Somehow, reigning NCAA champion Stanford and its top player, Rose Zhang, the No. 1 player in the Women’s World Amateur Ranking (WAGR), are even better this time around.
Zhang, a sophomore from Irvine, Calif., wrapped up her seventh college tournament victory Nov. 2nd, capturing the top spot in Pac-12 Preview at Nanea Golf Club in Kailua Kona, Hawaii by three shots and leading the Cardinal to their fourth team crown in four tries in the fall portion of the wraparound 2022-2023 son.
It’s hard to imagine that Zhang could have a better year than she’s had in 2022. She won the NCAA individual crown by three shots at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. and led the way as the Cardinal defeated Pac-12 rival Oregon, 3-2, in the Final Match.
She was named the winner of the Annika Award that goes to the top player in women’s college golf.
Got a chance to watch Zhang in action when the Curtis Cup Match came to the historic East Course at Merion Golf Club in June. She and Stanford teammate Rachel Heck were nothing short of masterful in a 4 and 2 victory over Florida State teammates Charlotte Heath and Amelia Williamson in a foursome match on the opening day.
The U.S. went on to register a convincing 14.5-5.5 victory over a very strong Great Britain & Ireland team.
Zhang made the cut in two of women’s professional golf’s major championships, the U.S. Women’s Open at the Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. and the AIG Women’s Open Championship at Muirfield. She received the McCormack Medal that goes to the player who finishes the summer ranked No. 1 in the Women’s WAGR for the third year in a row.
The victory in the Pac-12 Preview completed a sweep of the four events Stanford entered this fall. The Cardinal won the Carmel Cup at Pebble Beach, the Stephens Cup at the iconic Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. and the Stanford Intercollegiate on their home course.
By being one of the semifinalists in the NCAA Championship last spring at Grayhawk, Stanford had earned an invitation to compete in the East Lake Cup at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The proximity on their schedule of the East Lake Cup between their own tournament and the Pac-12 Preview prompted the Cardinal to pass on the East Lake Cup with UCLA, which made the match-play bracket at Grayhawk last spring, standing in for Stanford.
It was a typical Zhang performance in Hawaii as she opened with a 6-under-par 67 in the opening round over the 6,449-yard, par-73 Nanea layout, added a 3-under 70 in the second round and closed with a 2-under 71 for an 11-under 208 total.
Zhang’s showing helped Stanford roll to the team title as the Cardinal opened with a sparkling 13-under 279, added a 1-under 291 in the second round and finished up with a 4-under 288 for an 18-under 858 total.
Zhang’s closest pursuer in the individual chase was Oregon’s Ashleigh Park, a junior from Zhang’s hometown of Irvine, Calif. I suspect they have been friends and rivals for a long time. Park opened with a 3-under 70, added a 4-under 69 in the second round and closed with a 2-under 72 to finish three shots behind Zhang in second place with a solid 8-under 211 total.
As dominant as Stanford was last spring, Oregon was clearly the best of the rest in the Division I women’s golf, even denying the Cardinal the Pac-12 Championship title with the Ducks capturing the conference crown for the first time in program history on their home course at Eugene Country Club.
And Oregon is still there, nipping on Stanford’s heels. The Ducks arrived in Hawaii at No. 6 in the Golfstat rankings and moved up to No. 5 with a runnerup finish to the Cardinal.
Behind Park, Oregon opened with a 4-under 288 and added a 1-under 291 in the second round to stay within nine shots of Stanford heading into the final round. The Ducks closed with a 3-under 289 to finish 10 shots behind Stanford in second place with an 8-under 868 total.
Arizona remained at No. 13 in the aftermath of the Pac-12 Preview as the Wildcats, behind Gile Bite Starkute, their veteran senior from Lithuania who finished a shot behind Park in third place in the individual standings, finished a shot behind Oregon in third place with a 7-under 869 total.
The Wildcats opened with a solid 12-under 280, but struggled in the second round with an 8-over 300 before finishing up with a 3-under 289.
It was Bite Starkute, then a sophomore, who drained a 30-foot birdie putt on the 19th hole that beat Stanford’s Angelina Ye and gave Arizona a stunning upset of the top-seeded Cardinal in the NCAA quarterfinals in 2021 at Grayhawk.
Bite Starkute was steady in Hawaii, carding back-to-back 3-under 70s in the first two rounds before finishing up with a 1-under 72 that left her in third place with a 7-under 212 total.
Three more of the Pac-12’s perennial powers lined up behind Arizona in the next three spots in the team standings in Hawaii as Arizona State was two shots behind Arizona in fourth place with a 5-under 871 total, UCLA, another seven shots behind the Sun Devils in fifth with a 2-over 878 total, and Southern California six shots behind its cross-town rival in sixth in the 12-team field with an 8-over 884 total.
Arizona State, which moved from No. 22 to No. 15 in the Golfstat rankings following its showing in Hawaii, actually jumped in front on Day 1 with the best team round of the tournament, a sparkling 17-under 275 in the opening round. The Sun Devils struggled mightily in the second round with a 311 before bouncing back with a 3-under 289 total in the final round.
UCLA, which moved up from No. 28 to No. 22 in the Golfstat rankings in the aftermath of the Pac-12 Preview, opened with a solid 7-under 285, struggled to a 305 in the second round and closed with a 4-under 288.
The Bruins, like Oregon, were making a quick turnaround from the East Lake Cup, where they defeated the Ducks in the third-place match after both teams fell in the semifinals.
Southern Cal, which dropped two spots in the rankings following its sixth-place finish from No. 19 to No. 21, opened with a 4-over 296 and added a 5-over 297 in the second round before finishing up with its best round of the week, a 1-under 291.
Stanford won the team crown without Heck, the 2021 NCAA individual champion as a freshman and No. 4 in the Women’s WAGR. The junior from Memphis, Tenn. has other interests, including obligations with the Air Force ROTC at Stanford, although it’s possible she didn’t make the top five in a Stanford in-team qualifier, such is the depth of talent for the Cardinal.
Heck finished in a tie for 22nd place in the Stanford Intercollegiate, so it seems like she’s healthy.
Backing up Zhang for Stanford at Nanea was Megha Ganne, one of the country’s top freshmen from Holmdel, N.J. and No. 41 in the Women’s WAGR who finished in a trio tied for seventh place at 4-under 215.
Ganne wowed the golf world when she contended into the final round before settling for low-amateur honors in the 2021 U.S. Women’s Open at The Olympic Club in San Francisco in the summer before her senior year in high school. Ganne was steady in Hawaii, opening with a 2-under 71 before adding a pair of 1-under 72s in the final two rounds.
Brooke Seay, a senior from San Diego and No. 47 in the Women’s WAGR, gave Stanford a third finisher inside the top 10 as she finished alone in 10th place with a 3-under 216 total. Seay, who went 3-0 in match play in Stanford’s run to the national championship last spring, opened with a sparkling 4-under 69 before adding a 1-over 74 in the second round and matching par in the final round with a 73.
Sadie Englemann, a junior from Austin, Texas, was three shots behind Seay in the group tied for 11th place with an even-par 219 total as she sandwiched a 2-over 75 in the second round with a pair of 1-under 72s.
Rounding out the Stanford lineup was Caroline Sturdza, a sophomore from Switzerland who finished in a tie for 51st place with a 234 total. Sturdza struggled to an 81 in the second round after opening with a 77 before finishing up with her best round of the week, a 3-over 76.
Arizona State’s Ashley Menne, a junior from Surprise, Ariz. and No. 88 in the Women’s WAGR, and UCLA’s Caroline Canales, a sophomore from Calabasas, Calif., finished in a tie for fourth place in the individual standings, each ending up a shot behind Arizona’s Bite Starkute at 6-under 213.
Menne finished in fourth place in the individual standings in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk as a freshman in 2021. She grabbed the lead following the opening round in the Pac-12 Preview with a sizzling 7-under 66. Menne cooled off in the second round with a 4-over 77 before bouncing back in the final round with a 3-under 70.
Canales sandwiched an even-par 73 in the second round with a pair of solid 3-under 70s.
Canales’ teammate, Zoe Antoinette Campos, a sophomore from Valencia, Calif., finished alone in sixth place with a 5-under 214 total. Campos only trailed Zhang, the eventual champion, by three shots going into the final round after she added a 2-under 71 in the second round to her opening round of 4-under 69. Campos finished up with a 1-over 74.
One of the players joining Stanford’s Ganne in the tie for seventh place at 4-under 215 was Southern California’s Amari Avery, a sophomore from Riverside, Calif. After matching par in the opening round with a 73, Avery struggled a little in the second round with a 2-over 75 before closing with the best individual round of the final day, a sparkling 6-under 67.
U.S. Curtis Cup team captain Sarah Ingram fearlessly paired her two youngest players, Ganne and Avery, in four-ball matches in the morning session of the first two days in June at Merion and the two kids responded with a pair of victories, smiling and chatting the whole way. Pressure? What pressure?
Rounding out the trio at 4-under was Oregon’s Briana Chacon, a senior from Whittier, Calif. After starting slowly with a 2-over 75, Chacon put together back-to-back rounds of 3-under 70.
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