Tag: 2023 NCAA Championship

USC upsets top-seeded Stanford, will face Wake Forest in final at 2023 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

The title match is set at Grayhawk.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Brianna Navarrosa doesn’t like to give herself ultimatums.

The junior at USC had no choice, though.

Rose Zhang, the top-ranked amateur in the world who Tuesday was named the winner of the 2023 ANNIKA Award, given to the best women’s college golfer, hit her approach shot at the par-3 16th hole at Grayhawk Golf Club inside 3 feet. Navarrosa had yet to hit her tee shot, but she wasn’t fazed.

Her ball landed about 8 feet away. And when she was lining up her putt, she knew its importance.

“I usually don’t say things like you have to make it or you have to get a birdie,” Navarrosa said, “but I knew I had to make a birdie. Standing over that putt, I don’t think I felt more confident than I have in my golf career.”

She buried the putt in the center, and with a 2 up lead with two holes to play, the putt was arguably the most important in the match.

USC knocked off top-seeded Stanford, the defending national champions, 3-2 in the semifinal match to advance to Wednesday’s national championship final against No. 2 Wake Forest. Navarrosa clinched the final point on the 17th green when she and Zhang halved the par-4 hole with pars. Wake Forest, meanwhile, beat Texas A&M 4-1 to advance.

USC coach Justin Silverstein said Navarrosa has struggled with her ball striking for the better part of four months after a strong start to the season. He said the result is a culmination of the hard work in the times the results weren’t quite showing.

“What it takes to beat (Zhang) is a ton of discipline, and you’ve got to run the table on the greens,” Silverstein said. “When we made the picks, I sent them to the team and she looked down at her phone then at me. I nodded and she did back and started eating again.

“She was ready for it.”

Navarrosa won her match, 2 and 1, joining Cindy Kou and Christine Park with victories for the Trojans.

On the other side, it was a battle with the heat for Wake Forest.

Last year, the Demon Deacons were one of the pre-championship favorites and missed the 15-team cut. All season, the message has been to finish and play strong.

And Mimi Rhodes wasn’t going to let anything stop her.

On Monday night, she ended up in the emergency room and had to get an IV for dehydration. During the back nine of her match against Texas A&M, she started to struggle against Bianca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, almost to the point Wake Forest coach Kim Lewellen nearly called for a 10-minute medical stoppage.

“She asked me, ‘Are you going to be able to finish this?’ and I said ‘This is what we work for our whole year,'” Rhodes said. “I just had to make it to the 18th hole. (Coach) said to me we only needed one more match.

“Made it really difficult for myself, but I knew I just had to make pars.”

She won on the 18th hole, clinching the match. Emilia Migliaccio, who returned for a sixth year, won her opening match, 2 and 1. Senior Rachel Kuehn clinched hers, 4 and 2.

And Wake Forest is in the championship match, the place it planned to be all year long.

“We were in this position a few years ago. Unfortunately, we didn’t pull it off,” Lewellen said. “This team wants this so bad. We’re going to stick to what we usually do.”

Wake Forest would win its first NCAA title with a victory while USC would pick up its fourth.

Championship match

No. 3 Wake Forest vs. No. 5 USC

  • 4:35 p.m. ET – Emilia Migliaccio vs. Cindy Kou
  • 4:45 p.m. ET – Carolina Lopez-Chacarra vs. Catherine Park
  • 4:55 p.m. ET – Rachel Kuehn vs. Amari Avery
  • 5:05 p.m. ET – Mimi Rhodes vs. Christine Wang
  • 5:15 p.m. ET – Lauren Walsh vs. Brianna Navarrosa

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Top seeds Stanford, Wake Forest advance to NCAA Women’s Golf Championship semifinals

It was a quick turnaround Tuesday morning.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — It was a quick turnaround for the eight teams who advanced into the 2023 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship match play.

Come early Tuesday morning, they returned to Grayhawk Golf Club and began quarterfinal matches. Stanford, the defending national champion, was the top seed after stroke play and faced off against a Pepperdine team making its first appearance in NCAA match play. There was an ACC matchup between Florida State and Wake Forest. Then a Lone Star Showdown between Texas and Texas A&M. To wrap it up, there was a battle of the USCs, as South Carolina took on Southern California.

NCAA: Photos

Here’s a recap of Tuesday morning’s NCAA match play quarterfinals and a look ahead at Tuesday afternoon’s semifinal pairings. Every team that makes match play semifinals qualifies for the East Lake Cup in the fall.

Quarterfinal results

Texas A&M 4, Texas 1

The first match to conclude was the one between Texas rivals. Zoe Slaughter got the Aggies’ first point, beating Huai-Chien Hsu, 3 and 2. Then Sophie Guo got the Longhorns’ lone point, winning 2 and 1. However, Bianca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio and Adela Cernousek each won their matches on the 18th green, 1 up, to advance Texas A&M to the semifinals.

Wake Forest 3.5, Florida State 1.5

It took until Rachel Kuehn’s 20th hole, but she took advantage of Amelia Williamson’s mistake. The senior at Wake Forest saw her Florida State playing partner dump her shot into the pond right of the 18th green. Kuehn found the fairway, then the green and two putted to win her match and secure the final point to propel Wake Forest, the 2019 national runner-up, into the semifinals. Carolina Lopez-Chacarra won 2 and 1, and Mimi Rhodes won 1 up.

Southern California 4, South Carolina 1

The Trojans have the longest streak of making the NCAA Championship at 25 years. However, it has been five years since USC made the match play semifinals. But the wait is over. South Carolina got on the board quickly with Mathilde Claisse winning, 6 and 5, but Cindy Kou and Catherine Park, the individual runner-up, each got a point on the board. Then Brianna Navarrosa got the clinching point when South Carolina’s Louise Rydqvist missed a birdie on the par-3 eighth, the group’s 17th hole.

Stanford 4, Pepperdine 1

Pepperdine’s Lion Higo watched her tee shot go right off the 18th tee in a tied match. It landed beneath a tree and near a shrub, leaving her an awkward stance and lie. she missed the ball on her first swing and had to take another to get the ball back in the fairway, However. it was enough of a blunder to give Kelly Xu the final point and advance Stanford into the semis. Rose Zhang, the NCAA individual champ, won 6 and 5, and Sadie Englemann won 2 and 1.

Semifinal matchups

No. 3 Wake Forest vs. No. 7 Texas A&M

Emilia Migliaccio vs. Zoe Slaughter (3:45 p.m. ET, 1st tee)

Carolina Lopez-Chacarra vs. Jennie Park (3:55 p.m. ET)

Mimi Rhodes vs. Bianca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio (4:05 p.m. ET)

Lauren Walsh vs. Adela Cernousek (4:15 p.m. ET)

Rachel Kuehn vs. Hailee Cooper (4:25 p.m. ET)

No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 5 USC

Kelly Zu vs. Catherine Park (4:35 p.m. ET, 1st tee)

Megha Ganne vs. Cindy Kou (4:45 p.m. ET)

Brooke Seay vs. Christine Wang (4:55 p.m. ET)

Sadie Englemann vs. Amari Avery (5:05 p.m. ET)

Rose Zhang vs. Brianna Navarrosa (5:15 p.m. ET)

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NCAA Championship: Match play field, pairings set for 2023 women’s quarterfinals

Check out the eight teams who made the match play at the NCAAs.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The women’s individual national champion has been crowned, which means one thing: it’s time for match play.

Stanford, the defending national champion, earned the top seed and will face No. 8 Pepperdine. The Waves are making their first appearance at NCAA match play. In addition, there will be a Lone Star Showdown between Texas (No. 2 seed) and Texas A&M (No. 7 seed) in the first round. Other matches include No. 3 Wake Forest against No. 6 Florida State and No. 4 South Carolina against No. 5 USC.

A reminder: last year was the first time in the match play era the No. 1 seed (Stanford) went on to win.

NCAA: Team scores | Individual scores | Photos

The quarterfinals are set to begin on Tuesday morning and the semifinals to follow in the afternoon. On Wednesday, it’ll be the final.(Note: all times ET, which is three hours ahead of Scottsdale).

Queen of college golf: Rose Zhang captures 2023 NCAA individual title, first woman to win back-to-back NCAA championships

“No one’s ever done this before. It’s so hard to do. And she did it in a different way. She’s Rose.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Rose Zhang wanted to go for it.

She stood in the fairway on the par-5 18th hole at Grayhawk Golf Club and was prepping to go for the green in two. With water right, she even risked putting her ball in the left bunkers, which she knew would give her a good chance to get up-and-down for birdie.

That’s when Stanford coach Anne Walker stepped in, offering some advice to her sophomore sensation.

“We’re gonna go down here and you’re going to have a number that’s going to be in play,” Walker told Zhang. “And you’re going to lay up.”

Zhang questioned her coach. Why would she lay up with a tournament title on the line?

But it wasn’t just any tournament. And it wasn’t just any player. It’s the best female amateur in the world trying to win the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship for the second straight year.

That’s when Walker told Zhang she had a one-shot lead. A par or better would secure her second straight individual title.

“I was like, ‘Oh wait, maybe I should reconsider everything that just happened and my whole thought process,'”Zhang said. “So I decided to lay up with a 9-iron, wedge it in from there and two putts was good enough.”

And it’s decisions like those that have put Zhang at the top.

NCAA: Team scores | Individual scores | Photos

Zhang won the NCAA individual title for the second straight year, becoming the first woman to do so. She shot a bogey-free 4-under 68 on Monday, finishing at 10 under and beating USC’s Catherine Park and San Jose State’s Lucia Lopez-Ortega by one shot. The victory was also a crowning achievement on an incredible season that saw Zhang win eight times, tying Lorena Ochoa’s single-season NCAA record for victories, and set a new record for lowest scoring average in a single season, coming in at 68.81, besting her 69.68 record from last season.

“I still don’t know what is going on,” Zhang said. “And it’s really hard to process because when you’re chasing from behind, you really don’t know what’s happening.

“I genuinely just… I can’t believe this is all happening. It’s just simple to say I’m super grateful.”

2023 NCAA Championship
Rose Zhang of the Stanford Cardinal celebrates with teammates after winning the NCAA women’s Golf Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club on May 22, 2023 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

In addition to her eighth victory of the season, it’s also the 12th of her career, the most of any Stanford golfer in school history. Tiger Woods, Maverick McNealy and Patrick Rodgers each had 11 on the men’s side.

She also helped the Cardinal secure the top overall seed in match play, which begins Tuesday. Stanford will first face eighth-seeded Pepperdine with a chance to win its second consecutive team title.

Walker said she spoke with Zhang before Monday’s final round and challenged her to be aggressive. She wanted Zhang to play smarter, like Walker knew her star was capable of.

“Some of the shorter holes, she took herself out of the hole just by being out of position,” Walker said. “Rose is fully accountable. She’s an incredibly intelligent golfer. She decided that no matter what happened, she would be putting herself into position.”

Park led by four when Zhang teed off, but a cold putter saw Park sign for a 1-over 73 in the final round to get into the clubhouse at 9 under overall.

Zhang narrowly missed birdie putts on the first three hole. A great 3-wood on the par-5 fourth allowed her to have an easy birdie putt, then she hit a wedge to a foot from about 75 yards on the sixth for another birdie. Add one more on the par-5 seventh, Zhang turned in 3-under 33 but still a shot behind Park, her childhood friend.

Zhang birdied the par-5 11th as Park three-putted on the par-4 15th, flopping the lead. Then it was solid golf all the way in.

Zhang missed her first green on the day on the par-4 17th but scrambled for par. She bounced back with a terrific drive off the 18th tee, picking up her tee before her ball reached its apex.

2023 NCAA Championship
Rose Zhang of the Stanford Cardinal poses with the trophy and teammates after winning the NCAA women’s Golf Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club on May 22, 2023 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Then she put herself in position. It’s something she has done her entire career. It’s why she has won a U.S. Girls’ Junior, the U.S. Women’s Amateur, the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and now back-to-back NCAA individual titles. It’s why she’s arguably the greatest college golfer of all time and cemented her legacy as the best female amateur in the history of the game.

Walker seemed a bit taken aback when she realized the victory was Zhang’s eighth of the year. Yet she didn’t struggle to find words to summarize her season.

“I kind of felt like she was already solidified as the best amateur of all time, and what she did today, that’s just the period on the end of the sentence,” Walker said. “No one’s ever done this before. It’s so hard to do. And she did it in a different way. She’s Rose.”

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Meet the 15 teams to make the first cut at the 2023 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

Stanford is in pole position with 18 holes of stroke play left.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — After 54 holes of stroke play, the field of 30 teams at the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship is now 15 after Sunday evening’s cut.

Stanford, the defending national champion, took the lead on the hardest scoring day yet at Grayhawk Golf Club. Wake Forest, which led after the first two days, is tied for second with Texas. USC and Florida State are the only other teams under par.

USC’s Catherine Park, fresh off her NCAA record-tying round Saturday, leads the individual competition by four shots with 18 to play. There’s a three way for second that includes Rose Zhang, the defending NCAA individual champ.

Come Monday, the top eight teams after the final round of stroke play will make match play, which begins Tuesday morning.

NCAA: Team scores | Individual scores | Photos

Meet the 15 teams who made the first cut at Grayhawk.

A coaching adjustment helped USC’s Catherine Park, the daughter of an Olympic gold medalist, tie an NCAA record and lead NCAA Championship

Park has a four-shot lead with 18 holes to play.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Justin Silverstein admits his staff has sacrificed down the stretch with his latest coaching adjustment.

The USC’s women’s golf coach started walking with freshman Catherine Park at the Silverado Showdown in early April. He wouldn’t step in much, but he did offer advice on figuring out yardages and helping read greens when needed.

That switch has paid dividends for Park. She tied for second that week. The next tournament, the Pac-12 Championships, she tied for third as USC won the team title. At the Pullman Regional, Park finished T-17.

And on the biggest stage of them all, Park is out in front of the field with 18 holes of stroke play to go at Grayhawk Golf Club in the 2023 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship searching for her first collegiate win.

“I kept telling my boss that Catherine was going to bust out,” Silverstein said. “It kind of took a little longer, but I think the final push was a little more on-course coaching.”

Park shot 1-under 71 on Sunday, which had the most difficult conditions of the week by far, to take the lead at 10-under 206. She has a four-shot lead on Rose Zhang, the defending individual champion, as well as Oklahoma State’s Maddison Hinson-Tolchard and Florida State’s Charlotte Heath.

However, it was her second round Saturday that put her into the NCAA record books. Park shot 8-under 64, which tied the low round at an NCAA Women’s Golf Championship.

“I did not realize it at all until they posted it,” Park said Sunday. “I did not expect it at all to be tied for the record. I tried to not get into my head for today’s round. I didn’t want to overthink and tried to be steady.”

As Silverstein alluded to, Park had been trending toward a breakout all season. Her lowest round of the season, a 66, came in the first day of the Pullman Regional. She has three top-six finishes, all since March.

Then Saturday and into Sunday, it all came together.

Silverstein said a switch in November from drawing the ball to cutting it was the first thing to propel Park. Then it was her improvement on the greens, where she has gained almost two strokes.

“On greens this nasty, she has really bought in to hitting her putts softer, and her speed control has been really good except for a couple putts today,” Silverstein said.

Park is enjoying the competitive nature of being high on the leaderboard at the national championship. She grew up in a successful athletic family. Her mother, Seo Hyang-soon, became Korea’s first Olympic gold medalist when she won gold medal in archery at the 1984 Olympics at 17 years old. Her father, Park Kyung-ho, is a 1986 Asian Games gold medalist in judo.

That history and relationship with her parents has benefited Park on and off the course.

“It’s really helpful for me when I’m struggling mentally, they help me get back up because they understand what I’m feeling,” she said.

Come Monday, Park will face her biggest challenge yet. She’ll be gunning for an individual national title, trying to become the third straight freshman to win at the NCAAs.

Chasing her will be Zhang (the top-ranked amateur in the world) as well as the Big 12 individual champion Hinson-Tolchard and a finalist for the ANNIKA Award, given to the top female college golfer, in Heath.

In the team competition, USC is in fourth and in great position to make it into match play. However, 18 more holes await.

It’s a competition Park’s looking forward to.

“I’m so stoked because we’re sitting in a pretty good place,” Park said. “I have such strong confidence, and our team is strong. I know they’re going to light it up tomorrow.”

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Women’s NCAA Championship: Stanford rebounds after early struggles, Wake Forest takes lead and more from Friday’s first round

Here’s what you need to know from the first round of the NCAA Championship.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Morning clouds burned off with plenty of afternoon sunlight during the first round of the 2023 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship, but Grayhawk Golf Club remained a stern test for the best women’s college golfers.

Only six of the 30 teams in the field shot under par in the first round, and the scoring average was nearly three shots over par. Although conditions were more favorable for scoring in the morning, the sun and some wind made it tougher in the afternoon, but it didn’t hamper every team.

Oklahoma State held the lead after a morning round of 8-under 280, but it sits second going into Saturday. And for defending national champion Stanford, it had a major turnaround.

NCAA Leaderboard: Team | Individual | Photos

Here’s a look at what happened during the first round of the women’s NCAA Championship:

Photos: 2023 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club

Here’s a look at some of the best photos from Grayhawk Golf Club.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The battle to crown a national champion is underway.

The 2023 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship teed off Friday at Grayhawk Golf Club, site of the men’s and women’s NCAA Championships for the third straight year. Teams will compete in four rounds of stroke play, with the top eight advancing to match play, which begins Tuesday, May 23. An individual champion will be crowned Monday, May 22, as well.

Then Wednesday, May 24, will be the match play final, where the national champion will rise.

Here’s a look at some of the best photos from Scottsdale.

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2023 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship: Staff picks, what to watch for at Grayhawk Golf Club

Here’s who we’re picking to win the national title.

The 2023 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship tees off two long weeks of college golf in the desert at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Thirty teams and six individuals will compete for national titles, with the individual champion being decided after four rounds of stroke play Friday, May 19 to Monday, May 22. After the third round, the field will be cut to the top 15 teams for the final round.

Those 15 will then be cut to eight, and the format will switch to match play, with the team champion being crowned Wednesday, May 24.

As the first round of competition begins, Golfweek‘s college staff made predictions for the bracket and who will take home the trophies. Take a look at our picks, and follow our coverage from the championship all week – followed by coverage from the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship, beginning Friday, May 26.

Golfweek/Sagarin rankings: Women’s team | Women’s individual
More NCAA Championship: Meet the teams, individuals in the field

Beth Ann Nichols

Match play

Wake Forest
Stanford
USC
Mississippi State
LSU
Texas A&M
Florida State
Baylor

Team champion: Stanford

Individual champion: Rose Zhang, Stanford

Lance Ringler

Match play

Wake Forest
LSU
Mississippi State
Pepperdine
SMU
Stanford
Texas A&M
Vanderbilt

Team champion: Wake Forest

Individual champion: Rose Zhang, Stanford

Cameron Jourdan

Match play

Mississippi State
Wake Forest
Stanford
Clemson
South Carolina
LSU
Florida State
San Jose State

Team champion: Wake Forest

Individual champion: Rose Zhang, Stanford

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Augusta University makes first trip to NCAA Championship thanks to strong play of freshman Mirabel Ting, whose father died not long after she arrived on campus

“She was in a really dark place. I had no idea what was going to happen.”

Malaysia’s Mirabel Ting celebrated her 17th birthday shortly after she arrived at Augusta University last fall. Her father, Thomas, believed she was mature enough to handle all that comes with moving across the world to chase a dream.

Mirabel couldn’t possibly imagine, however, just how much she’d grow as a college freshman, in ways no teenager should have to face.

Augusta coach Caroline Haase-Hegg can still hear her players saying, “Coach, Coach,” in the van as they drove to Statesboro, Georgia, last October for Georgia Southern’s home event. Haase-Hegg looked back to see a devastated Ting, who’d just received word from home that her father had died from a massive heart attack.

“It was horrible,” said Haase-Hegg. “We were right about to Statesboro, and I didn’t know what to do. Do we turn around; do we keep going?”

She called Georgia Southern coach, Mimi Burke, who, like Haase-Hegg, has Purdue roots. They drove to Burke’s home, sat together as a team and cried.

At first, Mirabel insisted that she wanted to play in the tournament. It’s what her dad would’ve wanted, she thought. But by the next morning, she’d come around to the idea that she needed to get home. They drove back to Augusta to collect her things and put her on a plane at the Atlanta airport.

“At that point, I didn’t know if I’d see Mirabel again, to be honest” said Haase-Hegg.

Ting came back a few weeks later and tried to assimilate back into college life, but it proved too much. She returned to Malaysia for a second time to grieve.

“My only concern was Mirabel’s health,” said Haase-Hegg. “She was in a really dark place. I had no idea what was going to happen.”

Thomas first brought Mirabel to the golf course when she was 3 years old as a tag-along with her older brother. She grabbed her brother’s driver, which stood taller than her, closed her eyes and took a swing. The ball flew 50 yards.

“My dad was like, ‘This girl can play,’ ” said Mirabel.

Back home in Malaysia, Mirabel knew her father would want her to finish her degree before turning profesisonal. It was a tough decision, leaving her mother alone to pursue college life in Augusta, Georgia, but Mirabel returned to campus with a renewed sense of focus and peace.

“Whenever I played bad, (my dad) would just ask me what happened and what goes wrong,” said Mirabel. “He would always say that I didn’t practice enough.

“I literally told myself when I got right back to Augusta – I need to work even harder, double the training that I did before. I woke up for workouts and then straight to practice – go to school and go back to practice again.”

That no-quit mentality, she said, mirrors her dad, and it paid off handsomely.

In her first college start that spring, Mirabel won in a playoff at the Moon Golf Invitational after carding rounds of 69-69-65.

“It was completely insane for me, shooting 13 under,” said Mirabel, who dedicated the victory to her father.

Augusta punched their ticket to the national championship after the Athens regional of the 2023 NCAA Division I women’s golf championships at the UGA Golf Course in Athens, Ga., on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. (Tony Walsh/UGAAA)

Haase-Hegg said Mirabel might be the best iron player she’s ever seen, high praise from a coach who has worked with several LPGA players over the years. A straight hitter who drives it well and holes putts under pressure, Haase-Hegg said Mirabel loves the game and keeps it simple.

“Even when things were going badly in her life, she’d still go out on the golf course and ho-hum it for a 68,” said Haase-Hegg.

Mirabel hasn’t finished outside the top 15 in seven starts this semester. At the NCAA Athens Regional, she shot 6 under on the back nine and closed with two birdies to lift Augusta into the fifth and final spot, giving the Jaguars their first trip to the NCAA Championship.

Haase-Hegg said Mirabel puts the team before herself. If some of her teammates are struggling with a drill, she’s the first to start shagging balls and cheer them on.

The Jaguars have five top-3 finishes this spring, including a victory at the Southland Conference Championship. Last month, Ting was named the Southland Conference Women’s Golf Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year. She’s currently 15th in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

Before Augusta headed to Scottsdale, Arizona, this week they gathered at Bodega Ultima with about 100 supporters from the community to celebrate an important milestone for the program.

The NCAA Championship gets underway on Friday at Grayhawk Golf Club with the first of four stroke-play rounds. Thirty teams will be cut to 15 after 54 holes. On Monday, an individual champion will be crowned and eight teams will advance to match play.

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Haase-Hegg still has her own college coach and former boss, retired Purdue coach Devon Brouse, listed as one of the favorites on her phone. He’s usually out gardening when she calls. She’s leaned on him often this year, recalling the hardships that have molded and strengthened.

“That’s what I see in Mirabel – she’s come out stronger,” said Haase-Hegg. “She’s more resilient. She’s got a perspective to life that not many 17-year-olds have.”

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