Stanford women’s golf rolled to a 27-shot victory over Cal, UC Davis and the University of San Francisco to win the Olympic Club Collegiate, its final competition before NCAA Regionals.
The Olympic Club is ready to host the US Women’s Open in June, and as such, the golf course is in incredibly difficult shape. Not only is the Lake Course long, but it features thick, rough and severely sloped greens. The results at the Olympic Club Collegiate reflected this difficulty; the average score on Wednesday was a whopping 80.39.
But the Stanford women’s golf team was not fazed by the intimidating golf course.
After navigating the first six holes in three-over-par, freshman Sadie Englemann played the remainder of her round without a bogey. Englemann made birdies on the seventh, 12th and 15th holes to shoot an even-par 71. She finished in second place overall as an individual.
Junior Aline Krauter shot two-over-par on the front nine. She made one more bogey on the 13th hole before bouncing back with birdies on the 14th and 16th. In the end, she finished with a one-over-par 72 to take third place. This tournament served as good preparation for Krauter, who will head back to the Olympic Club in June for the US Women’s Open.
Sophomore Angelina Ye also joined the party of Cardinal golfers at the top of the leaderboard. She made eight pars and just one bogey en route to a front nine 36. Making the turn, Ye dropped a few shots, carding a bogey on the 10th hole and a double bogey on the 12th. However, even with her back-nine 40, Ye’s round was good enough for a fourth-place finish.
While the majority of golfers in Wednesday’s tournament struggled to make pars and bogeys on the Lake Course, freshman Rachel Heck was playing an entirely different game.
Heck, who won her previous two collegiate events, showed no signs of slowing down as she attacked the Lake Course. After a bogey on the long par three third hole, Heck played a remarkable stretch of golf. She made birdies on the fourth, sixth, seventh, ninth, 11th and 12th holes to reach five-under-par for her round. She played the final six holes in even-par to cap off a round of 66.
Heck was head and shoulders above the rest on Wednesday. Her total of seven birdies was four more than anyone in the field. She finished five shots ahead of Englemann in second place and beat every non-Stanford golfer in the tournament by at least 11 shots.
Heck and Stanford will look to continue their dominance at NCAA Regionals, which start next week. The Cardinal host the tournament and, if they finish in the top six, will advance to the NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Country Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. NCAA Regionals are set to start Monday morning at the Stanford Golf Course.