IN PLAY: Princeton University women’s golf star Catherine Rao displays her form as she competed for the Tigers in the NCAA Charlottesville Regional this May. Rising senior Rao, who was recently named as an honorable mention All-American by Golfweek magazine and was the 2025 Ivy League Player of the Year, will be competing in the U.S. Women’s Amateur from August 4-10 at the Bandon Dunes Golf resort in Bandon, Ore. (Photo provided courtesy of Princeton Athletics)
By Bill Alden
Catherine Rao started taking golf lessons as a grade schooler but she didn’t take to the game right away.
“I started golf when I was like around seven,” said Rao, a native of Camarillo, Calif. “I had lessons up until I was in middle school. I hated it at first.”
But when Rao played her first tournament as a middle schooler, her attitude toward golf changed dramatically.
“I was like, oh, it is really fun beating other people,” said Rao. “I love the competition, that is what really got me into it for sure. For me, the biggest interest came from I am not playing a one-hour game, I had five hours to do something.”
After producing a key early breakthrough, Roa got hooked on competitive golf.
“I won my first AGJA (American Junior Golf Association) event in the summer after 8th grade, that is pretty much how I started committing to it,” said Rao. “I always joke that I just kind of accidentally got good at golf. After I won my first AJGA, I started getting invited to big AGJA invitationals. I kept gradually improving and I think that was the point that I knew I am actually good. I played in the final group with Rose Zhang (former Stanford NCAA champion and current LGPA player) in the Rolex girls’ championship in my junior year of high school. I was like, ‘Oh I am playing with Rose. OK, I can actually hit a golf ball. Oh cool.’”
During her high school years, Rao produced a number of cool moments in her rise up the golf ladder, placing fourth at the 2020 Rolex Girls Invitational, third at the 2020 PING Invitational, sixth at the 2021 PING Invitational, tying for ninth at the 2021 PGA Girls Championship, and playing in the 2021 Junior Solheim Cup with Team USA.
When it came time to play in college, Rao, the valedictorian at Oaks Christian, decided to come east to attend Princeton University and join its women’s golf program.
“I just didn’t want to go to a golf powerhouse,” said Rao, who is majoring in the demanding Operations Research and Financial Engineering (ORFE) program at Princeton. “It didn’t make sense knowing that I could do so much with academics and then completely ignore that to pursue golf. I just didn’t want to go to a golf powerhouse. Because I was so young, I just wanted to give myself every opportunity that I could to succeed. So from there that is basically how I decided to go to Princeton.”
Rao succeeded right away for the Tigers, taking second in the Ivy League Championships, earning first-team All-Ivy honors and getting named as the Ivy Rookie of the Year. She posted three top-two finishes in the last four events of the spring, tying for medalist honors at the Columbia Classic and finishing runner-up at the Harvard Invitational ahead of the Ivy tournament.
After being sidelined by a nagging shoulder injury as a sophomore, Rao returned with a bang in the 2024-25 campaign. She started the season by earning medalist honors at the Nittany Lion Invitational in September to pace the Tigers to the overall team title. This February, Rao placed first in the Columbia Classic. She went on to take third at the Ivy League Championships in May to help the Tigers take first in the team standings. In recognition of her stellar campaign, Rao was named the 2025 Ivy League Player of the Year and as an honorable mention All-American by Golfweek magazine.
Rao started this summer by placing 73rd in the stroke play portion of the British Women’s Amateur in Nairn, Scotland. Next month, Rao will be competing in the U.S. Women’s Amateur from August 4-10 at the Bandon Dunes Golf resort in Bandon, Ore. She has made the quarterfinals in the last three years at that prestigious event.
In reflecting on her Princeton career, Rao was a bit disappointed by her freshman year despite the accolades she received.
“I felt like I was not playing my best,” said Rao, who played through her shoulder injury that season. “In my mind, this semester is what I expected my freshman season to be. Coming to Princeton was a little bit of a tough transition for me. It was now I am the one who is supposed to be winning. I haven’t won a tournament since eighth grade. I have been top-tenning everything since eighth grade in big events but I haven’t won one in a long time. The first win is always the hardest one.”
While Rao was sidelined from competition during her sophomore year, she gained a greater appreciation for the game by playing recreationally with members of the Princeton men’s hockey team at the Springdale Golf Club.
“They are obsessed with golf; they were like you play golf, let’s play golf,” said Rao, who keeps busy in the winter by working with the men’s hockey team as a marketing and social media assistant for Princeton Athletic Communications.
“Guys like Ian Murphy, Adam Robbins, and Nick Carabin were let’s go golf every single day. Their season ended and I was like do you guys want to go on the senior tour, you practice more than collegiate golfers. They helped me realize that there is lot more to golf than competition, they made it really, really fun.”
Rao returned to competition in her junior year on a roll, starting by taking first in the Penn State event.
“It was really fun individually to get the win straight off the bat,” said Rao. “It was the tournament where it was the first time your team was playing together. That was when coach and I were talking saying this is going to be a good year.”
A major highlight this year for Rao came when she competed this April in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur at the famed Augusta National Golf Club, the home of the Masters Tournament.
“Augusta was an amazing experience, I don’t even know how to describe it,” said Rao, who shot a four-over 148 to miss the cut. “It was literally like a dream come true. It is the only cut I have ever missed where the day after I wasn’t in my bedroom crying. It was one of those things where I still had so much fun. I am playing holes that I have watched on TV. It was really cool for me to get that opportunity as a girl. We grew up watching the Masters and we never thought we would have a tournament there.”
Winning the Ivy championship was a fun moment for Rao and her teammates.
“That was so great,” said Rao. “Ivies is so much more fun when you win it. The ride back to campus so much less depressing than my freshman year.”
While Princeton went on the finish ninth at the NCAA Charlottesville Regional to end its season, Rao enjoyed the ride.
“That was fun, it was one of those things where we were supposed to play it,” said Rao, who was the top Tiger finisher at the event, taking ninth with a two-over total of 215 for the three-round competition. “I personally feel that I did not play well. I know a lot of my teammates feel like we didn’t not give our best performance. I think it’s just one of those things where we are not used to playing super long seasons like the other schools so a little bit of the burnout hit for sure. It was a good learning experience in terms of scheduling and everything that we have now figured out for next year.”
Playing at the British Women’s Amateur event last month was another good learning experience for Rao.
“European golf is like a nightmare feeling,” said Rao, who carded a six-over 150 in failing to qualify for the match play portion of the event. “I have played practice rounds and I am thinking I am literally not going to break 100 out here but I really like playing over there. I think this year was a little bit of a mistake because I was so tired from the season. In general, it is a great experience. You are all of a sudden dealing with 40 mph wind, rain, everything. This links course was a little bit different though. This was a lot tighter, there were trees, there was elevation. Typically links courses don’t have any trees or any elevation.”
Looking ahead to the U.S. Women’s Amateur this August, Rao is hoping to elevate her game.
“I love links golf and I am really excited for Bandon,” said Rao. “I have always wanted to play Bandon. The U.S. Women’s Am is my favorite event of the year by far. Hopefully it is one of those things where I feel that for so long I have been so upset that I can’t get past quarterfinals that I am at this point where it is unreasonable to think that you are going to reach the quarterfinals every year. I am going to do what I can do. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. In my mind, I have nothing to prove to myself or anyone else.”
Heading into her senior campaign at Princeton, Rao is looking to prove that she belongs among the elite of women’s college golf.
“It is the same thing every year, I try to keep my goals pretty consistent – three, four tournament wins, make it to NCAA finals,” said Rao, who is planning to play a fifth college season as a grad transfer as she has an extra year of eligibility after being sidelined as a sophomore. “Hopefully we make it as a team. There is only so much I can control as a team at the end of the day, there are three other scores that count. I am going to do what I can do.”