Florida State has the edge on Wake Forest to claim program's first ACC crown at Sedgefield

 

   When you have the No. 1 (Lottie Woad) and No. 2 (Mirabel Ting) players in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), you should be able to win your conference championship, right?

   Well, Florida State, which has so often flirted with an Atlantic Coast Conference crown since joining the conference 33 years ago, got it done this time, defeating defending champion Wake Forest, 3-2, in the match-play final Saturday at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.

   There was the not-so-small matter of one of the ACC party crashers as Stanford, the No. 1 team throughout the wraparound 2024-2025 season in the Scoreboard, powered by clippd, rankings with a lineup in which the lowest-ranked player is No. 26 in the Women’s WAGR, joined the conference following the breakup of the Pac-12.

   The Cardinal had won every stroke-play event they had teed it up in this season and emphasized their dominance by earning the top seed in qualifying for match play at Sedgefield by 15 shots.

   But, and stop me if you’ve heard this before, golf is a funny game.

   If you assumed it would be No. 1 Stanford against Florida State, No. 3 in the Scoreboard rankings, in the ACC final, well, you were wrong.

   In maybe the most surprising outcome of the week, Wake Forest, taking a stand for the original ACC, handed Stanford a stunning 3-2 setback in the Good Friday semifinals.

   And maybe the most surprising thing about that surprising outcome was that freshman Sarah Lydic, the kid from Ocean View, Del., was right in the middle of it for the Demon Deacons. More on that later.

   In the ACC title match, Wake Forest, no slouch at No. 8 in the Scoreboard rankings, got the kind of boost it needed to play giant killer two days in a row when Anne-Sterre den Dunnen, a junior from The Netherlands, delivered a 2 and 1 upset of Woad, the junior from England who has stood atop the Women’s WAGR rankings ever since former LSU star Ingrid Lindblad turned pro.

   Ting, a junior from Malaysia, righted the ship for the Seminoles with a 5 and 4 decision over Chloe Kovelesky, a freshman from Boca Raton, Fla.

   Lydic, a two-time Delaware state champion, the first time at Sussex Academy and the second time last spring at Indian River High, battled hard, but suffered a 1-up setback at the hands of Kaylah Williams, a senior from South Africa.

   And then Florida State got the clinching point in an upset of their own for the Seminoles as Alexandra Gazzoli, a freshman from Palm Coast, Fla., won the final hole to edge Carolina Chacarra, a senior form Spain and No. 23 in the Women’s WAGR, 1-up.

   Wake Forest’s other full point came from Macy Pate, a sophomore from Winston-Salem, N.C. and No. 49 in the Women’s WAGR, as she cruised to a 4 and 3 victory over Sophia Fullbrook, a freshman from England.

   “With everything going on, the girls really stayed where their feet are, played some really good golf and got it done,” Florida State veteran head coach Amy Bond told the Florida State website. “I’m super excited; we have waited a long time for this and it was well deserved by our crew against a very good Wake Forest squad.”

   Florida State will be the ACC’s automatic qualifier and figure to be a No. 1 seed when the NCAA regional assignments are handed out Wednesday in a broadcast on The Golf Channel.

   Maybe we’ll get a Stanford-Florida State match in next month’s NCAA Championship at the La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. It’s not difficult to imagine that scenario playing out.

   Take nothing away from Florida State’s run to a long-awaited ACC championship, but nothing shook up the gathering at Sedgefield quite as much as Wake Forest’s 3-2 semifinal victory over Stanford.

   Sky Sload, a graduate student from Keswick, Va., was in the lineup for Wake Forest in the opening round of stroke play and after she recorded a 3-over 75, head coach Kim Lewellen went to her bench and Lydic got the call. Wake Forest had started slowly with a 4-over 292.

   While Sarah Lydic suddenly found herself thrust into the Wake Forest lineup at Sedgefield, her older sister Hannah, a junior at Richmond, was on her way to claiming the individual title while leading the Spiders to the team crown in their debut in the Atlantic 10 Championship at the Evermore Resort’s Cypress Course in Orlando, Fla.

   I’ve been following Team Lydic since the days the sisters would show up in Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour stops in Delaware. They have always been, to put it simply, winners.

   Sarah Lydic responded in a big way when Lewellen called on her, contributing a 2-under 70 to Wake Forest’s 3-over 291 in the second round and a 1-under 71 to the Demon Deacons’ final round of 6-under 282 as they finished in fourth place in the team standings with a 1-over 865 total.

   Lydic’s match with North Carolina’s Reagan Southerland, a sophomore from Atlanta, Ga., didn’t finish as Wake Forest rolled to three wins to advance to the semifinals with a 3-0 victory over the Tar Heels in Friday morning’s quarterfinals.

   By claiming the top seed, Stanford got a bye into Friday afternoon’s semifinals and it was the Cardinal waiting for Wake Forest.

   Lydic drew the “weak link” in the Stanford lineup in Kelly Xu, a junior from Claremont, Calif. and No. 26 in the Women’s WAGR. All Xu did last spring was go 3-0 in her matches as Stanford marched to a national championship at La Costa.

   It’s tough to overestimate the effect of Lydic’s stunning 8 and 6 victory over Xu had on the ultimate outcome in Wake Forest’s upset of Stanford.

   Stanford was probably a little out of its comfort zone, coming to the East to play in the ACC Championship for the first time. Sometimes, the bye favors the team that played earlier in the day as opposed to the team that was sitting and waiting.

   Whatever. But there can be no doubt that Lydic putting that point on the board for Wake Forest had to give her teammates a huge dose of belief.

   No less impressive was Kovelesky’s 2-up victory over Megha Ganne, a junior from Holmdel, N.J. and No. 9 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Ganne was winning matches for the United States in the Curtis Cup at Merion Golf Club’s East Course a few weeks after graduating from high school in 2022 and she had a couple of huge match wins for Stanford in its national championship run a year ago.

   Pate got the clinching point for Wake Forest with a hard-fought 2-up verdict over Meja Ortengren, a Swede and one of Stanford’s two freshman phenoms who is No. 16 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Stanford’s Spanish studs, sophomore Paula Martin Sampedro, No. 14 in the Women’s WAGR, and freshman Andrea Revuelta, No. 12 in the Women’s WAGR, won their matches, Martin Sampedro claiming a 5 and 4 decision over den Dunnen and Revuelta rolling to a 4 and 3 win over Chacarra. But it wasn’t enough.

   Revuelta is one of the hottest players in women’s amateur golf. She torched the 6,092-yard, par-72 Sedgefield layout with a pair of 5-under 67s in Wednesday’s double round and added a 4-under 68 in Thursday’s final round to claim the ACC’s individual crown with a 14-under 202 total that was two shots clear of Virginia’s Amanda Sambach, a senior from Pinehurst and No. 25 in the Women’s WAGR. Sambach was the ACC’s individual champion two years ago.

   Revuelta was coming off a tie for fourth place in the Augusta National Women’s Championship earlier this month. Her teammate Ganne finished in a tie for seventh place at Augusta.

   Florida State’s Woad finished in third place in defense of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur title she won a year ago and Wake Forest’s Chacarra also earned a top-10 finish, ending up in ninth place at Augusta.

   Woad and Ting had finished in a tie for third place in qualifying for match play, each landing on 8-under 208, four shots behind Virginia’s Sambach.

   That helped Florida State finish in a tie for second place in the team standings with Virginia, each ending up with a 12-under 852 total, 15 shots behind Stanford. A tiebreaker went the Seminoles’ way and that meant they got a bye to the semifinals while Virginia had to play a first-round match against California.

   In the first of several surprises, the Cal Bears, No. 32 in the Scoreboard rankings and playing in their first ACC Championship, knocked off Virginia, No. 11 in the Scoreboard rankings, 3-2, to earn a semifinal date with Florida State.

   Woad and Ting got match wins, Woad rolling to a 5 and 4 decision over Claudia Lara Miravitlles, a freshman from Spain, and Ting holding off Adora Liu, a junior from Fremont, Calif., 2-up, as the Seminoles cruised to a 3-0 sweep of California.

   Florida State’s other full point came courtesy of Williams as she earned a 2 and 1 decision over Kaylyn Noh, a senior from Rocklin, Calif.

   Lara Miravitlles had to work overtime, but her victory over Virginia’s Rebecca Skoler, a graduate student from Needham, Mass., on the 19^th hole clinched Cal’s 3-2 upset of the Cavaliers. Lara Miravitlles was 2-down with two holes to play, but won those last two holes to extend the match and then won it on the 19^th.

   Liu and Constance Fouillet, a sophomore from France, earned the other two points for California as Liu claimed a 3 and 2 verdict over Jaclyn LaHa, a sophomore from Pleasanton, Calif., and Fouillet captured a 2 and 1 decision over Chloe Schiavone, a graduate student from Jacksonville, Fla.

   Virginia got match wins from Sambach, who pulled out a 2-up victory over Anna Malloy, a junior from England, and Megan Propeck, a senior from Leewood, Kan. who cruised to a 4 and 3 decision over Noh.

   Wake Forest began its march to the title match with a 3-0 sweep of North Carolina, No. 11 in the Scoreboard rankings, in Friday morning’s first round of match play.

   Chacarra claimed a 4 and 3 victory over a tough customer in the Tar Heels’ Megan Streicher, a junior from South Africa and No. 54 in the Women’s WAGR, and Kovelesky cruised to a 5 and 4 decision over Katie Vu, a freshman from Fairfax Station, Va.

   Den Dunnen provided the clincher for the Demon Deacons with a hard-fought 1-up win over Ing Iadpluem, a sophomore from Thailand.

   Stanford, behind Revuelta, made quite a statement in qualifying for match play.

   The Cardinal opened with a 6-over 282 and then started to pull away with a 9-under 279 in the afternoon of Wednesday’s double round. Stanford then turned it into a runaway with a sizzling 12-under 276 in the final round that gave the Cardinal a 27-under 827 total.

   In addition to Revuelta’s medal-winning performance, Stanford also had a top-seven finisher in Ortengren, who shared seventh place with California’s Fouillet at 1-under 215. Ortengren contributed a sparkling 5-under 67 to Stanford’s closing kick in the final round. She had opened with a 1-over 73 and added a 3-over 75 in the afternoon of Wednesday’s double round.

   Ting and Woad led the way for Florida State as it earned a share of runnerup honors with Virginia and, ultimately, a bye to the semifinals via tiebreaker, with a 12-under 852 total. After opening with a 4-under 284, the Seminoles added a solid 8-under 280 in the second round before matching par in the final round with a 288.

   Ting opened with a sizzling 6-under 66 and added 2-under 70 in the afternoon of Wednesday’s double round before matching par in the final round with a 72. After opening with a 3-under 69, Woad matched her teammate’s first-round performance with a 6-under 66 of her own in the afternoon of Wednesday’s double round before closing with a 1-over 73 as she joined Ting at 8-under in a tie for third place.

   After opening with a 2-over 290, Virginia added a 3-under 285 in the afternoon of Wednesday’s double round before closing with an 11-under 277 that left them in a tie for second with Florida State at 12-under.

   Sambach always seems to be on her game when the ACC Championship comes around and she contributed a sizzling 7-under 65, matching the low round of stroke play, to Virginia’s furious final-round rally to finish two shots behind Revuelta in second place in the individual standings with a 12-under 204 total.

   Sambach had opened with a 1-under 71 and added a 4-under 68 in the afternoon of Wednesday’s double round.

   Wake Forest grabbed fourth place with its 1-over 865 total and Cal and North Carolina grabbed the final two spots in the match-play bracket as they finished 15 shots behind the Demon Deacons in a tie for fifth place, each landing on 16-over 880.

   Backing up Revuelta and Ortengren for Stanford were Martin Sampedro and Ganne, both of whom finished among the group tied for 11^th place at 1-over 217.

   Martin Sampedro opened with a 1-under 71 and added a solid 4-under 68 in the afternoon of Wednesday’s double round, but struggled in the final round with a 6-over 78. Ganne opened with a 1-under 71 and struggled to a 5-over 77 in the afternoon of Wednesday’s double round before contributing a 3-under 69 to Stanford’s fast finish.

   Rounding out the Stanford lineup was Xu as she bounced back from an opening round of 7-over 79 with a 3-under 69 in the afternoon of Wednesday’s double round before matching par in the final round with a 72 to finish in the group tied for 19^th place at 4-over 220.

   California’s Noh and Virginia’s Propeck finished in a tie for fifth in the individual standings, each landing on 2-under 214. Noh sandwiched a 2-over 74 in the afternoon of Wednesday’s double round with a pair of 2-under 79s while Propeck, backing up Sambach for the Cavaliers, matched par in the opening round with a 72 and followed it up with back-to-back 1-under 71s.

   Noh’s Cal teammate Fouillet joined Stanford’s Ortengren in a tie for seventh place at 1-under as Fouillet added a solid 3-under 69 in the afternoon of Wednesday’s second round to her opening round of 2-under 70 before backing off a little in the final round with a 4-over 76.

   The Wake Forest pair of Chacarra and Pate rounded out the top 10 in the individual standings as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each landing on even-par 216.

   Chacarra registered a pair of 2-over 74s in Wednesday’s double round before closing with a solid 4-under 68. Pate opened with a 1-under 71 and added a 3-over 75 in the afternoon of Wednesday’s double round before closing with a 2-under 70.

   Katie Li, a sophomore at Duke from Basking Ridge, N.J., matched the low individual round of stroke play with a sizzling 7-under 65 in the final round that left her among the group tied for 34^th place with a 7-over 223 total. Li struggled in Wednesday’s double round, opening with a 78 and adding an 80 in the afternoon.

   Duke senior Rylie Heflin, an Avondale resident who starred scholastically across the border in Delaware at the Tower Hill School, finished in the group tied for 65^th place with a 238 total. Heflin, winner of the Pennsylvania Women’s Amateur in 2023 at Sunnehanna Country Club in Johnstown, opened with an 82 and added back-to-back 6-over 78s in the final two rounds.

   It was a disappointing three days at Sedgefield for the Dookies as they finished in 10^th place with a 30-over 894 total. But at No. 25 in the Scoreboard rankings, Duke can expect to hear its name called when the regional bids are revealed Wednesday.