NCAA women’s regionals: South Carolina survives; Rachel Heck’s victory paces Stanford
It was a great day to be a No. 8 seed as NCAA Division I women’s golf regionals wrapped up Wednesday at six sites across the country.
Three No. 8 seeds finished among the top five at their respective regionals to advance to next week’s NCAA Championship at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, California. Oklahoma State used a record round to climb five spots and place runner-up in East Lansing, Michigan. Oregon State finished fifth, five shots clear of Tennessee in Bermuda Run, North Carolina. And Tulsa, which lost its best player to the pros midseason, edged Georgia and Houston by a shot while tying top seed South Carolina for fourth on a tough University Club layout in Auburn, Alabama.
There were some upsets as well, as five top five seeds did not advance – No. 3 Arizona and No. 5 Cal in Las Vegas, No. 3 Florida in East Lansing, No. 4 Georgia in Auburn, and No. 5 UCF in Bermuda Run.
Individually, the stars showed out, including LSU’s Ingrid Lindblad winning in Bryan, Texas, Auburn’s Anna Davis getting it done at home, and Stanford’s Rachel Heck winning her ninth college tournament – and first since March 2022 – in Cle Elum, Washington.
Here’s everything you need to know from the final day of women’s regionals, including the biggest story from each site:
Auburn
University Club, Auburn, Alabama
Advancing teams: 1. Auburn (+10), 2. Oregon (+14), 3. North Carolina (+21), 4. South Carolina (+27), 4. Tulsa (+27)
Eliminated: 6. Georgia (+28), 6. Houston (+28), 8. Miami (+51), 9. Michigan (+60), 10. East Tennessee State (+68), 11. Kennesaw State (+72), 12. Albany (+115)
Individual champion: Anna Davis, Auburn (-5)
Advancing individual: Isabella McCauley, Minnesota (T-2, -2)
The story: South Carolina was very much on the ropes.
The Gamecocks, the top seed and second-ranked team in the country, began the final round in seventh place, two shots outside the cut line, after a disastrous, 17-over second day. A firm, fast and tight University Club had taken drivers out of head coach Kalen Anderson’s players’ hands. And with six holes remaining, South Carolina remained on the outside looking in as it tried to avoid joining the 2017 UCLA team as the only No. 1 seed to not advance out of regionals.
“We had some adversity, but great teams can get themselves out of holes and rise to the occasion, and we did that,” Anderson said. “Our finish says it all.”
South Carolina’s counters played the final six holes in 1 under with just three bogeys. The Gamecocks were especially clutch on Nos. 17 and 18, where a day earlier they had carded five bogeys and two doubles but rebounded on Wednesday to make 10 pars.
Senior Louise Rydqvist led the way with a closing, 1-under 71 to finish T-2 individually while freshman Maylis Lamoure, subbed out after the first round, chipped in a 72. Sophia Burnett, who was subbed in for the final 36 holes, played them in 3 over.
In the end, it was South Carolina hanging on to qualify for a fourth straight NCAA Championship, where the Gamecocks will look to build off finally getting to match play last year.
“In all honesty, that was a mentally exhausting golf course, and we spent a lot of emotion there,” Anderson said. “We just need to get everybody sharpened up a little bit on the things that they need to do individually, get some rest and man, just kind of get them revived mentally because next week’s going to be another long week.
“But we’re riding high on excitement, and it all starts from a clean slate now. We’ve had a great year and we had one bad round that hurt us pretty bad, but we managed it, still got through and survived.”
Bermuda Run
Bermuda Run CC, Bermuda Run, North Carolina
Advancing teams: 1. Ole Miss (-21), 2. Texas (-20), 3. Wake Forest (-18), 4. Mississippi State (-3), 5. Oregon State (-2)
Eliminated: 6. Tennessee (+3), 7. North Texas (+14), 8. South Florida (+20), 9. UCF (+21), 10. Navy (+46), 11. Charleston Southern (+47), 12. Delaware (+53)
Individual champions: Rachel Kuehn, Wake Forest, and Caitlyn Macnab, Ole Miss (-12)
Advancing individual: Bailey Davis, Tennessee (T-3, -8)
East Lansing
Forest Akers GC (West), East Lansing, Michigan
Advancing teams: 1. USC (-9), 2. Oklahoma State (-5), 3. Michigan State (-4), 4. Northwestern (-3), 5. Pepperdine (-1)
Eliminated: 6. Denver (+3), 7. Florida (+7), 8. Kentucky (+20), 9. Augusta (+27), 10. Indiana (+31), 11. Oakland (+35), 12. Illinois State (+54)
Individual champion: Lauren Beaudreau, Notre Dame (-12)
Advancing individual: Beaudreau
The story: Oklahoma State head coach Greg Robertson and most of his players were chilling in the van Wednesday evening in the Forest Akers parking lot, waiting for their star player, Maddison Hinson-Tolchard, to finish a final exam. They had plenty of congratulation messages to answer.
The Cowgirls shot 9 under to mark the program’s best round in regional history, rising five spots on the leaderboard and ending up second, just four shots back of winner USC, to advance to a fourth straight NCAA Championship.
“My assistant Maddi [Swaney] and I were talking before the round, and we said, ‘We’re going to have to have the round of the year today,’” Robertson said. “I’m just so proud of them. This year has been just such a crazy year.”
It started with one of Robertson’s veterans, Rina Tatematsu, transferring to Cal. Then junior Clemence Martin re-injured her back after the spring opener and has been forced to miss the rest of the season. An 11th-place finisher at nationals last year, Oklahoma State didn’t finish better than seventh over its final five stroke-play events of the regular season.
But this week, it all turned around. Freshman Marta Silchenko shot 5-under 67 on Wednesday to finish T-7 while Hinson-Tolchard added a closing 68 to earn solo third. Perhaps the most pleasant surprise was senior Angelica Pfefferkorn, a former walk-on who made just one lineup in three seasons before earning a scholarship and playing regularly this season; she made just six pars but shot a final-round 71 to help the Cowgirls keep their season alive.
“It’s been frustrating at times for them and us as coaches,” Robertson added, “but for them to come out and do what they did today, very rewarding.”
Bryan
Traditions GC, Bryan, Texas
Advancing teams: 1. LSU (-8), 2. Clemson (-4), 2. SMU (-4), 4. Vanderbilt (+1), 5. Texas A&M (+6)
Eliminated: 6. Ohio State (+11), 7. Iowa State (+16), 8. Sam Houston (+26), 9. Maryland (+28), 10. Texas State (+31), 11. Little Rock (+56), 12. Sacred Heart (+57)
Individual champion: Ingrid Lindblad, LSU (-12)
Advancing individual: Carla Bernat, Kansas State (T-3, -7)
Las Vegas
Spanish Trail CC, Las Vegas
Advancing teams: 1. Arkansas (E), 2. Purdue (+4), 3. Baylor (+8), 4. UCLA (+12), 5. Florida State (+14)
Eliminated: 6. Arizona (+16), 7. Cal (+20), 8. Oklahoma (+33), 8. Kent State (+33), 10. Colorado State (+34), 11. Dartmouth (+62), 12. Xavier (+68)
Individual champions: Zoe Campos, UCLA, and Kajal Mistry, Arkansas (-6)
Advancing individual: Veronika Kedronova, Kent State (T-6, -1)
The story: When Zack Byrd was hired to be Purdue’s new head women’s golf coach prior to last season, the Boilermakers didn’t have a complete schedule. Byrd got right to work, and when filling out the calendar, he focused on tournaments that would host upcoming regionals.
One of the events Purdue got into was The Show, hosted by UNLV at Spanish Trail. Last season, the Boilermakers struggled, finishing 10th, but this spring they were remarkably improved, tying for fourth.
“We had a lot of reps on this course,” Byrd said. “Our players last night said it almost feels second nature because we’ve played it so much, which is really fortunate when the wind is blowing like it was today. It was absolutely brutal.”
As scores ballooned in heavy crosswinds – just two of the 12 teams shot better than 11 over – the Boilermakers held steady to finish second behind Arkansas. Senior Jocelyn Burch made a hole-in-one with 5-iron from 203 yards on the seventh hole while three of her teammates finished T-13 or better: Ashley Kozlowski (T-13), Momo Sugiyama (T-11) and Jasmine Kahler (T-8). Kahler, now with five straight top-25s, is freshman from Carlsbad, California, where next week’s NCAA Championship will be played.
Purdue finished sixth at regionals last season, Byrd’s inaugural campaign after arriving from Ole Miss, where he served as an assistant and helped the Rebels to the 2021 NCAA title. Byrd’s team this season, which has overcome the loss of scoring leader Kan Bunnabodee to the pros midseason, has developed a trend, with top-4 finishes on regional layouts such as Spanish Trail (now twice), Forest Akers, Kampen-Cosler Course (Purdue’s home layout that’s hosting a men’s regional next week) and Ohio State’s Scarlet Course, which has hosted several regional and national championships.
“We really like hard golf courses,” Byrd said. “When we woke up this morning, we’re wearing three layers at the start, it’s blowing hard, and we said, ‘This is a Boilermaker day. This is what we do well.’ It was chaos out there, and we have a really, really tough group of players who are fighting the hardest that they’ve fought all year right now.”
Cle Elum
Tumble Creek Club, Cle Elum, Washington
Advancing teams: 1. Stanford (-17), 2. Duke (+1), 3. Virginia (+12), 4. Arizona State (+21), 5. San Jose State (+23)
Eliminated: 6. Kansas (+35), 7. Washington (+38), 8. Long Beach State (+42), 9. Virginia Tech (+47), 10. Alabama (+52), 11. Sacramento State (+55), 12. Seattle (+75)
Individual champion: Rachel Heck, Stanford (-8)
Advancing individual: Jasmine Leovao, Long Beach State (eighth, +2)