This is what Maria Fassi came back for the spring semester
of her senior year for.
Fassi of Mexico and the No. 3 player in the Women’s World
Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) had earned her LPGA Tour credentials last fall in
the grueling eight-round LPGA Q-Series at the Pinehurst Resort. That LPGA Tour
card will be still be there for her next month, but given the option of
deferring the start of her professional career, Fassi chose to play the last
half of her senior season at Arkansas.
A big reason for that decision was the site of the NCAA
Championship, Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark., home course of the
Razorbacks. The 6,397-yard, par-73 Blessings layout was a beast Friday for the
opening round of stroke play in the NCAA Championship.
Fassi, runnerup in last month’s inaugural Augusta National
Women’s Amateur Championship, was one of just four players who were able to
better par Friday as she carded a 1-under 72 to join two other players tied for
second in the individual standings, three shots behind the leader, Arizona’s
Bianca Pangdanganan, a senior from the Philippines.
More importantly, Fassi led the way as Arkansas, No. 10 in
the latest Golfstat rankings, landed
atop the team leaderboard, along with No. 2 Texas, at 10-over 302.
Following the third round of stroke play Sunday, the field
of 24 teams will be cut to 15. Following Monday’s final round, the top eight
teams will advance to match play, which gets under way Tuesday. Fassi
desperately wants Arkansas, out of the Southeastern Conference, to be one of
those eight, playing matches in front of a supportive home crowd in
Fayetteville.
Texas had to be considered one of the favorites coming into
the NCAA Championship after claiming its third straight Big 12 title and
cruising to a nine-shot victory in the Norman Regional. The Longhorns were
paced by their junior leader, Emilee Hoffman of Folsom, Calif., who joined
Fassi in the trio tied for second at 1-under 72.
No. 4 Arizona, meanwhile, pretty much picked up where it
left off a year ago when the Wildcats survived a playoff to get into match play
at the Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. and proceeded to knock out
three straight match wins to capture the national championship.
Pangdanganan was Arizona’s hero, draining an epic eagle putt
on the 18th hole at Karsten Creek just to get the Wildcats into the
playoff with Baylor for the final berth in the match-play bracket.
And there she was Friday, her 4-under 69 three shots better
than anybody else in a field littered with talent could do. Pangdanganan’s
round helped the Wildcats post a 12-over 304 that left them tied for third with
Pac-12 rival Stanford, ranked seventh, two shots behind Arkansas and Texas.
And the third member of that trio tied for second in the
individual standings with a 1-under 72? That would be Arizona’s Haley Moore, a
senior from Escondido, Calif. whose two-putt birdie on the 19th hole
of her match with Alabama senior Lakareber Abe clinched the title for the
Wildcats.
This is the fifth NCAA Championship since match play was
incorporated to determine the national champion. Stanford has been in the semifinals in each of the first four
years. The Cardinal have two of the eight players tied for fifth in the
individual standings at 1-over 74, two shots behind the trio tied for second,
Albane Valenzuela, a junior from Switzerland and No. 8 in the Women’s WAGR, and
Aline Krauter, a freshman from Wesley Chapel, Fla.
No. 3 Duke was a shot behind Arizona and Stanford in fifth
place at 13-over 305. Pac-12 champion Southern California, the No. 1 team in
the country, was another shot behind Duke in sixth place at 14-over 306. The
Trojans are coming off a team win in the Cle Elum Regional.
Atlantic Coast Conference champion Wake Forest, ranked
sixth, was in seventh place, three shots behind Southern Cal at 17-over 209.
No. 14 Arizona State, the 2017 champion at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., was a shot behind the Demon Deacons in eighth place at
18-over 310.
No. 18 Washington, the 2016 champion at Eugene Country Club
in Eugene, Ore., was another shot behind the Sun Devils in ninth place at
19-over 311. The national champion has come out of the Pac-12 since the dawn of
match play in 2015 with Stanford capturing the title that year, followed by
Washington, which defeated Stanford in the final in Eugene, Arizona State and
Arizona a year ago.
Rounding out the top 10 were No. 13 Auburn, out of the SEC,
and No. 22 Purdue, a perennial Big Ten power, tied for 10th at
20-over 312.
Backing up Fassi for Arkansas was Kaylee Benton, a senior
from Buckeye, Ariz. who was part of the eight-player logjam tied for fifth at 1-over
74. Benton reach the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur at The Golf Club of
Tennessee before falling on the 19th hole to eventual champion
Kristen Gillman, the former Alabama standout.
Brooke Matthews, a redshirt freshman from Rogers, Ark.,
added a 3-over 76 that left her among the group tied for 19th. The
final counter for the Razorbacks came from Dylan Kim, a senior from Plano,
Texas and No. 26 in the Women’s WAGR who carded an 80 that left her in the group
tied for 67th.
Ximena Gonzalez, a freshman from Mexico, rounded out that
Arkansas lineup as she struggled to an 88.
Backing up Hoffman for Texas was Agathe Laisne, a freshman
from France and No. 44 in the Women’s WAGR. Laisne, who has had a strong spring
campaign, carded a 2-over 75 to join the group tied for 13th place.
Kaitlyn Papp, a sophomore home girl from Austin, Texas and
No. 27 in the Women’s WAGR, was among the group tied for 27th after
she carded a 77. Sara Kouskova, a freshman from the Czech Republic, was another
shot behind Papp in the group tied for 40th after she posted a 78
that was the final counter for the Longhorns.
Hailee Cooper, a freshman from Montgomery, Texas, checked in
with an 80 that left her among the group tied for 67th.
Also among the group tied for fifth at 1-over 74 were
Washington’s Sarah Rhee, a senior from Seattle, Wash. and one of the Huskies’
Fab Four of freshmen on their 2016 national championship team, and Southern
California’s Amelia Garvey, a sophomore from New Zealand and one of the
Trojans’ Fab Four of freshmen that carried them to the NCAA semifinals a year
ago before they fell to Alabama.
A couple of freshmen from Italy, Letizi Bagnoli of Wake
Forest and Alessandra Fanali of Arizona State also landed in the large group at
1-over. Rounding out that group was Purdue’s Inez Wanamarta, a sophomore from
Indonesia.
With only 10 shots separating the first 11 teams in the team
standings, things could change quickly between the start of Saturday’s second
round and the cutdown to 15 teams following Sunday’s third round.
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