA events hand out one point for a top-40 or two points for a top-10.
Talley can also earn two more points via the WAGR, one for reaching No. 3 and another for getting to No. 1.
She’ll also have the chance this spring to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, a title that comes with two points.
If Talley were to reach 20 points before July 1, 2027, it’s likely she’d still wait until that date to turn pro and take up LPGA membership as that would afford her essentially a season and a half on the LPGA compared to just the remainder of the current season should she make the jump before July 1.
“Getting out there early is always an advantage. … You only have so much time,” Talley added. “But there’s always room to grow in college and get that extra experience with the team; it’s something you’ll never get back.”
Prior to Talley not signing, the Cardinal were in line to boast Golf Channel’s No. 1 recruiting class for the fourth time since the 2020 class and the No. 1 signee for the third time in that span, following Rose Zhang (2021) and Megha Ganne (2022).
Instead, the Cardinal drop to the No. 4 class behind No. 1 UCLA, No. 2 Wake Forest and No. 3 Texas.