Stanford finally ends a long drought by claiming the title in the final Pac-12 Championship at Palouse Ridge

 

   Kind of hard to believe that Stanford’s eight-shot victory in the Pac-12 Championship – the very last Pac-12 Championship – was the Cardinal’s first conference championship in a decade.

   During that time, Stanford has been a contender for a national championship seemingly every year, from Mariah Stackhouse to Andrea Lee and Albane Valenzuela to Rachel Heck and Rose Zhang, it seems like the Cardinal were always the team to beat.

   Maybe teams from other parts of the country were intimidated by what had clearly become a Stanford mystique. Not in the Pac-12. They just refused to back down. Stanford might hoist the familiar NCAA championship trophy, but every year since 2014, it was some other school that had a Pac-12 championship banner to hang in their gym.

   I lamented the end of the Pac-12 in women’s golf in a post when the gang gathered for the next-to-last time for the Nanea Pac-12 Preview in Hawaii in February. Maybe the Pac-12 had lost a little of its luster in some of the marquee sports, but not in women’s golf.

   It happened again last spring when Southern California found itself matched with Stanford in the semifinals in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Trojans didn’t blink, Brianna Navarrosa taking down one of the biggest names, not just in women’s college golf, but women’s golf, period, in Rose Zhang to help Southern Cal stun defending national champion Stanford, 3-1.

   It could easily happen again this spring when the NCAA Championship comes to California at the Omni Resort & Spa’s Champions Course in Carlsbad.

   But they would only meet one last time with a conference championship on the line and  this time it was Stanford getting the edge on Southern Cal with a record-breaking 28-under-par 836 total at Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Wash., where the final Pac-12 Championship wrapped up April 23^rd.

   Stanford might very well have won this championship on the first day when the combination of cold, wind and rain hit Palouse Ridge, the Cardinal managing to put together a 2-under 286 over the 6,344-yard, par-72 layout while everybody else struggled mightily with the difficult conditions.

   Stanford then added a 14-under 274 in the second round before closing with a 12-under 276 to get it in at 28-under. It was Stanford’s third Pac-12 crown with the clock about to stop on a conference that has produced so many great athletes in so many sports in a few weeks.

   Kelly Xu, a sophomore from Claremont, Calif. and No. 96 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), closed with a sizzling 7-under 65 over the 6,344-yard, par-72 to lead Stanford across the finish line as she earned runnerup honors in the individual standings with a 10-under 206 total.

   Xu had matched par with a 72 in the opening round’s difficult conditions before adding a solid 3-under 69 in the second round.

   There was no catching Southern California’s Catherine Park, a sophomore from Irvine, Calif. and No. 23 in the Women’s WAGR, for the individual title. Park had finished in a tie for second place behind her fellow Irvineite Zhang in the individual chase at last spring’s NCAA Championship at Grayhawk.

   Park battled the tough conditions of the opening round and signed for a 2-under 70. With the weather a lot better and the setup a little more benign, Park carded a spectacular 8-under 64 in the second round to take a four-shot advantage into the final round.

   Park closed with a 5-under 67 for a 15-under 201 total that was five shots clear of Xu and earned her the individual title.

   Park led Southern Cal to a runnerup finish in the team standings with a 20-under 844 total. After struggling to a 298 in the opening round, the Trojans went really low in the second round with a spectacular 20-under 268 that enabled them to creep within six shots of Stanford.

   A final round of 10-under 278 left Southern Cal eight shots behind Stanford with a 20-under 844 total.

   Oregon finished four shots behind Southern Cal with a 16-under 848 total as the Ducks bounced back from an opening-round 293 with an 11-under 277 in the second round and a 12-under 276 in the final round.

   Oregon battled all the way to the Final Match in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk two springs ago before falling to Stanford in an all-Pac-12 matchup.

   It was four more shots back to UCLA in fourth place as the Bruins, like Oregon, came on strong in the final two rounds after a rough start to finish with a 12-under 852 total. After opening with a 299 in the opening round’s wind and rain and cold, UCLA posted a 12-under 276 in the second round and an 11-under 277 in the final round.

   It is a testament to the strength of the Pac-12 in this, its final year, that when the six NCAA regionals tee off Monday, three of them will be headed by top seeds from the conference, Stanford at the Cle Elum Regional at Tumble Creek Golf Club, Southern California in the East Lansing Regional at the Forest Akers West Golf Course and UCLA in the Las Vegas Regional at Spanish Trail Country Club.

   Oregon is seeded third in the Auburn Regional at the Auburn University Club.

   It was 13 shots back to Washington in fifth place in the team standings at Palouse Ridge with a 1-over 865 total as the Huskies battled back from an opening-round 302 with a 4-under 284 in the second round and a 9-under 279 in the final round.

   Washington will be staying in its home state as the six seed in the Cle Elum Regional.

   Arizona was three shots behind Washington in sixth place with a 4-over 868 total as the Wildcats struggled to a 304 in the opening round, but rebounded with an 8-under 280 in the second round before closing with a 4-under 284.

   Arizona is seeded third in the Las Vegas Regional.

   Arizona State finished a shot behind its in-state rival in seventh place with a 5-over 869 total as the Sun Devils opened with a 299 and added a 7-under 281 in the second round before closing with a 1-over 289.

   Arizona State is seeded third in the Cle Elum Regional.

   Those three teams that rounded out the top seven at Palouse Ridge, Washington, Arizona and Arizona State, all have won national championships since the last time Stanford claimed the Pac-12 title, the Huskies in 2016, Arizona State in 2017 and Arizona in 2018.

   Stanford’s talent and depth was on full display at Palouse Ridge as four of the players in the Cardinal lineup finished among the top 11 in the individual standings.

   Megha Ganne, a sophomore from Holmdel, N.J. and No. 52 in the Women’s WAGR, backed up Xu as Ganne finished in a tie for fourth place with a 7-under 209 total.

   Ganne, a member of the winning United States team in the Curtis Cup Match at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course in 2022 before she ever even hit a shot for Stanford, sandwiched a 5-under 67 in the second round with a pair of 1-under 71s.

   It’s easy to forget that before Zhang’s back-to-back NCAA individual crowns, it was Rachel Heck, as a freshman in 2021, who was the individual NCAA champion. Heck, a senior from Memphis, Tenn. and No. 90 in the Women’s WAGR, was trying to recover from surgery to remove a rib at this time last year and was nowhere near her best.

   Even as recently as the Nanea Pac-12 Preview in February, Heck was not in the Stanford lineup. But when Heck showed up at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship earlier this month and just missed the cut to play the final round at Augusta National, it looked like she was back to her old self.

   Heck was really solid at Palouse Ridge, sandwiching a 2-under 70 in the second round with a pair of 71s to finish in a tie for seventh place with a 4-under 212.

   Heck has a wealth of match-play experience as a member of the winning U.S. Curtis Cup teams in 2021 at Conwy Golf Club in Caernarvonshire, Wales and again 10 months later at Merion. She made a run to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. in 2021 and was in some tough matches in Stanford’s march to an NCAA crown in 2022 at Grayhawk.

   Heck’s presence turns Stanford from a very good team to a great team.

   The Cardinal’s Sadie Englemann, a senior from Austin, Texas and No. 43 in the Women’s WAGR, finished among a group of five players tied for 11^th place at 2-under 214. After struggling in the opening round’s tough conditions with a 4-over 76, Englemann registered back-to-back 3-under 69s in the final two rounds.

   Rounding out the Stanford lineup was Paula Martin Sampedro, a freshman from Spain and No. 21 in the Women’s WAGR, as she finished in the group tied for 16^th place with a 1-under 215 total. Martin Sampedro matched par in the opening round with a 72 and contributed a 3-under 69 to the Cardinal’s second-round surge before closing with a 2-over 74.

   Oregon’s Kiara Romero, one of the top freshmen in the country from San Jose, Calif. and No. 32 in the Women’s WAGR, zoomed up the leaderboard in the final round with a sparkling 7-under 65 to finish a shot behind Stanford’s Xu in the individual standings with a 9-under 207 total.

   Romero, winner of the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship at the Air Force Academy Eisenhower Golf Club’s Blue Course in Colorado Springs, Colo. last summer, had matched par in the opening round with a 72 before adding a 2-under 70 in the second round.

   Joining Stanford’s Ganne in the tie for fourth place at 7-under, two shots behind Romero, was Southern Cal’s Navarrosa, a senior from San Diego, Calif. One of the heroes of the Trojans’ run to the semifinals of the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk a year ago, Navarrosa struggled in the opening round with a 4-over 76, but really got it going on the final two days, recording a 5-under 67 in the second round and closing with a 6-under 66.

   Another talented freshman, Arizona’s Charlotte Back of Germany, finished two shots behind Ganne and Navarrosa with a 5-under 211 total. Back, too, struggled in the opening round’s difficult conditions with a 5-over 77. But she matched individual champion Park’s sizzling 8-under 64 in the second round before closing with a 2-under 70.

   Joining Stanford’s Heck in the tie for seventh place at 4-under was UCLA’s Zoe Antoinette Campos, a junior from Valencia, Calif. and No. 6 in the Women’s WAGR. Campos added a 2-under 70 to her opening round of 1-over 73 before closing with a 3-under 69.

   Campos’ UCLA teammate, Meghan Royal, a sophomore from Carlsbad, Calif., finished in a tie for ninth place with Oregon State’s Raya Nakao, a freshman from Kaneohe, Hawaii, each landing on 3-under 213.

   Royal bounced back from an opening round of 3-over 75 with a 2-under 70 in the second round before closing with a solid 4-under 68. If the Bruins can make it to the NCAA Championship, it would be a home game for Royal at the Omni Resort & Spa in Carlsbad.

   Nakao also opened with a 3-over 75 before adding back-to-back 3-under 69s in the final two rounds.

   Nakao’s Oregon State teammate, Kyra Ly, a sophomore from Portland, Ore., joined Stanford’s Englemann and three others in the quintet tied for 11^th place at 2-under. After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Ly carded a couple of steady 1-under 71s.

   Rounding out the group at 2-under were the Oregon duo of Minori Nagano, a senior from Japan, and freshman Karen Tsuro, another Carlsbad, Calif. native, and Washington’s Jamie Hsieh, a junior from Taiwan.

   Nagano bounced back from an opening round of 3-over 75 with a 3-under 69 in the second round before finishing up with a 2-under 70. Tsuro sandwiched an even-par 72 in the second round with a pair of 1-under 71s.

   After opening with a 2-over 74, Hsieh signed for a 1-under 71 in the second round before closing with a solid 3-under 69.

   A couple of Colorado players, Sabrina Iqbal, a fifth-year player from San Jose, Calif., and Morgan Miller, a sophomore Cedar Park, Texas, will compete as individuals in the Cle Elum Regional.

   Iqbal finished in a tie for 37^th place with a 6-over 222 at Palouse Ridge. Miller missed the Pac-12 Championship with an injury.