2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

Rachel Heck clinches match as Stanford beats UCLA to win 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

It’s the third title for Stanford in school history.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Rachel Heck started walking after her ball before it was close to the hole. It seemed as if she started reaching into the cup before the putt dropped.

It was clear early on. In her final collegiate start, Heck was leaving nothing in the table.

“Yeah, I don’t normally walk in putts,” Heck said. “But it was a good speed and I decided to walk it in. I felt that it was going to be good.”

The senior for Stanford was the anchor, and she delivered in a big way. Her victory against Kate Villegas secured the 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship for the Cardinal, topping UCLA 3-2 in the match play final. Heck had a lag putt she hit to within a couple feet on the final hole, and Villegas couldn’t convert her birdie. The celebration ensued quickly after.

“That’s Rachel Heck for you,” Stanford coach Anne Walker said. “It’s like it was scripted that way.

The win was Stanford’s second title in three years and third overall and a fitting end Heck’s career as one of the best Stanford players of all-time.

Heck clinched the final point on the par-4 15th hole, winning her match 4 and 3. She closes her career with her second team title, and Heck also won the 2021 NCAA individual title as a freshman.

Walker mentioned how Heck, who won for the ninth time last week, wasn’t sure whether she would return this season. Injuries the past two years hampered her ability to play golf, but the talent remained. That showed Wednesday.

She walked in the birdie on the first hole. On the second, she had an iron into a par-5 and hit it to 15 feet and had a comfy birdie. On the third hole, Heck hit an iron into the par-3 green that never left the flag and ended 10 feet from the hole. Although she didn’t make the putt, it set the tone early that she wasn’t going to lose.

“This felt a little bit more enjoyable because you know, this, this really is it for me, this is the end of a chapter,” Heck said. “2022, obviously that was one of the best weeks of my life. I was looking at our senior I was like, ‘dang, she got to win her senior year, like what a perfect ending last chapter of her life.’ How cool would it be to win my senior year?”

It’s the third title for Stanford in the match-play era, the only school to win three titles since the switch to match play.

Kelly Xu earned the first point for Stanford with a 4-and-3 win against UCLA’s Meghan Royal. Then Megha Ganne added the second point, beating Natalie Vo 3 and 2.

Ganne was on the 16th green when Heck was on the 15th, and Ganne clinched her match after dropping a shot on the 15th. Fans rushed around the pond from the 16th green over to the 15th, where Heck was lining up her lag putt, and once again as she has done numerous times throughout her career, Heck closed the door and clinched the title.

“I felt really, really solid with my game,” Heck said. “Really good with my mental state more than anything at this point in the week. It just takes a lot of mental strength and perseverance, and I think everything I’ve been through the last year has helped with that a lot.”

Added Walker: “I’m just glad she got to have that moment. One of the best players to ever play college golf, so for her to be able to have this?”

No better way to go out.

Championship match results

No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 6 UCLA

Kelly Xu (Stanford) def. Meghan Royal (UCLA), 4 and 3
Megha Ganne (Stanford) def. Natalie Vo (UCLA), 3 and 2
Zoe Campos (UCLA) def. Sadie Englemann (Stanford), 4 and 3
Rachel Heck (Stanford) def. Kate Villegas (UCLA), 4 and 3
Caroline Canales (UCLA) def. Paula Martin Sampedro (Stanford) 2 up

Stanford gets revenge against USC, will face UCLA in final at 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

Stanford and UCLA will play for the national title.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Screams erupted from the 16th hole green, racing toward the 18th green some 200 yards away.

Kelly Xu’s hands went up in the air. Her teammates’ voices beckoned a celebration. The victory was secured.

Last season, Stanford fell in the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship semifinals against conference foe USC. The teams were matched up Tuesday afternoon at Omni La Costa’s North Course, a date in the national championship match on the line again, and the Cardinal got its revenge.

Top-seeded Stanford knocked off No. 4 USC 4-1 in the semifinals to clinch a spot in the championship match for the second time in three years. The Cardinal will take on sixth-seeded UCLA, which beat Oregon 3-1 in the other semifinal to advance to its first championship match in the match-play era.

“We have so much respect for USC,” Stanford coach Anne Walker said. “We’ve had such a good year, and they’re so similar to our team one through five. We went out there knowing it would be close.”

Xu clinched the match on the par-3 16th green, and teammate Paula Martin Sampedro was tied in her match on the 18th green before her and the Cardinal faithful directed their attention to the celebration across the way. Rachel Heck took off sprinting through the tall grass to join in. Sampedro and others followed.

Stanford sophomore Megha Ganne won three straight holes from Nos. 15-17 to go from one down to win 2 and 1 in her match against Brianna Navarrosa. The first Cardinal point came from Sadie Englemann, a match-play assassin for Stanford, who went 2-0 on Tuesday and won 6 and 5 in the semifinal match.

While Stanford is going for its second title in three years, UCLA is in an unfamiliar position during the match play era. The Bruins have never made the championship match, and before this year, they had only made the semis one time since the switch in format.

Now, in Alicia Um Holmes’ first year as head coach after 17 years as an assistant under UCLA Hall of Famer Carrie Forsyth, the rebuilt Bruins are looking for their first championship since 2011.

“It’s kind of unbelievable, right?” Um Holmes said. “In our first year to make it this far, it’s just been a great ride with this team.”

UCLA women’s golf at the 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship. (Photo: UCLA Athletics)

UCLA’s roster is comprised of three transfers, Natalie Vo (Colorado), Kate Villegas (UC Riverside) and Meghan Royal (Arkansas), the latter who graduated from Carlsbad High School. In preparation for the championship, the Bruins leaned on royal for her course experience, even if it’s not quite the same after the Gil Hanse renovation.

The other two players in the lineup, Zoe Campos and Caroline Canales, have been stalwarts. Campos was on the final watch list for the 2024 Annika Award, given to the college player of the year, and has four victories this season. Canales won both her matches Tuesday to help get the Bruins into a position they’ve never been.

“When we started off the year, we had no expectations,” Um Holmes said. “We just said let’s play, and see what they do. Let’s stick to our game and see if we can win these matches.”

The semifinals comprised of four Pac-12 teams, which will soon be three Big 10 teams and one ACC. There had never been four teams from one conference to make the semifinals until Tuesday.

A win for Stanford on Wednesday would be its third all-time. For UCLA, the Bruins would collect their fourth.

Championship match

No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 6 UCLA

Paula Martin Sampedro vs. Caroline Canales (5:15 p.m. ET, 1st tee)
Kelly Xu vs. Meghan Royal (5:25 p.m.)
Megha Ganne vs. Natalie Vo (5:35 p.m.)
Sadie Englemann vs. Zoe Campos (5:45 p.m.
Rachel Heck vs. Kate Villegas (5:55 p.m.)

It’s going to be an all Pac-12 semifinal at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

The semifinals are set, and it’s a historic feat

CARLSBAD, Calif. — It was a quick turnaround for the eight teams who advanced into the 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship match play.

Early Tuesday morning, teams returned to Omni La Costa’s North Course and began quarterfinal matches. There were three SEC vs. Pac-12 matchups, and the other matchup was a Pac-12 team taking on Clemson from the ACC. Both Clemson and LSU were making their first appearances in NCAA match play.

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.

NCAA: Best photos from Omni La Costa

Quarterfinal results

Oregon 3, LSU 2

Oregon, which advanced to the championship match in 2022, got big contributions from Minori Nagano with a 7-and-6 win, then Kiara Romero was able to hold off Aine Donegan 1 up to win and advance the Ducks. Ingrid Lindblad and Latanna Stone each won their matches for LSU.

UCLA 4, Texas A&M 1

The Bruins had a strong performance against a 2023 semifinalist. Meghan Royal won 1 up against Cayatana Fernandez Garcia-Poggio, clinching the match on the final hole. Caroline Canales won 2 and 1 while Natalie Vo picked up a 3-and-2 win, and the other two matches were tied when the Bruins picked up their third point.

Stanford 4, Auburn 1

Sadie Englemann was 1 down with one to play against Auburn freshman Anna Davis, and Englemann won the par-5 18th before winning the par-3 16th, the extra hole. Her flipping that match helped Stanford advance to the semifinals yet again. Rachel Heck also had a 4-and-3 win. Kelly Xu had the clinching point.

USC 3½, Clemson 1½

Bailey Shoemaker drained a long birdie putt on the 16th hole to clinch the match for USC, the 2023 national runner-up. Amari Avery and Brianna Navarrosa also earned points for the Trojans, which move on yet again.

Semifinal matchups

No. 6 UCLA vs. No. 7 Oregon

Carolina Canales vs. Karen Tsuru (4:15 p.m. ET, 1st tee)
Meghan Royal vs. Ching-Tzu Chen (4:25 p.m. ET)
Natalie Vo vs. Minori Nagano (4:35 p.m. ET)
Kate Villegas vs. Tiffany Huang (4:45 p.m. ET)
Zoe Campos vs. Kiara Romero (4:55 p.m. ET)

No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 4 USC

Rachel Heck vs. Amari Avery (5:05 p.m. ET, 1st tee)
Sadie Englemann vs. Cindy Kou (5:15 p.m. ET)
Paula Martin Sampedro vs. Bailey Shoemaker (5:25 p.m. ET)
Megha Ganne vs. Brianna Navarrosa (5:35 p.m. ET)
Kelly Xu vs. Catherine Park (5:45 p.m. ET)

Adela Cernousek almost left Texas A&M before her career started. Now she’s an NCAA individual champion

Cernousek is the first Texas A&M golfer to win a individual title.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — When Adela Cernousek signed with Texas A&M, she did so under the pretense that Andrea Gaston would be her head coach.

By the time she got to College Station, Gaston, a three-time winner of the national championship was gone, off to her next adventure. Gerrod Chadwell, who had plenty of success at Houston, was hired as successor an hour north. Yet Chadwell knew right away something was off.

“I remember picking her up at the airport, and I didn’t know if she really wanted to be there,” Chadwell said.

The duo had their moments during Cernousek’s freshman year. They butted heads, but Chadwell stayed consistent. Her saw promise in his freshman from France, who showed up with only 13 clubs in her bags that were comprised of mainly beginner clubs.

Chadwell pushed her to be better. Cernousek put in the work, on the range, course and in the gym, to see results.

NCAA: Team scores | Individual scores | Photos

It all came to fruition Monday.

Cernousek captured the 2024 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship individual title at Omni La Costa’s North Course, shooting 12-under 276 to win by three shots over Florida State’s Lottie Woad. Cernousek is the first NCAA individual medalist from Texas A&M, and she helped the Aggies earn the third seed heading into Tuesday’s match play quarterfinals.

“It’s hard to believe. It’s crazy,” Cernousek said. “I don’t think I was breathing at all during the whole day today. Yeah, I’m just like, yeah, don’t believe it. It’s crazy.”

Stanford is the No. 1 seed for the fourth straight year, with LSU earning the second seed in its first time making match play in school history.

Cernousek’s round of even-par on Monday helped her clinch the first victory of her college career. Last week, she qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open at a 36-hole qualifier where she had to sleep on an 18-hole lead because of weather delays, and now she also earned a spot in the field next week via her victory at Omni La Costa.

She also earned an LPGA exemption into the Dana Open.

“She puts the team first, and that’s all you can ask for,” Texas A&M coach Gerrod Chadwell said. “And then just her humbleness and work ethic. It’s crazy to think that her first (win) would be at this stage.

“I wish I had five of her.”

Chadwell noted it took time for he and Cernousek to gel, saying they butted heads a few times. Early on, Chadwell felt as if Cernousek didn’t want to be there.

She never wavered. Texas A&M was where she wanted to be, and now she’s the Aggies’ first individual champion.

“All the support I have back home by my teammates, the coaches. And yeah, the work I put in every day,” Cernousek said about her motivations.

Cernousek, from France, was on the phone with her parents shortly after finishing her round. With a nine-hour time difference, they were up at 3 a.m. back home watching their daughter achieve the greatest achievement of her life.

Chadwell calls Cernousek “fish,” a name he gives to freshman but that has stuck with Cernousek since she was his first player after taking the job.

Now, Cernousek is going to have a different nickname: NCAA champion.

Texas A&M’s Adela Cernousek is running away from the field at NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

Cernousek is the only player to reach double digits under par.

CARLSBAD, Calif. — A year ago, Adela Cernousek didn’t think she could do what she is doing now. Even her coach said as much.

However, there seems to be nothing standing in the way of Cernousek becoming the first Texas A&M Aggie to win a national championship.

The junior is running away from the field at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course, and she’s doing it with consistency and confidence. Cernousek, who earlier this week slept on a lead during a 36-hole U.S. Women’s Open qualifier in Texas before traveling to NCAAs, has shot three consecutive rounds of 68 and sits at 12-under 204 heading into the final round. As of the morning wave Sunday morning, she has a seven-shot lead.

“Before every tournament, I don’t really have expectations,” Cernousek said. “Just try to focus on my game, my progression and our team.

Arkansas freshman Maria Jose Marin is second at 5 under, and Florida State sophomore Lottie Woad was also at 5 under when her third round began Sunday afternoon.

In the team race, Texas A&M is at 10 under, leading top-ranked Stanford by one shot heading into the final round of stroke play Monday. LSU is at 1 under, the only other team under par after three rounds at Omni La Costa.