The Stanford women’s golf team finished 19th at the NCAA Championships in Wilmington, N.C. last week. The Cardinal ended the tournament with its lowest round, a two-over 290, and had a combined score of 1199 (47-over-par) over 72 holes. The top four out of five individual scores from each round were added together to determine the final score.
“It was an overall great experience,” said senior Angela King. “Despite our finish, it was really great being able to go back to nationals as a team my senior year. The competition was tough, but I’m proud to say that nobody on our team ever gave up.”
- Sophomore Sydney Burlison and the Cardinal women’s golf team finished 19th at the NCAA Championships this weekend in Wilmington, North Carolina. The Cardinal, led by freshman Sally Watson who finished with a two-under 286, finished at 47-over as a team, 46 strokes behind champion Purdue. (SIMON WARBY/The Stanford Daily)
Purdue grasped its first national title with an overall score of 1153 (one-over), though not before fighting off a tough challenge from USC. On the last day, Purdue was gradually losing its comfortable lead to USC as the Trojans carded a solid round. In fact, late in the day, the tournament looked to be headed to a playoff until USC’s Jennifer Song missed a birdie attempt on the 18th hole that would have tied the score. The Trojans’ last round score of 289 wasn’t enough to knock the Boilermakers from the top spot. USC finished second overall at 1154 (two-over), one shot behind Purdue. Alabama (five-over), Arizona State (nine-over) and Arizona (14-over) placed third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
On the opening day of the tournament, Stanford tied for 19th after shooting a 300 and was 18 strokes behind leader USC. Junior Rebecca Durham led the Cardinal in the first round with a one-under-par 71.
After a thunder-and-lightning suspension on Wednesday, Stanford struggled, finishing the second round with a 307 and dropping to 21st in the standings.
Thursday was also an uphill battle as the team fought for a 302 and remained in 21st place. Freshmen Sally Watson led the team after three rounds and was tied for 28th individually after shooting a total of 220 (four-over).
On Friday, Watson helped her team with a 66 in the last round and finished tied for ninth place overall with a 286 (two-under). Teammate and fellow freshman Kristina Wong also fared well for the team, carding a final round 67 to finish the tournament tied for 27th at 293 (five-over). Caroline Hedwall from Oklahoma State won the individual title after carding a 276 total (12-under).
Durham finished 112th with a 311, King finished her collegiate career 121st with a 318 and sophomore Sydney Burlison ended in 124th place with a 325.
“The highlight was standing on the ninth hole and watching everyone come in on the last day,” Durham said. “The freshmen played stellar. And although we didn’t play the way we wanted to, we still accomplished a lot this year.”
“The program is heading in the right direction, we learned a lot, went to Nationals and are ready for an amazing upcoming year,” Durham added.