When only eight teams were left standing for match play at
last spring’s NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater,
Okla., four of them were from the Pac-12.
When a powerful 16-team field gathered to open the spring
portion of the 2018-’19 season in this week’s Northrop Grumman Regional
Challenge, those same four teams ended up in the top five. That’s the way they
roll in the Pac-12.
Behind individual champion Andrea Lee, a junior from Hermosa
Beach, Calif. and the No. 5 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking
(WAGR), Stanford, No. 13 in the latest Golfstat
rankings, posted a final round of 9-over 293 and held on for a gritty
two-shot victory over No. 12 UCLA for the team title at Palos Verdes Golf Club
in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.
Palos Verdes Estates isn’t far from Lee’s home town of
Hermosa Beach, but the Northrop Grumman was contested in decidedly un-SoCal
conditions with wind, rain and cold all three days. But Lee has played in the
Curtis Cup Match twice and on countless big stages in amateur golf. It takes
more than some lousy weather for her to lose focus.
Lee was the only player under par after two rounds after she
carded a pair of 1-under 70s over the 6,017-yard, par-71 Palos Verdes layout. She
grinded out a final round of 2-over 73 that left her with an even-par 213 total
and a two-shot victory.
Stanford was the only team to better par with its 5-under
279 in Monday’s second round. The Cardinal, who have reached at least the
semifinals every year since the NCAA Championship began being decided at match
play in 2015, weren’t as good Tuesday, but their 293 was good enough to give
them a 15-over 867 total and the title.
UCLA, the two-time reigning Pac-12 champion, carded its
second straight 5-over 289 for a 17-over 869 total that left the Bruins two
shots behind Stanford.
Southern California, the No. 1 team in the country, had the
best team round of the day, an even-par 284 that gave the Trojans a 19-over 871
total and a solid third-place finish.
It was four shots back to two-time reigning Big 12 champion
Texas, ranked second, in fourth, the Longhorns carding a 5-over 289 for a
23-over 875 total.
There was a pretty clear separation back to the rest of the
field as No. 9 Arizona, the reigning national champion and the fourth Pac-12 in
the final eight at Karsten Creek, and No. 74 Oklahoma State finished tied for
fifth at 32-over 884. The Wildcats had their best round of the week, a solid
1-over 285, while the Cowgirls finished up with a 6-over 290.
No. 14 Wake Forest out of the Atlantic Coast Conference
finished seventh at 37-over 889 after a final-round 297.
Backing up Lee for Stanford was Albane Valenzuela, a junior
from Switzerland and the No. 6 player in the Women’s WAGR. Valenzuela, the
runnerup in the 2017 U.S. Women’s Amateur at San Diego Country Club, posted a
solid 2-over 73 to join a group of four players tied for eighth at 4-over 217.
Ziyi Wang, a junior from China, finished among the group
tied for 16th at 7-over 220 after a final-round 74. Mika Liu, a
sophomore from Beverly Hills, Calif., struggled in the final round with a 78,
but finished in the group tied for 23rd at 222. Liu’s 2-under 69
sparked the Cardinal in their difference-making 279 in Monday’s second round.
Kelsey Zeng, a sophomore from Orlando, Fla., had struggled
in the first two rounds, but came up huge for Stanford with her final round of
2-over 73. She finished among the group tied for 63rd at 223, but
her gritty final round had a lot to do with the Stanford victory.
Lee’s individual victory came against a field with a talent
level that might go unmatched this spring.
Texas’ Agathe Laisne, a sophomore from France and the winner
of the 2017 European Ladies’ Amateur Championship, shared second place with
Arizona’s Yu-Sang Hou, a sophomore from Taiwan and one of the heroes of the Wildcats’
stunning run to the national title last spring, at 1-over 214, a shot behind
Lee. Laisne and Hou each matched par in the final round with 71s.
Two of last year’s outstanding freshmen, UCLA’s Patty
Tavatanakit, a sophomore from Thailand and No. 3 in the Women’s WAGR, and
Southern Cal’s Jennifer Chang, a sophomore from Cary, N.C. and No. 28 in the
Women’s WAGR, headed a group of four players tied for fourth at 3-over 216. Tavatanakit, the reigning Pac-12 individual champion, carded a 2-over 73 while
Chang moved up the leaderboard by matching the best round of the day with a 3-under
68.
They were joined at 216 by Oklahoma State’s Han-Hsuan Yu, a
freshman from Taiwan, and UCLA’s Clare Legaspi, a junior from the Philippines,
both of whom matched par in the final round with 71s.
Florida State’s fabulous freshman, Sweden’s Frida Kinhult,
No. 2 in the Women’s WAGR, joined Stanford’s Valenzuela in the group tied for eighth
at 4-over 217. Kinhult closed with a 3-over 74.
Also at 217 was Legaspi’s UCLA teammate, Mariel Galdiano, a
junior from Pearl City, Hawaii and No. 15 in the Women’s WAGR. Galdiano, a
teammate of Lee’s on the last two U.S. Curtis Cup teams, finished strong with a
1-under 70.
Rounding out the foursome tied for eighth was Texas’ Sara
Kouskova, a freshman from the Czech Republic who also bettered par in the final
round with a 1-under 70.
Alone in 12th, a shot behind the quartet tied for
eighth, was the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR, Wake Forest’s Jennifer
Kupcho, a senior from Westminster, Colo. Kupcho, the reigning NCAA individual
champion, finished up with a 2-over 73 to end up at 5-over 218.
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