Stanford's Zhang repeats as NCAA individual champion, leads Cardinal to top seed for match play at Grayhawk

   It has reached the portion of the wraparound 2022-2023 Division I women’s college golf season when the rankings don’t matter all that much.

   But give credit where credit is due. When the dust settled on a busy final round of qualifying for match play Monday in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club’s Raptor Course in Scottsdale, Ariz., it was Stanford, the No. 1 team in the Golfstat rankings all season long, atop the team standings and the Cardinal’s Rose Zhang, the unquestioned No. 1 amateur player in the world, celebrating a second straight NCAA individual crown.

   When you’ve got that No. 1 on your back for that long, you come to understand that, to other teams, it makes you a target. You might as well have a bulls-eye on your shirt.

   Stanford, out of the Pac-12 Conference, has stared down all sorts of adversity this season and yet there the Cardinal were, putting together a solid 6-under-par 282 over the 6,368-yard, par-72 Raptor course in Monday’s final round for a 19-under 1,133 total that earned them the No. 1 seed when match play commences with the quarterfinals Tuesday morning.

   Stanford will enter match play at Grayhawk as the No. 1 seed for the third consecutive year. There’s that number again, that No. 1. Some of the holdovers from the Stanford team that took the No. 1 seed into match play two years ago can tell their teammates how meaningless that felt when the Cardinal were handed a 3-2 setback in the quarterfinals by Arizona.

   A year ago at Grayhawk, though, Stanford parlayed that No. 1 seed into a national championship and the Cardinal know how difficult the road through three matches will be as they try to make it two straight national crowns.

   Leading the way, as she has the last two seasons, is Rose Zhang, a sophomore from Irvine, Calif. and No. 1 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR).

   She was at her grinding best in Monday’s final round of stroke play. When she is at her best, Rose Zhang refuses to make a bogey. She rattled off birdies at the fourth, sixth and seventh holes to put the pressure on Southern California’s Catherine Park, a freshman from Irvine, Calif. who was two shots clear of the field going into Monday’s final round of stroke play with Rose Zhang lurking four shots behind.

   Rose Zhang would only make one more birdie at the par-5 12^th hole that got her to 10-under for the championship and that’s where she stayed, grinding out seven straight pars for a 4-under 68 that left her with a 10-under 278 total, one shot better than Park and San Jose State’s Lucia Lopez Ortega, a sophomore from Spain.

   Park wasn’t bad, carding a 1-over 73 that left her with a 9-under 279 total. And while we’re at it, how about a shoutout to a golf community in Irvine that produced two of the top three finishers in 72 holes of stroke play in the NCAA Championship.

   Lopez Ortega never went away, closing with a 1-under 71 that enabled her to share runnerup honors with Park at 9-under.

   If I had more time, I would run down all the young ladies who I got to watch compete in the 42^nd Curtis Cup Match at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course last summer who will be involved in matches when the NCAA Championship quarterfinals tee off Tuesday morning.

   It’s a whole bunch, which is exactly why I went every day to my favorite golf course in the world because I was completely aware just how much golf talent was on display on both the United States and Great Britain & Ireland sides.

   Let’s just leave it at that and savor the quarterfinal matchups.

   Big 12 power Texas, ranked 11^th, snuck into second place, five shots behind Stanford, as the Longhorns closed with the best team round of the day, an 8-under 280.

   That gets Texas a quarterfinal date with Southeastern Conference champion Texas A&M, ranked sixth. The Aggies closed with a solid 1-under 287 that left them in seventh place with a 4-over 1,156 total.

   That’s right, Texas vs. Texas A&M. If you don’t understand how deep this rivalry goes, you really don’t know anything about college sports.

   Texas finished a shot ahead of Atlantic Coast Conference power Wake Forest, ranked second. The Demon Deacons closed with a 7-under 281 to end up in third place with a 13-under 1,139 total.

   Wake Forest will get ACC rival Florida State, ranked 10^th. They have been two of the premier programs in women’s college golf for the last few years. This is a doozy of a matchup.

   The Seminoles closed with a 4-over 292 to finish in sixth place with a 3-over 1,155 total.

   SEC power South Carolina, ranked fourth, will take on Park and Pac-12 champion Southern Cal, ranked ninth, in another terrific quarterfinal match.

   The Gamecocks closed with a solid 1-over 289 to land in fourth place, 14 shots behind Wake Forest with a 1-over 1,153 total. The Trojans finished a shot behind South Carolina in fifth place as they closed with a 4-over 292 to end up with a 2-over 1,154 total.

   Then, of course, there will be top-seeded Stanford taking on West Coast Conference champion Pepperdine, ranked 16^th. The Waves nabbed the eighth and final spot in the match-play bracket by closing with a 2-over 290 that left them with an 8-over 1,160 total.

   Pepperdine will have Stanford’s full attention because the Cardinal knows just how hard it is to be one of the last eight teams standing for match play at the NCAA Championship.

   Backing up Rose Zhang for Stanford was Sadie Englemann, a junior from Austin, Texas and No. 90 in the Women’s WAGR, who contributed a 3-under 69 for the Cardinal as she landed in the group tied for 10^th place with a 5-under 283 total.

   Megha Ganne, a freshman from Holmdel, N.J. and No. 86 in the Women’s WAGR – she was one of Rose Zhang’s teammates for Team USA at Merion last summer – closed with a 2-over 74 to finish among the group tied for 21^st place with a 1-under 287 total.

   Another freshman, Kelly Xu of Claremont, Calif continued to come up big for the Cardinal as she closed with a solid 1-under 71 to finish in the group tied for 28^th place with an even-par 288 total.

   Rounding out the Stanford lineup was Brooke Seay, a veteran senior from San Diego, Calif. and No. 57 in the Women’s WAGR who recorded a 2-over 74. Seay, who is returning to the Stanford lineup from injury, came on to replace another injured Stanford standout, Rachel Heck, a junior from Memphis, Tenn. and No. 20 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Heck was the NCAA individual champion as a freshman at Grayhawk two years ago. She had shoulder surgery in March and played in the opening round Friday, posting an 82 at the Raptor Course.

   Oklahoma State’s Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, a junior from Australia and No. 58 in the Women’s WAGR, closed with a solid 2-under 70 to finish alone in fourth place, two shots behind Park and Lopez Ortega with an 8-under 280 total.

   LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad, a senior from Sweden and No. 2 in the Women’s WAGR, and SMU’s Michelle Zhang, a freshman from China, finished in a tie for fifth place, each landing on 7-under 281. Lindblad finished up with a 1-under 71 while Michelle Zhang closed with a solid 2-under 70.

   Two members of the GB&I side last summer at Merion, Wake Forest’s Lauren Walsh, a senior from Ireland and No. 48 in the Women’s WAGR, and Florida State’s Charlotte Heath, a junior from England and No. 18 in the Women’s WAGR, headed a trio of players tied for seventh place at 6-under 282. They will be on opposing teams Tuesday when the Demon Deacons take on the Seminoles.

   Walsh capped a strong showing at Grayhawk as she finished up with a 3-under 69. Heath closed with a 1-under 71.

   Rounding out the trio at 6-under was Arizona’s Nena Wongthanavimok, a freshman from Thailand who closed with a 1-under 71.

   The winners of Tuesday’s quarterfinal matches will turn right around and play the semifinals in the afternoon. By the end of a day certain to be filled with drama, only two teams will be left in the battle to determine the national champion.