With its Big Three coming up huge, Alabama, No. 1 in the
latest Golfstat rankings, grabbed the
lead after three rounds of qualifying for match play in a Sunday filled with
drama in the NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.
It all set the stage for an even more dramatic Monday when
the NCAA individual champion will be crowned and the top eight finishers in the
team competition will extend their seasons to Tuesday morning’s quarterfinal
round of match play.
The original 24-team field was cut to 15 teams Sunday with
No. 25 Louisville prevailing via tiebreaker after finishing tied for 15th
with No. 19 Auburn, defending national champion Arizona State, ranked 10th,
and No. 18 Wake Forest. The tiebreaker? Low total of the dropped fifth score
from each round. Yeah, just when you thought that fifth score each day didn’t
matter.
The rankings don’t matter much at this point, but it might
validate those rankings that the No. 1 team in the land, the Crimson Tide, are
at the top of the talented heap going into Monday’s final round.
With Cheyenne Knight, a junior from Aledo, Texas, Lauren
Stephenson, a junior from Lexington, S.C., and Kristen Gillman, a sophomore
from Austin, Texas, each carding a 2-under-par 70 over the 6,328-yard, par-72 Karsten
Creek layout, the Crimson Tide had the low round of the day, a 4-under 284 that
left them at 2-under 862 for three rounds.
They are the only team under par for three rounds over a
Karsten Creek layout that has proven to be a formidable challenge for the best
women in Division I golf. As it should be.
No. 3 UCLA, the Pac-12 champion, had surged into the lead
with a sizzling 9-under 279 in Saturday’s second round, but backed off Sunday
with a 9-over 297. Still, the Bruins have a solid hold on second at 6-over 870,
eight shots behind Alabama.
All that really matters at this point is finishing among the
top eight at the end of play Monday and earning a berth in match play and the
Bruins are in very good shape to do just that.
It’s another 10 shots back to No. 9 Arizona in third at
16-over 880 after a solid even-par round of 288.
Three of the biggest names in Division I women’s golf
inhabit the next three spots in the standings with No. 6 Southern California in
fifth at 21-over 885 after an 8-over 296, No. 4 Duke, winner of the Madison
Regional, in sixth at 25-over 889 after a 5-over 293, and No. 7 Stanford,
winner of the San Francisco Regional, in seventh at 26-over 890 after a second
straight 3-over 291.
No. 10 Kent State, which grabbed the eighth and final berth
into match play at Rich Harvest Farms a year ago, holds eighth through three
rounds at 27-over 861 after an 8-over 296.
No. 21 Florida State is ninth at 30-over 294 after an
11-over 299 and No. 26 Baylor moved into 10th place with a 1-under
287.
No. 2 Arkansas, the Southeastern Conference champion and
winner of the Austin Regional, finally found its footing with a 1-over 289 that
pulled the Razorbacks into 11th at 33-over 897. They’ll need more of
the same to move into the top eight and, trust me, nobody wants any part of the
Razorbacks in a quarterfinal match.
No. 7 Furman moved into 12th at 35-over 899 with
a 6-over 294. No. 8 Texas, the Big 12 champion, had also struggled at Karsten
Creek, but the Longhorns lived to play another day with a 3-over 291 that left
them in 13th place at 36-over 900.
No. 15 Washington, the 2016 NCAA champion, carded an 11-over
299 to sneak into the top 15 at 14th with a 902 total. The Huskies
make it five Pac-12 teams among the 15 survivors.
Then there was Louisville, its final round 302 giving it a
903 total matched by three other teams. More on the Cardinals later.
Alabama’s Knight, the No. 14 player in the Women’s World
Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), will take a share of the individual lead into the
final round. Her 70 left her at 7-under 209.
Knight is joined at that figure by Wake Forest’s Jennifer
Kupcho, a junior from Westminster, Colo. and No. 3 in the Women’s WAGR who also
had a 2-under 70 Sunday. A runnerup finisher a year ago at Rich Harvest Farms,
Kupcho opened with a splash, a 7-under 65, before backing off with a 75
Saturday. She enters the final round very much in the hunt for the individual
title – again.
The 70 by the Tide’s Stephenson, a junior from Lexington,
S.C. and No. 6 in the Women’s WAGR, left her tied for fifth, four shots behind
the two co-leaders at 3-under 213.
The 70 by the Tide’s Gillman, a sophomore from Austin, Texas
and No. 11 in the Women’s WAGR, has her in a group of four players tied for
seventh at 1-under 215.
Also for Alabama, the runaway winner of the Tallahassee
Regional, Angelica Moresco, a freshman from Italy is in the group tied for 58th
at 229 after a 78 that the Tide was able to throw out. Lakareber Abe, the
veteran senior from Angleton, Texas, struggled for two rounds at Karsten Creek,
but picked up the team with a 2-over 74 Sunday that left her in the group tied
for 66th at 231.
Ohio State’s Jaclyn Lee, a junior from Canada and the Big
Ten champion, continued her strong postseason by firing a sizzling 6-under 66
that left her tied for third in the individual standings at 6-under 210, a shot
behind the co-leaders, with Arizona’s Bianca Pagdanganan, a junior from the
Philippines. Pagdanganan carded a solid 1-under 71.
Joining Stephenson in the tie for fifth at 3-under 213 is
Florida State’s Kim Metraux, a senior from Switzerland. Kim won low-Metraux
honors for the second day in a row with a 1-under 71. Sister Morgane, also a
senior, was tied with her sister for fifth place entering the third round.
Morgane Metraux carded a 2-over 74 and is tied for 10th at even-par
216.
Alabama’s Gillman is joined in the trio tied for seventh at
1-under 215 by a couple of big guns, UCLA’s Lilia Vu, a junior from Fountain
Valley, Calif. and No. 1 in the Women’s WAGR, and Stanford’s Albane Valenzuela,
a sophomore from Switzerland and No. 4 in the Women’s WAGR.
Vu fell back with a 3-over 75 while Valenzuela matched Ohio
State’s Lee for the best round of the day with a sparkling 6-under 66.
Somewhere U.S. Curtis Cup captain Virginia Derby Grimes is
smiling. Kupcho, Stephenson, Gillman and Vu are all members of her team that
will take on Great Britain & Ireland next month at Quaker Ridge Golf Club
in Scarsdale, N.Y.
You’re always following the top teams, the top players in an
event like this. But with the tiebreaker going to Louisville because of the
combined total of the Cardinals’ dropped scores, who had that fifth score?
It was Olivia Cason, a junior from Owensboro, Ky. who carded
an 83. Cason and the Cardinals were grinding all weekend. Cason had one of four
76s recorded by Louisville in the opening round, one of which it could toss.
Cason had one of three 77s for the Cardinals Saturday and again, one of those they
were able to throw out.
I’m sure Cason wasn’t happy with her 83, but because she kept
grinding, Louisville will play on the final medal-play day of the 2017-’18
season. And that’s something to be proud of.
The Golf Channel will be airing the NCAA Championship beginning
Monday. If you’re looking for some reality TV that really packs some drama,
find it on your TV.
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