Three of the four teams in last year’s semifinals at the
NCAA Championship at Rich Harvest Farms were representatives of the Pac-12. The
conference might be even stronger this year.
UCLA, ranked No. 1 in the latest Golfstat rankings, captured the team title for the second straight
year at the Pac-12 Championship, which concluded Tuesday at Broadmoor Golf
Club, a classic A.V. “Mac” Macan design in Seattle, Wash. The Bruins had the
1-2 finishers in the individual standings for the second straight year.
In a banner year for freshmen in all corners of Division I,
UCLA’s Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand, the No. 14 player in the Women’s World
Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), might be the best of all of them. Tavatanakit beat
teammate Lilia Vu, the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR and the defending
Pac-12 individual champion, in a playoff.
Tavatanakit beat a field filled with Curtis Cup players past
and present – Vu, a junior from Fountain Valley, Calif. was chosen last week to
represent her country at this year’s Curtis Cup Match in June at Quaker Ridge
Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y – and top-25 players in the Women’s WAGR.
The top seven finishers in the team chase are all ranked in
the Golfstat top 25, including the
last two NCAA champions, Washington (2016) and Arizona State (2017).
UCLA got the jump on the field with a 1-under 287 in
Sunday’s opening round over the 5,981-yard, par-72 Broadmoor layout, added a
2-under 286 Monday and finished up with a 1-under 287 Tuesday for a 4-under 860
total. The Bruins were the only team to finish under par as runnerup No. 6
Southern California, with a lineup comprised of a sophomore and four freshmen,
was the runnerup at 8-over 872 after a final round of 5-over 293.
No. 4 Stanford and No. 9 Arizona shared third place at 873,
the Cardinal finishing up with a solid even-par 288 and Wildcats, who had the
low round in Monday’s second round with a 3-under 285, carding a final round of
5-over 293.
No. 11 Arizona State finished fifth, five shots behind
Arizona and Stanford at 878 after a solid final round of 1-over 289. That’s one
place higher than the sixth-place finish in the Pac-12 Championship from where
the Sun Devils launched their march to a national championship.
No. 25 Colorado finished sixth at 881 after a final-round
299 and No. 15 Washington was another six shots behind the Buffaloes in seventh
at 887 after also finishing up with a 299.
Tavatanakit fired rounds of 3-under 69, 4-under 68 and
2-under 70 for an 8-under 208 total. Vu led her teammate by a shot after an
opening-round 68 before posting a pair of 2-under 70s to finish tied at
the top with Tavatanakit at 208.
Tavatanakit claimed the title on the first hole of a playoff.
Beth Wu, a junior from Diamond Bar, Calif. and a member of
the 2016 U.S. Curtis Cup team, backed up the top two for the Bruins as she
finished tied for 23rd after a final round of 1-over 73.
Mariel Galdiano, a sophomore from Pearl City, Hawaii and the
No. 25 player in the Women’s WAGR, finished 29th at 225 after a
final round of 2-over 74. Galdiano is a veteran of that 2016 U.S. Curtis Cup
team and was chosen to again represent the U.S. in this year’s Curtis Cup
Match.
Rounding out the UCLA lineup was Clare Legaspi, a sophomore
from the Philippines who finished in the group tied for 38th at 229
after a final round of 2-over 74.
Arizona’s Haley Moore, a junior from Escondido, Calif. who
is one of the most talented players in the country, finished alone in third,
carding three straight 2-under 70s for a 6-under 219 that left her two shots
behind the UCLA duo.
Stanford’s Ziyi Wang, a sophomore from China who shared the
opening-round lead with Vu and Washington’s Sarah Rhee, a junior from Seattle, with
a 68, finished alone in fourth at 4-under 212 after posting a final round of
2-under 70.
Washington’s Wenyung Keh, a junior from New Zealand, and
Arizona State’s Olivia Mehaffey, a sophomore from Ireland and the No. 20 player
in the Women’s WAGR, finished tied for fifth at 2-under 214. Keh finished up
with a solid 2-under 70 while Mehaffey, a member of the winning Great Britain
& Ireland side in the 2016 Curtis Cup Match, posted a 1-under 71 in
Tuesday’s final round.
A couple of Hawaiian gals, Colorado's Brittany Fan, a
senior from Pearl City, and Southern California’s Allisen Corpuz, a sophomore
from Honolulu, finished tied for seventh at 1-under 215. Fan finished up with a
2-over 74 while Corpuz, the elder stateswoman in the youthful Southern Cal
lineup, had a 3-over 75 in the final round.
Rhee, one of the precocious freshmen -- Keh being another –
on Washington’s 2016 national championship team, finished in a tie for seventh
at even-par 216. After her opening-round 68, Rhee cooled off with a 73 in
Monday’s second round and a 75 in Tuesday’s final round.
Joining Rhee in the tie for seventh was Stanford’s Andrea
Lee, a sophomore from Hermosa Beach, Calif. and the No. 5 player in the Women’s
WAGR. Lee finished up strong with a
3-under 69 in Tuesday’s final round. Like UCLA’s Galdiano, Lee was a member of
the U.S. side in the 2016 Curtis Cup Match and last week was chosen to again
represent the U.S. in this year’s Curtis Cup Match.
UCLA won the Pac-12 title a year ago by 21 shots. The Bruins
had been on a roll all spring. Then they went to the Lubbock Regional and
flamed out, failing to advance to the Rich Harvest Farms. Don’t count on that
happening again. If anything, the Bruins’ considerable talent might be matched
by their desire to leave that unpleasant memory behind. Motivated? Extremely.
Stanford, which suffered an excruciating loss to Arizona
State in the semifinals at Rich Harvest Farms, will host one of the regionals. The
Cardinal might have more talent than any team in the country.
The regional bids will be announced a couple hours after
this post is completed. The top seven from Broadmoor will all make it. Any of
them is capable of winning it all next month at Karsten Creek Golf Club. It is
going to an interesting month of May.
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