Campos claims individual crown to lead UCLA to team title in the Nanea Pac-12 Preview

 

   The gang will only meet like this one more time, so the Nanea Pac-12 Preview, which wrapped up Wednesday at Nanea Golf Club in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, was certainly significant in that regard.

   The members of the venerable Pac-12 went scattering like the wind in one mind-boggling weekend in August of 2023.

   UCLA and Southern California had already announced their intention to join the Big Ten and Washington and Oregon soon followed suit. Then, all of a sudden, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Arizona State were gone, headed for the Big 12. Stanford and California shrugged and went how about the Atlantic Coast Conference? Wrong ocean, but sure.

   Everybody understands this is about football and TV revenues. Golf, being a much more sensible sport – with the notable exception of the top levels of the men’s professional game, but again there’s a lot of TV in the mix -- won’t really be affected that much. Heck, Nanea could still host a women’s college golf tournament on the Big Island next February, give it a different name and, I suspect, still draw a decent field of West Coast teams longing to escape the atmospheric rivers.

   When the Pac-12 Championship tees off April 21 at the Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Wash., it will mark the beginning of the end of a significant era for women’s college golf, for women’s golf, period.

   Since the NCAA Championship went to match play to determine the women’s national champion in 2015, five of the eight winners have been Pac-12 schools, five different winners at that.

   Check out the five winners of the LPGA Tour’s major championships in 2023 and you’ll find two Pac-12 stars of recent vintage taking three of them with UCLA product Lilia Vu claiming both the AIG Women’s Open and The Chevron Championship and Southern Cal’s Allisen Corpuz capturing the U.S. Women’s Open.

   Heck, take a look at the leaderboard through two rounds of this weekend’s LPGA Tour stop, the Honda  LPGA Thailand, and there’s UCLA’s Patty Tavatanakit tied for the lead and Stanford’s Albane Valenzuela a shot out of the lead in a tie for fourth place.

   You think Rose Zhang, the back-to-back NCAA individual champion for Stanford the last two springs, will win a major championship on the LPGA Tour before she’s finished? Yeah, me too.

   It was against this backdrop that UCLA, behind individual champion Zoe Antoinette Campos, a junior from Valencia, Calif. and No. 27 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), emerged from a tie with Stanford heading into Wednesday’s final round to claim a four-shot victory over the Cardinal with an 11-under-par 865 total.

   The Bruins opened with a 3-under 289 over the 6,489-yard, par-73 Nanea layout on a Presidents Day Monday and added a 4-under 288 in Tuesday’s second round that gave them a share of the top spot with perennial powerhouse Stanford going into Tuesday’s final round.

   With Campos closing with her second straight 3-under 70 to surge past a couple of Stanford standouts, Paula Martin Sampedro, a freshman from Spain and No. 29 in the Women’s WAGR, and Sadie Engelmann, a senior from Austin, Texas and No. 46 in the Women’s WAGR, to claim the individual title, UCLA closed with a second straight 4-under 288 to get the edge on the Cardinal.

   Campos had opened with a 2-under 71 before posting back-to-back 70s for an 8-under 211 total that was one shot better than Martin Sampedro and Southern Cal’s Amari Avery, a junior from Riverside, Calif. and No. 17 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Campos was one of 12 players invited to audition for the U.S. Curtis Cup team in a practice session last month at Seminole and Bent Tree in South Florida. The 43^rd Curtis Cup Match tees off Aug. 30 at Sunningdale Golf Club’s Old Course in Berkshire, England.

   UCLA failed to advance to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. as a six seed at the NCAA San Antonio Regional last spring, although Campos was the individual runnerup.

   Stanford had opened with a 4-under 288 and added a 3-under 289 in Tuesday’s second round, but could only match par in the final round with a 292 and settled for runnerup honors with a 7-under 869 total.

   Martin Sampedro had the individual lead heading into the final round after she added a 70 in Tuesday’s second round to her opening round of 4-under 69 before matching par in the final round with a 73 that left her in a tie for second place with Avery at 7-under 212.

   Stanford appeared headed for a second straight NCAA crown at Grayhawk last spring when Zhang led the Cardinal to the top seed after four rounds of qualifying for match play. But Southern Cal, not intimidated in the least by its Pac-12 rival, stunned Stanford in the semifinals, the Trojans going on to fall to Wake Forest in the Final Match.

   Arizona and Southern Cal, the Pac-12 champion last  spring, had shared the lead after each opened strong with a 10-under 282 Monday. Both fell off a little, finishing in third and fourth place, respectively.

   The scores seemed to indicate that either the conditions or the course setup was tougher, or both, for Tuesday’s second round and the Wildcats fell back with a 303. Arizona recovered by registering a 1-under 291 in the final round to finish with an even-par 876 total, seven shots behind Stanford.

   Arizona stormed to the NCAA Championship last spring by winning the team crown as a five seed in the Raleigh Regional and finished three frustrating shots out of the final spot in the match-play bracket at Grayhawk.

   Southern Cal never quite regained its opening-round magic as the Trojans struggled to a 4-over 296 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 301 to finish three shots behind Arizona with a 3-over 879 total.

   Avery trailed Martin Sampedro by three shots going into the final round after adding a 72 in Tuesday’s second round to her opening round of 3-under 70 before closing with another 70 to catch Martin Sampedro for a share of runnerup honors at 7-under.

   Southern Cal just needs to improve its finish from last spring by one spot when the NCAA Championship is played at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s Champions Course in Carlsbad, Calif. to claim a national title.

   Washington finished two shots behind the Trojans in fifth place with a 5-over 881 total as the Huskies opened with a solid 5-under 287 and added a 4-over 296 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 6-over 298.

   San Jose State, a Mountain West entry, finished four shots behind Washington in sixth place with a 9-over 885 total. After opening with a 2-under 290, the Spartans struggled a little with a 300 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 3-over 295.

   San Jose State advanced to the NCAA Championship last spring as it finished in third place as the two seed in the Athens Regional, but never really got it going at Grayhawk.

   There’s been some rumblings that San Jose State and some other Mountain West teams will join what will be the last two Pac-12 teams standing, Oregon State and Washington State, in a new Pac-12 at some point. We’ll see, but the Spartans have certainly been competing at a high level in women’s golf over the years.

   For some reason, Oregon, which lost in the Final Match to Stanford in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk two springs ago, was absent from the Nanea Pac-12 Preview.

   But Oregon State was there and the Beavers finished in seventh place in the 12-team field with a 20-over 896 that left them 11 shots behind San Jose State. Oregon State opened with a 2-over 294 and added a 6-over 298 in Tuesday’s second round before struggling to a 304 in the final round.

   Oregon State advanced to the NCAA Championship for just the second time in program history last spring with a surprising runnerup finish as a nine seed in the Westfield Regional, but didn’t make the 54-hole cut in qualifying for match play at Grayhawk.

   Backing up Campos for UCLA was Kate Villegas, a senior from Arcadia, Calif. who was the low Bruin in the final round with a 4-under 69 highlighted by a hole-in-one on Nanea’s par-3 11^th hole that left her in a tie for fourth place, three shots behind Southern Cal’s Avery and Stanford’s Martin Sampedro at 4-under 215.

   Villegas matched par in the opening round with a 73 and added a 3-under 70 in Tuesday’s second round.

   Caroline Canales, a junior from Calabasas, Calif., gave UCLA three finishers inside the top nine as she finished alone in ninth place with a 2-under 217 total. Canales sandwiched a 2-under 71 in Tuesday’s second round with a pair of 3-under 70s.

   Meghan Royal, a sophomore from Carlsbad, Calif., finished in the group tied for 21^st place with a 4-over 223 total. Royal matched par with a critical 73 in the final round after posting back-to-back 2-over 75s in the first two rounds.

   Rounding out the UCLA lineup was Natalie Vo, a junior from San Jose, Calif. who finished in the group tied for 38^th place with a 229 total. Vo contributed a counting 2-over 74 in Tuesday’s second round after opening with a 76 before struggling to a 79 in the final round.

   Stanford’s Englemann got a share of fourth place with UCLA’s Villegas at 4-under. Englemann was a shot behind her teammate Martin Sampedro in second place going into the final round after Englemann added a 71 in Tuesday’s second round to her opening round of 4-under 69. Englemann cooled off a little in the final round with a 3-over 75.

   San Jose State’s Lucia Lopez Ortega, a junior from Spain and No. 59 in the Women’s WAGR, and the Arizona duo of Carolina Melgrati, a junior from Italy, and Gile Bite Starkute, a fifth-year player from Lithuania, finished in a tie for sixth place, each landing on 3-under 216, a shot behind Villegas and Englemann.

   Lopez Ortega, who finished in a tie for second place just a shot behind Zhang in the individual chase at the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk last spring, opened with a solid 4-under 69 and added a 3-over 76 in Tuesday’s second round before finishing up with a 2-under 71.

   Melgrati also opened strong with a 4-under 69 and finished by matching the best individual round of the week, a sparkling 6-under 67, but struggled to an 80 in Tuesday’s second round.

   Bite Starkute also got off to a great start, registering a 5-under 68 in the opening round. She matched par in Tuesday’s second round with a 73 before closing with a 2-over 75.

   Rounding out the top 10 in the individual standings were San Jose State’s Kajsa Arwefjall, a fifth-year year player from Sweden and No. 44 in the Women’s WAGR, and Stanford’s Meghan Ganne, a sophomore from Holmdel, N.J. and No. 53 in the Women’s WAGR, both whom landed on 1-under 218 and tied for 10th place.

   After opening with a 2-under 71, Arwefjall added a 2-over 75 in Tuesday’s second round before closing with a 1-under 72. After opening with a 1-under 72, Ganne matched par in each of the final two rounds with a pair of 73s as she gave the Cardinal three finishers inside the top 10.

   Ganne and Southern Cal’s Avery were the youngsters on Captain Sarah Lebrun Ingram’s U.S. Curtis Cup team in the summer of 2022 at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course. Ingram fearlessly paired them in better-ball four-ball matches the first two days and they responded with wins in both matches. They helped the U.S. claim a deceptively easy 14.5-5.5 victory.

   Stanford was missing Rachel Heck, another hero of that U.S. Curtis Cup victory at Merion, from its lineup. Heck was the NCAA individual champion as a freshman in 2021, the spring before Zhang arrived at Stanford.

   Heck, who is No. 65 in the Women’s WAGR, was battling back from shoulder surgery last spring and really couldn’t contribute for the Cardinal in the postseason. But it looks like Heck has accepted an invitation to tee it up in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship later this spring, so maybe we’ll see her back in Stanford lineup before this season is over.