How do you think a women’s college golf program would do if you subtracted their top two players for a tournament? And, just for the sake of argument, say those two players were No. 1 and No. 2 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR). And maybe that No. 2 player in the Women’s WAGR just happened to be the reigning NCAA individual champion.
And this team was playing in a tournament against arguably the best top-to-bottom conference in America. Pretty big hill to climb, you’re thinking.
Not for Stanford, though. Let’s face it, the addition of Rose Zhang, a freshman from Irvine, Calif. who is No. 1 in the Women’s WAGR, to a lineup that had finished first in qualifying for match play in the NCAA Championship last spring at Grayhawk Golf Club and to a team that was led by Rachel Heck, a sophomore from Memphis, Tenn. who is No. 2 in the Women’s WAGR and who is the reigning NCAA individual champion, had the makings of a pretty formidable bunch. Kind of like one of those super teams LeBron James keeps trying to put together in the NBA.
The really scary part about the 2021-2022 Stanford team, though, is how good the rest of them are.
With Zhang and Heck off to represent the United States in The Spirit International, a gathering of college golfers from 30 nations that got under way Thursday at Whispering Pines Golf Club in Trinity, Texas, Stanford, No. 1 in the latest Golfstat rankings, still claimed a four-shot victory over arch-rival Southern California in the Nanea Pac-12 Preview, which wrapped up Wednesday at the Nanea Golf Club in Kailua Kona, Hawaii.
Brooke Seay, a junior from San Diego, is a wonderful player who would be the No. 1 player on most teams. She was her usual steady self, finishing in a tie for third place with a 5-under 214 total over the 6,449-yard, par-72 Nanea layout to lead the way for Stanford.
Seay helped the Cardinal register a 4-under 288 in Monday’s opening round, add a 1-under 291 in Tuesday’s second round and close with a 4-over 296 in Wednesday’s final round for a 1-under 825 total.
The victory wrapped up a perfect 4-for-4 fall run for Stanford a year after the Pac-12 kept its golfers off the course for the fall portion of the 2020-’21 campaign in deference to the raging coronavirus pandemic.
Zhang, the U.S. Women’s Amateur champion in 2020 at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Md. and the U.S. Girls’ Junior champion last summer at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Md., made her long-awaited college debut in The Molly Collegiate Invitational, hosted by California at the Bayonet Golf Course in Seaside, Calif. Sept. 27 and 28 and promptly won the individual title and led Stanford to the team crown.
Zhang then did it again, capturing the individual crown and leading Stanford to the team title in the Windy City Intercollegiate, hosted by Northwestern at Westmoreland Country Club in Wilmette, Ill. Oct. 4 and 5.
Zhang made it three straight individual victories – not even Tiger did that during his brief college stay at Stanford – on her new home course, the Stanford Golf Course, in the Stanford Intercollegiate Oct. 15 to 17 as she again led the Cardinal to the team title.
Southern Cal, behind individual champion Katherine Muzi, a senior from Newport Beach, Calif., was the runnerup to Stanford in the Nanea with a solid 3-over 879 total. The Trojans, who somehow slipped from No. 22 to No. 25 in the rankings while the Nanea was being contested, trailed Stanford by two shots after opening with a 2-under 290. They were still only three shots behind after matching par in the second round with a 292. Southern Cal closed with a 5-over 297 that left them four shots behind the Cardinal.
No. 16 Arizona was a shot behind Southern Cal in third place with a 4-over 880 total as the Wildcats bounced back from an opening-round 297 with a 4-under 288 before finishing up with a 3-over 295.
No. 5 Oregon was three shots behind Arizona in fourth place with a 7-over 883 total, the Ducks matching par in the opening round with a 292, struggling to a 302 in Tuesday’s second round and closing strong with a 3-under 289.
It was seven more shots back to No. 12 UCLA in fifth place as the Bruins bounced back from an opening-round 301 with a 1-over 293 in Tuesday’s second round and finished up with a 4-over 296 to end up with a 14-over 890 total. Washington, which dropped a spot in the rankings from No. 45 to No. 46 during the week, finished a shot behind UCLA in sixth place with a 15-over 891 total as the Huskies started strong with a 1-under 291, struggled a little in Tuesday’s second round with a 304 and closed with a 4-over 296.
Seay led the way for Stanford as she opened with a 2-under 71 and added a 3-under 70 in Tuesday’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 73 to finish in a tie for third place with Oregon’s Heather Lin, a senior from Taiwan at 5-under 214, four shots behind Southern Cal’s Muzi, the individual champion.
Backing up Seay for Stanford were Sadie Englemann, a sophomore from Austin, Texas, and Aline Krauter, a junior from Germany and No. 26 in the Women’s WAGR, both of whom were part of a three-way tie for sixth place, each landing on 2-under 217.
After opening with a 1-over 74, Englemann carded a solid 1-under 72 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 2-under 71. Krauter, winner of The Women’s Amateur Championship at West Lancashire in 2020, contributed a 3-under 70 to the Cardinal’s strong opening round, matched par in Tuesday’s second round with a 73 and finished up with a 1-over 74.
Angelina Ye, a junior from China, finished in a tie for 28th place with a 9-over 228 total as she matched par in the opening round with a 73, but struggled a little after that, posting a 77 in Tuesday’s second round and closing with a 78. Rounding out the Stanford lineup was Calista Reyes, a senior from San Diego who added a 76 to her opening-round 78 before finishing up with an 81 that left her in 48th place with a 235 total.
Seay, Englemann, Krauter, Ye joined Heck in the lineup that finished atop the team standings in qualifying for match play in the NCAA Championship last spring at Grayhawk before being upset by Pac-12 rival Arizona in the quarterfinals.
Oh yeah, Stanford has two other players teeing it up in The Spirit International, sophomore Rebecca Becht, who is representing her native Belgium, and freshman Caroline Sturdza, who is representing Switzerland and is No. 50 in the women’s WAGR.
Muzi took control of the individual chase when she opened with a 5-under 68. She added back-to-back 2-under 71s in the final two rounds to finish a shot ahead of UCLA’s Emma Spitz, a junior from Austria and No. 9 in the Women’s WAGR, with a 9-under 210 total. After opening with a 72, Spitz registered a 3-under 70 in Tuesday’s second round and kept coming on strong in the final round with a 4-under 69 that left her a shot behind Muzi with an 8-under 209 total.
Oregon’s Lin closed with the best round of the tournament, a 6-under 67, to get her share of third place with Seay. Lin had opened with a 1-under 72 before adding a 75 in Tuesday’s second round.
Oregon State’s Danique Stokmans, a redshirt freshman from the Netherlands, finished alone in fifth place, a shot behind Lin and Seay with a 4-under 215 total. Stokmans opened with a sparkling 4-under 69 and added a 1-under 72 before closing with a 74.
Joining Stanford’s Englemann and Krauter in the trio tied for sixth place at 2-under 217 was California’s Katherine Zhu, a senior from San Jose, Calif. who bounced back from an opening-round 76 by matching par in Tuesday’s second round with a 73 before finishing up with a 5-under 68.
Arizona’s Gile Bite Starkute, a junior from Lithuania, finished alone in ninth place with a 1-under 218 total as she added a 72 to her opening round of 2-under 71 before cooling off in the final round with a 75. It was Bite Starkute who drained a 30-footer for birdie on the 19th hole to beat Stanford’s Ye and clinch the Wildcats’ 3-2 victory in the NCAA quarterfinals at Grayhawk. Arizona then fell, 3-2, to eventual national champion Mississippi in the semifinals.
Bite Starkute’s Arizona teammate Yu-Sang Hou, a fifth-year player from Taiwan and No. 30 in the Women’s WAGR, headed a group of three players tied for 10th place at 1-over 220. After matching par in the opening round with a 73, Hou added a 75 in Tuesday’s second round before finishing up with a 1-under 72.
Sharing 10th place with Hou at 1-over were Washington’s Jamie Hsieh, a freshman from Taiwan, and Southern Cal’s Cindy Kou, a freshman from China and No. 64 in the Women’s WAGR. Hsieh matched par in the opening round with a 73 and added a 75 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 1-under 72. Kou opened with a solid 3-under 70, struggled to a 78 in Tuesday’s second round and finished up with a 1-under 72.
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