Stanford, LSU share top spot in qualifying for match play in NCAA Championship; Texas A&M's Cernousek claims individual crown

 

   When the NCAA’s postseason got under way a couple of weeks ago, a Stanford-Auburn match for the national championship seemed like a scenario that could easily play out.

   Well, Pac-12 champion Stanford will take on Southeastern Conference power Auburn in a highly anticipated match, but in won't come in the Final Match, it will come right away in Tuesday morning’s quarterfinals at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course in Carlsbad, Calif.

   Stanford, which began Monday’s final round of stroke play qualifying for match play in second place, a shot behind Auburn’s SEC rival, Texas A&M. The Cardinal closed with an 11-over 299 to get a share medalist honors in the team competition with another of Auburn’s SEC rivals as LSU closed with a 3-over 291 to join Stanford at 2-over 1,154 over the 6,297-yard, par-72 North Course layout at La Costa.

   Not sure what the tiebreaker was that gave Stanford the top seed, but the Bayou Tigers of LSU, as opposed to the Plains Tigers of Auburn as opposed to the Atlantic Coast Conference Tigers of Clemson, which finished in fifth place to earn a spot in the match-play bracket for the first time in the history of the program, got the second seed and will take on Oregon out of the Pac-12 in another quarterfinal match Tuesday morning.

   It was the fourth straight season that Stanford has won or shared the top spot after 72 holes of qualifying for match play. Two years ago, the top-seeded Cardinal captured the national championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. A year ago at Grayhawk, Stanford fell in the semifinals to Pac-12 rival Southern California.

   Texas A&M, which had led the team standings following both Saturday’s second round and Sunday’s third round, backed off a little in the final round with a 15-over 303 as the Aggies finished three shots behind Stanford and LSU in third place with a 5-over 1,157 total.

   One Texas A&M player already will be taking some hardware out of La Costa as Adela Cernousek, a junior from France and No. 30 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), completed a wire-to-wire run to the NCAA’s individual championship.

   Cernousek had taken a six-shot lead into Monday’s final round after carding three straight 4-under 68s. She matched par in the final round with a 72 for a 12-under 276 total and was never really threatened while becoming the first Texas A&M player to claim an individual NCAA crown.

   Cernousek’s closest pursuer was Florida State’s Lottie Woad, a sophomore from England and No. 4 in the Women’s WAGR. Woad, an impressive winner of last month’s Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship, posted a solid 3-under 69 earlier in the day to finish with a 9-under 279 total that left her three shots behind Cernousek.

   Cernousek and the Aggies will take on UCLA, out of the Pac-12, in the quarterfinals Tuesday morning. The quarterfinal winners will be right back at it in the semifinals in the afternoon. It is annually the most exciting and unpredictable day in Division I women’s college golf.

   In its final year of existence, as least as we’ve always known it, the Pac-12 accounted for half of the eight quarterfinalists.

   Southern California had the best team score of the day, a 1-under 287, as the Trojans finished in fourth place in the team chase at La Costa with a 1,165 total, eight shots behind Texas A&M.

   After stunning Stanford in the semifinals a year ago at Grayhawk, Southern California fell to Wake Forest in the Final Match.

   Southern California’s quarterfinal opponent will be surprising Clemson, out of the ACC. Clemson struggled a little in the final round with a 304 that left it five shots behind the Trojans in fifth place with a 1,170 total.

   Pac-12 representatives UCLA and Oregon finished in a tie for sixth place, each ending up a shot behind Clemson with a 19-under 1,170 total. UCLA was awarded the six seed in the match-play bracket to earn a date with Texas A&M in the quarterfinals with seventh-seeded Oregon squaring off against LSU.

   UCLA finished up with a 9-over 297 while Oregon closed with a 7-over 295.

   Then there was Auburn, which sweated out a final round of 8-over 296 Monday to earn the final spot in the match-play bracket with a 20-under 1,172 total that left the Plains Tigers a shot behind UCLA and Oregon.

   Defending national champion Wake Forest, the ACC champion, played in the morning wave and put together a solid 2-over 290 to post a 22-over 1,174 total that would ultimately leave the Demon Deacons two frustrating shots short of a spot in the match-play bracket.

   Stanford knows it’s getting a tough opponent in the quarterfinals in Auburn with a first five that includes reigning U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Megan Schofill, a graduate student from Monticello, Fla. and No. 14 in the Women’s WAGR, and Anna Davis, the talented freshman from Spring Valley, Calif. and No. 10 in the Women’s WAGR, but there are no stiffs in this match-play bracket.

   If you’re one of the eight teams left standing for match play in the NCAA Championship, you are the elite.

   Co-medalists Stanford and LSU were well represented among the top 10 finishers in the individual standings with the Cardinal accounting for a pair of players and three of the Bayou Tigers appearing there.

   Stanford was led by its talented freshman, Paula Martin Sampedro, a Spaniard who is No. 22 in the Women’s WAGR. The top 10 was dominated by European players.

   Martin Sampedro closed with a second straight 2-under 70 to finish three shots behind Woad in third place with a 6-under 282 total.

   Megha Ganne, Stanford’s talented sophomore from Holmdel, N.J. and No. 40 in the Women’s WAGR, closed with a 2-over 74 to finish among a large group tied for 10^th place at even-par 288.

   Haven’t had a chance to scan all the U.S. Women’s Open qualifiers, but I know Ganne will be teeing it up at Lancaster Country Club in a little over a week. Got a chance to watch Ganne when she played for the United States in its Curtis Cup victory over Great Britain & Ireland in 2022 at Merion Golf Club’s iconic East Course.

   If you’re in the Philadelphia area, it’s worth a drive to Amish Country to watch the sheer joy with which Ganne plays the game.

   Ganne’s teammate on that U.S. team at Merion, Rachel Heck, a senior from Memphis, Tenn. and No. 45 in the Women’s WAGR, finished in the group tied for 28^th place with a 6-over 294 total after she closed with a 6-over 78.

   Heck’s experience in match play is probably, well, unmatched among the eight teams teeing it up in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.

   Kelly Xu, a sophomore from Claremont, Calif. and No. 56 in the Women’s WAGR, finished in the group tied for 39^th place for Stanford at 8-over 296.

   Rounding out the Stanford lineup was Sadie Englemann, a senior from Austin, Texas and No. 51 in the Women’s WAGR who finished among the group tied for 45^th place at 10-over 298 after closing with an 80.

   Leading the way for LSU was Aine Donegan, a junior from Ireland and No. 98 in the Women’s WAGR as she carded a second straight 1-under 71 to finish in a tie for fourth place with Arkansas’ Maria Jose Marin, a freshman from Colombia and No. 20 in the Women’s WAGR, at 5-under 283.

   Carla Tejedo, a senior from Spain, finished alone in ninth place for LSU as she closed with a 3-over 75 for a 1-under 287 total.

   Latanna Stone, a graduate student from Riverview, Fla. and No. 41 in the Women’s WAGR, joined the group tied for 10^th place at even-par 288 as she closed with a solid 1-under 71. Stone was the runnerup to Auburn’s Schofill in the all-SEC final in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles.

   Taylor Riley, a sophomore from San Diego, Calif., finished in a tie for 62^nd place with a 302 total as she closed with a 4-over 76.

   Then there was graduate student Ingrid Lindblad, the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR from Sweden. Lindblad never got it going during four rounds of stroke play at La Costa, finishing among the group tied for 65^th place with a 303 total after closing with a 2-over 74.

   Lindblad has been the top women’s amateur player in the world ever since Rose Zhang turned pro. She knows what’s at stake now.

   Arkansas’ Jose Marin matched par in the final round with a 72 to join LSU’s Donegan in the tie for fourth place at 5-under.

   Oregon’s leading lady was Kiara Romero, a talented freshman from San Jose, Calif. and No. 26 in the Women’s WAGR, as she matched par in the final round to finish a shot behind Donegan and Jose Marin in sixth place with a 4-under 284 total.

   Clemson was led by Annabelle Pancake, a senior from Zionsville, Ind. who finished a shot behind Romero in seventh place with a 3-under 285 total.

   Mississippi State’s Julia Lopez Ramirez, a junior from Spain and No. 3 in the Women’s WAGR, capped a spectacular season that saw her repeat as the SEC’s individual champion as she closed with a 1-over 73 to finish a shot behind Pancake in eighth place with a 2-under 286 total.

   Really nice showing by Duke senior Phoebe Brinker, an Archmere Academy product who finished among the group tied for 10^th place with an even-par 288 total after matching par in the final round with a 72.

   It was the curtain call for one of the finest careers in the history of the program and that’s saying something considering all the tremendous players who have worn the Duke blue over the years.

   Katie Li of Basking Ridge, N.J. capped an outstanding freshman season at Duke as she closed with a 5-over 77 to finish among the group tied for 70^th place with a 304 total.

   The Dookies finished in 14^th place among the 15 teams that survived the cut following Sunday’s third round with a 32-over 1,184 total.