Texas A&M edges Mississippi State in final to claim title as SEC Championship brings the drama

   You could make a case for any number of Southeastern Conference teams to be the one holding one of those iconic NCAA Championship trophies next month at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

   But only one of those teams will enter the NCAA postseason as the SEC champion and after a weekend of drama at Greystone Golf & Country Club’s Legacy Course in Hoover, Ala. it was Texas A&M that claimed that title with a 3-2 victory over Mississippi State in the match-play final contested April 16^th.

   The Aggies, under second-year head coach Gerrod Chadwell, the husband of two-time major champion Stacey Lewis, were ranked No. 10 when they headed to Greystone and moved up to No. 6 in the aftermath of its victory over Mississippi State, the Bulldogs maintaining their lofty No. 5 ranking following their run to the SEC title match.

   All Texas A&M had to do to reach the SEC final was pass another gut check with an equally dramatic 3-2 victory over No. 4 South Carolina in the semifinals April 15^th while Mississippi State was edging defending SEC champion and No. 3 LSU, 3-2, in the other semifinal.

   It took Zoe Slaughter, a junior from Houston, 21 holes to finally pull out the clinching point for Texas A&M with a victory over Surapa Janthamunee, a freshman from Thailand, as Slaughter holed a four-footer for par on the par-3 17^th hole at the 6,301-yard, par-72 Legacy Course layout.

   Jennie Park, a senior from Carrollton, Texas and No. 69 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), had given Texas A&M a full point with a 6 and 5 victory over Izzy Pellot, a freshman from Orlando, Fla.

   Texas A&M’s other full point came from Hailee Cooper, a graduate student from Montgomery, Texas who earned a 2 and 1 decision over Hannah Levi, a senior from D’Ibarville, Miss. Cooper was on the tee at the 17^th hole, about to finish off her victory over Levi, when Slaughter and Janthamunee played the hole as the first extra hole of their match.

   Cooper was the junior player every college coach was after at the U.S. Women’s Amateur at Rolling Green Golf Club in 2016, but she followed Kaitlyn Papp, her partner in the duo that captured the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship earlier that year at Streamsong, to Texas.

   Cooper’s career seemed to stall at Texas and, of course, there was that no small matter of the coronavirus pandemic and its accompanying upheaval and when Papp turned pro, Cooper decided to start over again in College Station.

   Being part of an SEC championship team with the Aggies probably feels like a bit of validation for Cooper, who went 3-0 in the gauntlet of the SEC match-play bracket.

   Mississippi State got a full point from Julia Lopez Ramirez, a sophomore from Spain and No. 18 in the Women’s WAGR who claimed a 2 and 1 win over Adela Cernousek, a sophomore from France.

   Two days earlier Lopez Ramirez had prevailed over probably the deepest field in Division I women’s golf to capture the SEC individual title with a 4-under 212 total.

   Mississippi State’s other full point in the SEC final was delivered by Abbey Daniel, a senior from Covington, La. who claimed a 2-up verdict over Blanca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, a senior from Spain.

   A day earlier, it was Fernandez Garcia-Poggio going five extra holes before pulling out a win on the 23^rd hole over South Carolina’s Mathilde Claisse, a senior from France and No. 85 in the Women’s WAGR, to give Texas A&M a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Gamecocks.

   Texas A&M’s other two points came against a couple of tough customers as Park earned a 2 and 1 decision over Louise Rydqvist, a sophomore from Sweden and No. 53 in the Women’s WAGR, and Cooper took down Hannah Darling, a sophomore from Scotland and No. 15 in the Women’s WAGR, with a 4 and 3 decision.

   Even in defeat, Cernousek was tough as it took 22 holes for Mia Sandtorv Lussand, a freshman from Germany, to earn a full point for South Carolina with a victory.

   South Carolina’s other full point came from Justine Fournand, a senior from France who earned a 2 and 1 win over Slaughter.

   Mississippi State punched its ticket into the title match with a 3-2 victory over an immensely talented and experienced LSU team that was highlighted by a stunning 5 and 4 victory for Levi over Ingrid Lindblad, a senior from Sweden and No. 2 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Mississippi State’s other two points came from Janthamunee, who edged Carla Tejedo, a junior from Spain and No. 77 in the Women’s WAGR, and Daniel, who pulled out a 1-up decision over Aine Donegan, a sophomore from Ireland.

   Pellot battled LSU’s Edit Hertzman, a freshman from Sweden, to the 18^th hole before falling, 1-up. LSU’s other full point came from Latanna Stone, the Bayou Tigers other veteran senior from Riverview, Fla. and No. 36 in the Women’s WAGR as she pulled out a 2 and 1 victory over Lopez Ramirez, the Bulldogs’ freshly minted SEC individual champion.

   LSU had been typically tough in rolling to the top seed in the match-play bracket as the Bayou Tigers had finished atop the team leaderboard after 54 holes of qualifying for match play with a 6-over 870 total, 11 shots clear of Auburn, which remained at No. 7 in the Golfstat rankings in the aftermath of the SEC Championship.

   Texas A&M began its march to the SEC crown with a 4-1 victory over No. 21 Florida, one of four wonderful quarterfinal matchups in the morning of April 15^th. Cooper began her 3-0 run through the match-play bracket with a 3 and 2 victory over Karoline Tuttle, a freshman from Lake Mary, Fla.

   Slaughter earned a 3 and 2 decision over Marina Escobar, a senior from Spain, Fernandez Garcia-Poggio claimed a 4 and 3 victory over senior Annabell Fuller, a three-time GB&I Curtis Cupper from England and No. 44 in the Women’s WAGR, and Cernousek pulled out a 1-up victory over Jackie Lucena, a senior from Chico, Calif.

   Florida’s lone point came from Maisse Filler, a junior from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. and No. 83 in the Women’s WAGR who took a 1-up verdict over Park.

   Mississippi State’s 3-2 quarterfinal victory over Vanderbilt was highlighted by Levi’s impressive 4 and 3 victory over Celina Sattelkau, a senior from Germany and No. 70 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Mississippi State’s other two points came from Daniel, who needed 21 holes to get past Tess Davenport, a senior from Duluth, Ga., and Janthamunee, who rolled to a 5 and 4 decision over Tillie Claggett, a freshman from The Woodlands, Texas.

   Vanderbilt’s Lynn Lim didn’t seem to care that Lopez Ramirez had just won the SEC’s individual crown as Lim earned a full point for the Commodores with a 3 and 2 victory over the Mississippi State standout. Vanderbilt’s other full point came from Virginie Ding, a junior from China, who edged Pellot, 1-up.

   Vanderbilt, which was seeded fourth in the match-play bracket, moved up a couple of notches in the Golfstat rankings to No. 17 with its solid showing at Greystone.

   The outcome of qualifying for match play resulted in SEC women’s golf at its best in the other two quarterfinal matchups as top-seeded LSU earned a 3-2 victory over No. 16 Mississippi, the last SEC team to capture an NCAA crown two years ago at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., and South Carolina edged a really tough Auburn team, ranked No. 7, 3-2.

   In LSU’s victory, Hertzman edged Nicole Gal, a junior from Canada, 1-up, and then the veterans did their thing, Lindblad claiming a 4 and 2 decision over Natacha Host Husted, a sophomore from Denmark, and Stone earning a 1-up victory over Andrea Lignell a senior from Sweden and No. 24 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Lignell was coming off a third-place finish in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship earlier in the month while Stone ended up eighth, her second straight strong showing in one of women’s amateur golf’s premier showcases.

   Chiara Tamburlini, like Lignell, a veteran of Ole Miss’ national championship run two springs ago, earned a point for the Rebels with a 1-up win over Donegan. Tamburlini, a senior from Switzerland, is No. 42 in the Women’s WAGR.

   The feature match in the South Carolina-Auburn quarterfinal was a heavyweight showdown between Darling and Megan Schofill, a senior from Monticello, Fla. and No. 26 in the Women’s WAGR who was the runnerup to Lopez Ramirez by a shot in the SEC’s individual chase. Darling, who I got to watch a little playing for GB&I in last summer’s Curtis Cup Match at Merion, rolled to a 5 and 4 decision over Schofill.

   The Gamecocks’ other two points came from Claisse, who earned a 3 and 2 victory over Carys Worby, a redshirt freshman from Wales, and Sandtorv Lussand, who knocked off Anna Foster, a junior from Ireland and No. 90 in the Women’s WAGR, 4 and 3.

   Auburn got its two points from Casey Weidenfeld, a redshirt freshman from Pembroke Pines, Fla. who captured a 5 and 3 victory over Fournand, and Katie Cranston, a freshman from Canada who pulled out a 1-up decision over Rydqvist.

   Greystone’s Legacy Course proved to be a difficult challenge in three days of qualifying for match play. LSU’s final round of 4-under 284 was the only team round under par and gave the Bayou Tigers a 6-over 870 total. LSU had opened with a 4-over 292 before adding a 6-over 294 in rain, cold and wind in the second round that gave it a three-shot lead over Auburn going into the final round.

   Auburn battled the tough conditions of the second round to post a 7-over 295 after opening with a 6-over 294 as it creeped withing three shots of front-running LSU. Auburn closed with a solid 4-over 292 to finish in second place with a 17-over 881 total that left it 11 shots behind LSU.

   The other six teams that comprised the match-play bracket were tightly bunched, separated by only nine shots.

   Texas A&M, the eventual champion, finished in third place with a 21-over 885 total as the Aggies opened with a 7-over 295 and struggled to a 301 in the second round’s difficult conditions before closing with a  1-over 289.

   Vanderbilt jumped out to the lead after matching par in the opening round with a 288. The Commodores struggled in the second round’s rain, cold and wind with a 308 before closing with a solid 3-over 291 that left them in fourth place with a 23-over 887 total.

   Mississippi State, behind individual champion Lopez Ramirez, finished three shots behind Vanderbilt in fifth place with a 26-over 890 total. The Bulldogs opened with a solid 4-over 292 and struggled along with everybody else in the second round with a 305 before finishing up with a 5-over 293.

   Lopez Ramirez salvaged her second round by finishing with three straight birdies for a 3-over 75 that left her five shots behind Auburn’s Schofill, whose 3-under 69 in the second round’s challenging weather was borderline brilliant, going into the final round.

   Lopez Ramirez, who had opened with a 3-over 69, was able to overtake Schofill with a final round of 4-under 68 that gave her the SEC individual title with a 4-under 212 total.

   Florida was a shot behind Mississippi State in sixth place with a 27-over 891 total as the Gators opened with a solid 2-over 290, struggled to a 309 in the second round and closed with a 4-over 292.

   South Carolina and Ole Miss nailed down the final two spots in the match-play bracket as they finished in a tie for seventh place in the 14-team field, each landing on 30-over 894.

   The Gamecocks opened with a 5-over 293, added a 302 in the second round and finished up with a 299. After opening with a 7-over 295, Ole Miss posted a 309 in the second round’s rain, cold and wind before closing with a solid 2-over 290.

   Donegan and Lindblad led the way for LSU as Donegan finished alone in third place, a shot behind Schofill with a 2-under 214 total while Lindblad was two shots behind her teammate in a tie for fourth place at even-par 216.

   After matching par with a 72 in the opening round, Donegan, the Irish woman, seemed to thrive in the second round’s miserable weather as she carded a 1-under 71 before finishing up with another 71. After opening with a 1-over 73, Lindblad matched par in the second round with a 72 before finishing up with a 1-under 71.

   Stone gave the Bayou Tigers a third finisher in the top six as she finished among a trio of players tied for sixth place at 1-over 217. Stone opened with a solid 3-under 69 and added a 1-over 73 in the second round that left her just three shots behind Schofill going into the final round. Stone finished up with a 3-over 75.

   Tejedo had LSU’s best round in the final round, a sparkling 5-under 67, that left her in the group tied for 18^th place with a 7-over 223. Tejedo had struggled a little in the first two rounds with a pair of 6-over 78s.

   Rounding out the LSU lineup was Hertzman, who never really figured out the Legacy Course in three rounds of stroke play as she added a 7-over 79 in the second round to her opening-round 82 before closing with an 83 that left her alone in 66^th place with a 244 total.

   Schofill had opened with a 2-under 70 before her 3-under 69 in the difficult conditions of the second round gave her the individual lead going into the final round. Schofill closed with a 2-over 74 to finish a shot behind Lopez Ramirez in second place with a 3-under 213 total.

   Sharing fourth place with LSU’s Lindblad at even-par was Florida’s Escobar, who opened with a 1-under 71, matched par in the second round with a 72 and closed with a 1-over 73.

   Joining LSU’s Stone in the trio tied for sixth place at 1-over were Vanderbilt’s Sattelkau and Kentucky’s Laney Frye, a junior home girl from Lexington, Ky. and No. 67 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Sattelkau had the lead after opening with a 4-under 68, but struggled to a 5-over 77 in the second round’s tough conditions before matching par in the final round with a 72. Frye opened with a solid 2-under 70 and added a 2-over 74 in the second round before finishing up with a 1-over 73.

   Texas A&M’s Park finished a shot behind Stone, Sattelau and Frye in ninth place with a 2-over 218 total as she sandwiched a 2-over 74 in the second round with a pair of even-par 72s.

   A whole bunch of SEC teams are going to hear their names called when the NCAA reveals the fields for the regionals Wednesday on The Golf Channel and a lot of them will be serious contenders to win the whole thing.