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NCAA Women's Golf Championships: 5 Pac-12 teams, CU's Robyn Choi advance to Monday

by Kevin Danna
May 20, 2018
Alika Jenner/ UCLA Athletics | Stan Liu/Arizona Athletics

Five Pac-12 teams have advanced to the final round of stroke play at the 2018 NCAA Women's Golf Championships at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma: Arizona, Stanford, UCLA, USC and Washington. Colorado and Arizona State have been eliminated. At the conclusion of Sunday's round, the lowest 15 teams along with the lowest nine individuals on non-top-15 teams have advanced to the final round of stroke play on Monday. After Monday, the lowest eight teams will move on to the match-play portion of the event to determine the 2018 NCAA champion.

In addition to the five Pac-12 teams moving on to Monday, the other top-15 teams are Alabama, Northwestern, Duke, Kent State, Florida State, Baylor, Arkansas, Furman, Texas and Louisville.

Colorado's Robyn Choi is part of a group of nine individuals advancing to the final round of stroke play alongside Wake Forest's Jennifer Kupcho, Ohio State's Jaclyn Lee, Texas A&M's Maddie Szeryk, Oklahoma State's Emma Broze, Tennessee's Michaela Williams, BYU's Rose Huang, Oklahoma's Julienne Soo and Georgia's Jillian Hollis.

UCLA

The Bruins had their worst round of the weekend with a 9-over 297, but it hardly matters at this point. While UCLA dropped from first to second, the Bruins are not only moving on to the final round of stroke play, they are also going to have a 24-stroke edge on ninth place. So it looks like the Bruins can coast their way into match play from here.

Mariel Galdiano was the low Bruin of the day, carding an even-par 72 after birdieing the ninth and getting pars on every hold on the back nine. She's also at even par for the weekend, which currently has her in a tie for 10th. Lilia Vu is the low Bruin for the championship at 1-under after a third-round 75. Vu is currently in a tie for seventh.

Arizona

An even-par round for the Wildcats is the second-lowest round for those who are already in the clubhouse on Sunday, and it allowed them to move up one spot to third. It would take a disastrous Monday to knock the Wildcats out of match play.

Bianca Pagdanganan continues to command Karsten Creek, as a 1-under 71 has her in a tie for third at 6-under and one shot behind Alabama's Cheynne Knight and Wake Forest's Jennifer Kupcho for first. The day could have been even better for the junior from the Philippines, as she was 4-under for the round through her first 16 holes before going bogey-double, bogey on her final two holes: No. 8 and No. 9. Sandra Nordaas actually had the low round of the day for head coach Laura Ianello, registering a 2-under 70 to get herself back to 8-over.

USC

The Trojans are also looking good for match play, moving onto Monday's final round of stroke play in fifth place at 21-over after an 8-over 296 on Sunday. USC has a nine-stroke cushion to stay in the top eight.

Alyaa Abdulghany had the lowest round for USC for the second consecutive day, posting a 1-over 73 to check in at 6-over after 54 holes, while Jennifer Chang and Allisen Corpuz each shot 2-over.

Stanford

Stanford fired a second-consecutive 3-over 291 to move up two spots to seventh overall at 26-over. The Cardinal will need to have another good round on Monday to keep itself in match-play contention with ninth-place Florida State just four strokes back (and eighth-place Kent State just one stroke worse than the Cardinal).

Albane Valenzuela shredded the course on Sunday, posting the lowest third-round total thus far with a 6-under 66 to soar up to a tie for seventh at 1-under. She was consistent throughout, going 33-33 on the front and back nines and only bogeying the eighth hole. Andrea Lee gave the Cardinal a second under-par round for the day with a 71 that has her in a tie for 13th at 1-over.

Washington

The Dawgs were able to sneak into the top 15 at 38-over for the championship after an 11-over 299 on Sunday, their best round of the weekend thus far. Heading into the final round of stroke play in 14th place, the Dawgs will need to make up 11 strokes on eighth-place Kent State and also surpass Florida State (+30), Baylor (+31), Arkansas (+33), Furman (+35) and Texas (+36) to advance to the match-play portion of the championships.

Helping propel Washington to its first sub-300 round in Stillwater was Julianne Alvarez, the low Husky at 2-over on the day, while Wenyung Keh, Sarah Rhee and Rino Sasaki all shot 3-over.

Arizona State

Oh, so close — Arizona State finished strong with three birdies on the 18th hole but finished in a tie 15th at 39-over with Louisville, Auburn and Wake Forest and lost out to Louisville on the tiebreaker for the last spot. The Sun Devils had their best round of the weekend by five strokes and the best round on the day out of the four teams tied for 15th, but it was not enough to continue the defending NCAA champions' stay at Karsten Creek.

Sophia Zeeb was 1-under for the day to record the low Sunday round for Arizona State, while Olivia Mehaffey's 7-over after an even-par Sunday was the lowest round of the weekend.

Colorado

The Buffs fell just one stroke shy of the cut line, finishing at 40-over after posting their best round of the weekend, a 9-over 297. Robyn Choi provided the lowest round of the day for the Buffs at 2-under, bringing her 54-hole total to 4-over, which was the eighth-lowest 54-hole score for a player not on a top-15 team. As such, Choi has one more round of golf remaining in Stillwater. Brittany Fan checked in with a 2-over to get to 7-over for the weekend.

Oregon State

Oregon State's Nicole Schroeder had her worst round of the weekend by one stroke, firing a 78 to finish her NCAA Championships stay at 12-over (tied for 72nd).

California

Cal's Marthe Wold finished at 14-over after posting her second 77 in a row on a birdie-less third round. That'll do it for Marthe's collegiate career:

 

 

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