With the NCAA Championship scheduled to be played at
Arkansas’ home course, The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark., there was
just no way that Maria Fassi, the Razorbacks’ star senior from Mexico, was
going to miss it.
Fassi, the reigning Annika Award winner and No. 3 in the
Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), earned her playing privileges during
the LPGA Q-Series, an eight-round marathon over two weeks last fall at the
Pinehurst Resort.
But given the option to delay the start of her professional
career until after the spring portion of her senior season, Fassi jumped at the
opportunity. Not because she wanted to claim an NCAA individual championship,
although she did just that Monday with a flawless final round of 5-under-par 68
over the 6,397-yard, par-73 Blessings layout, but because she wanted to help
Arkansas, No. 10 in the latest golf rankings, make match play in the team
competition and get a shot at a team national championship.
That box was checked, too, with Fassi leading the way. The wild
spring weather that has been plaguing the middle of the country for a few days
popped up again and forced a delay of more than an hour. There were players
still on the course when play was suspended by darkness Monday evening.
But the top seven of the eight match-play participants are
pretty much set and No. 13 Auburn, Arkansas’ Southeastern Conference rival, has
a pretty strong hold on the eighth and final spot in match play. Arkansas is in with a solid hold on fourth
place after a final round of 10-over 302 left the Razorbacks with a 24-over 900
total.
Florida’s Sierra Brooks, a junior from Orlando, Fla. and No.
24 in the Women’s WAGR, had grabbed the individual lead after two rounds on the
strength of a 6-under 67 in a second round that started Saturday and finished
Sunday.
The weather that forced Brooks’ round to be played over two
days also shortened the individual competition and the team qualifying for
match play to 54 holes.
Brooks went out in the morning wave Monday and set the
target for Fassi as Brooks put together a wild even-par round of 73 that left
her with a 4-under 215 total. Brooks had the same seven birdies she had in her
67, but her round also included three bogeys and a pair of double bogeys.
Fassi, playing in The Golf Channel’s afternoon broadcast
window, put together a five-birdie, no-bogey masterpiece on her home course to
easily catch and pass Brooks. Fassi’s final-round 68 left her with an 8-under
211 and a four-shot margin of victory over Brooks.
And it’s not like The Blessings was playing easy. Only two
other players besides Fassi and Brooks bettered par for three rounds, Arizona’s
Bianca Pangdanganan, a senior from the Philippines, and Texas’ Hailee Cooper, a
freshman – probably the best rookie in the country – from Montgomery, Texas.
Pangdangana had grabbed a three-shot lead with her opening
round of 4-under 69 and followed that up with a pair of 1-over 74s to finish
third, a shot behind Brooks at 2-under 217.
Cooper had opened with what, I’m sure for somebody at her
level, was a disappointing 80 in tough conditions Friday. But Monday she fired
her second consecutive 4-under 69 to finish alone in fourth place at 1-under
218, a shot behind Pangdanganan.
Cooper also helped the Big 12 champion Longhorns, ranked second,
to the top of the leaderboard as they surged to an eight-shot lead over No. 3
Duke, which had opened up a nine-shot lead over the field following the second
round.
Texas was 6-under for Monday’s round with just Agathe
Laisne, a sophomore from France and No. 44 in the Women’s WAGR, left on the
course with a hole to play. That left the Longhorns atop the leaderboard at
6-over.
Duke, which was 12-over for its round, was alone in second
place at 14-over. Pac-12 champion Southern California, the No. 1 team in the
country, was 6-over for its final round and alone in third place at 17-over.
Arkansas was next with its final-round 302 leaving it in
fourth place at 24-over, seven shots behind Southern Cal.
Atlantic Coast Conference champion Wake Forest, ranked sixth,
surged into fifth place on the strength of a final round of 2-over 294 that
left the Demon Deacons at 26-over 902.
Wake Forest had struggled a little at The Blessings,
including its senior leader, Jennifer Kupcho of Westminster, Colo. and No. 1 in
the Women’s WAGR. It quickly became apparent that Kupcho was not going to be in
a position to successfully defend the NCAA individual crown she earned at the
Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. a year ago.
Kupcho, like Fassi, could be playing on the LPGA Tour after
her powerful runnerup finish in the LPGA Q-Series last fall. But, like Fassi,
it was team goals as much as individual ones that lured Kupcho back for the
spring semester of her senior season.
And Kupcho delivered Monday, carding a solid 1-under 72 in
her final stroke-play round to lead the way for the Demon Deacons. Kupcho was
in the group tied for 22nd at 7-over 226.
It also set up the tantalizing possibility of a quarterfinal
match between Arkansas and Wake Forest. Not sure a Fassi-Kupcho match would be
the best possible matchup for either team, but it would certainly be
intriguing. It was just over a month ago when Kupcho held off Fassi in a
brilliant duel in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship.
Reigning national champion Arizona, ranked fourth, was two
shots behind Wake Forest in sixth place at 28-over 904. The Wildcats are a
proven commodity in match play in this championship.
A third Pac-12 team will join Southern Cal and Arizona in
match play and that, of course, is No. 7 Stanford, which closed with a steady
10-over 302 Monday to secure seventh place at 30-over 906.
It looks like Auburn will grab the final spot in match play
as the Tigers, at 14-over for their final round, are eight shots behind
Stanford at 38-over.
Illinois, out of the Big Ten, carded a 9-over 301 in the
morning wave that left it with a 41-over 917 total. But that figure was never
good enough to get the Fighting Illini inside the top eight.
If Auburn holds on to the eighth spot, it will get top-seeded
Texas in the quarterfinals. In addition to the Arkansas-Wake Forest collision,
it looks like the remaining quarterfinal matchups will be Duke vs. Stanford and
a dynamite Pac-12 meeting between Southern Cal and Arizona.
In addition to Cooper’s heroics for Texas, Laisne was
even-par for her round with a hole to go. That leaves her in a tie for ninth
with San Jose State’s Natasha Andrea Oon, a freshman from Malaysia, at 3-over.
Kaitlyn Papp, a sophomore home girl from Austin, Texas and
No. 27 in the Women’s WAGR, and Emilee Hoffman, a junior from Folsom, Calif.,
each carded a 1-under 72 for the Longhorns and both were among the group tied
for 11th at 4-over 223.
Rounding out the Texas lineup was Sara Kouskova, a freshman
from Czech Republic who carded a final round of 3-over 76 and was among the
group tied for 50th at 12-over 231.
Virginia Tech’s Amanda Hollandsworth, a graduate student
from Floyd, Va., finished fifth in the individual standings as her final round
of 1-under 72 left her at even-par 219.
Stanford’s Albane Valenzuela, a junior from Switzerland and
No. 8 in the Women’s WAGR, was sixth as she matched par in the final round with
a 73 to end up at 1-over 220.
Duke’s Jaravee Boonchant, a sophomore from Thailand and No.
25 in the Women’s WAGR, was tied for seventh with Southern California’s Amelie
Garvey, a sophomore from New Zealand, at 2-over.
Boonchant closed with a 1-over 74 for a 221 total while
Garvey was still on the course at 1-over for her final round.
San Jose State’s Oon finished up with a solid 1-under 72 to
land at 3-over 222. She was tied for ninth with Texas’ Laisne, who must return
Tuesday morning to complete her round.
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