Even though it’s not quite February, the spring college golf season is about to get started. In case you need a reminder where things left off in the fall concerning women’s college golf, the following are five teams whose stories fans can get excited about, as well as five players who stand to make a big impact in the second half of the season.
Five teams to watch
Top-ranked Texas brings the experience
Texas won three times in the fall and took head-to-head losses to only two teams all season. Don’t forget that the Longhorns didn’t graduate anyone from the squad that finished 72 holes of NCAA stroke play at the top of the leaderboard last season. They also added freshman Sophie Guo, who enters the spring season ranked No. 2 by Golfweek.
It’s a tough road back to the postseason, starting with the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge. That’s one thing about Texas: the schedule is always tough.
Small but mighty USC has plenty of talent left
Losing an All-American mid-season isn’t devastating when there are still four left. With Jennifer Chang out the door to the LPGA, USC can simply pull up the next player and close ranks around what will still be a formidable starting five. It’s true that competition keeps players sharp, but there’s also something to be said for removing the stress of qualifying for each event.
With Chang gone, Allisen Corpuz is now the leading Trojan scorer, which could create a boost of confidence in itself for the spring season. Alyaa Abdulghany returns as the Australian Master of the Amateurs champ to go along with U.S. Women’s Amateur champ Gabriela Ruffels and Women’s British Amateur runner-up Amelia Garvey. That leaves Malia Nam, the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in 2019.
Wake Forest has the element of surprise
The remarkable thing about this Wake Forest team is that there are so many players who can step up and contribute a solid round. The Demon Deacons won two stroke-play titles in the fall in addition to the East Lake Cup title (a match-play event for last year’s NCAA quarterfinal teams). Junior Emilia Migliaccio, the highest-ranked American in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, seemed most poised to carry the Deacon torch this season, but Migliaccio never really hit her full potential in the fall.
And still, Wake Forest kept winning. Freshman Rachel Kuehn led the team to its ANNIKA Invitational title, winning the individual medal that week, and Vanessa Knecht was the low scorer in the East Lake Cup qualifying round. Yet a different player ended the fall as the low scorer: Siyun Liu. It’s a fun cast to follow through the spring.
Kent State keeps breaking mid-major ground
It’s very impressive that Texas only lost to two teams all fall, but someone else has a similar story. Kent State, No. 6 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, only lost to one team. Interestingly, that was Texas at the Betsy Rawls Invitational. Otherwise, Kent State could have been undefeated.
The results were hardly surprising considering that the Flashes did a similar act last fall. It can sometimes be a hard adjustment when the guard changes, as it did in Kent, Ohio this year. There has been no lapse in performance as head coach Lisa Strom, who spent the past three seasons at Texas State and was the assistant women’s coach at Ohio State for five and a half years before that, took the reins.
The UCF Challenge will be a good opportunity to shake off winter rust next week, but then it’s onto the Northrop Grumman after that. Kent State’s finish will say a lot about what the Flashes can do in the postseason.
At Oklahoma State, young talent leads the way
This year’s freshman class is unusually strong in women’s college golf. Eight of the top 20 players in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings are newcomers, and that includes Oklahoma State’s Isabella Fierro. The freshman from Mexico won the Betsy Rawls Invitational in October, her third college start, and set a program record for lowest 54-hole score (a Cowgirl program record is a big deal, considering she leapfrogged LPGA players Pernilla Lindberg, Karin Sjodin, Caroline Hedwall and Caroline Masson, among others, in doing so).
First-year Oklahoma State coach Greg Robertson left behind a strong team at Kent State (see that No. 6 ranking), but he also has talent to cultivate in Stillwater, Oklahoma. There’s more of that on the way this spring, when Maja Stark, the No. 13-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, arrives a semester early. The Swede finished 25th at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur last year, and both young Cowgirls are headed back there this spring.
Five players to watch
Angelina Ye, Stanford
The freshman will return for the spring as the top-ranked player in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings. She really blossomed the summer before her freshman season, winning the U.S. Girls’ Junior weeks before arriving on campus, and continued that growth as a collegian. Stanford needs someone to step up with Albane Valenzuela and Andrea Lee gone. Ye should take that opportunity and run with it.
Emilia Migliaccio, Wake Forest
Since the fall season, Migliaccio has represented the U.S. at the Spirit International, attended a Curtis Cup practice session and finished third at the Sally. She also will be a face for women’s golf as the sport gets international attention at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. It all adds up to a big confidence boost.
Gina Kim, Duke
Kim’s game was one of the biggest takeaways from last spring’s NCAA Championship. She was an integral part of the Blue Devils’ victory (she carried the team through the semifinal round with an unbelievable sand shot to win her match). Her game is complete, and she plays with poise. She hit her stride entering last year’s postseason, and Duke really needs her to do that again this spring.
Paulina Roussin-Bouchard, South Carolina
The talented Frenchwoman won in her second start as a freshman at the Windy City Collegiate. She’s No. 1 in the WAGR and plays like it. She could bring a lot of spark to the Gamecock roster.
Pimnipa Panthong, Kent State
Didn’t finish worse than sixth in four fall starts. The senior will be a major factor in Kent State’s level of success this spring.
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