Megha Ganne rallied to get top-ranked Stanford into the women’s final of the ninth East Lake Cup.
Ganne (pictured), a sophomore from Holmdel, N.J., made birdies on the last two holes of regulation to pull even with Zoe Slaughter of Texas A&M, who she then won with a five-foot par putt on the 22nd hole to give the Cardinal a 3-2 victory over the Aggies in the final match of the day at Atlanta Athletic Club.
“I was having so much fun playing out there that I really didn’t feel much pressure,” said Ganne, who was the 2023 Pacific 12 Conference Freshman of the Year. “It was just great to make those birdie putts on the last two holes and then win on the 22nd. It was exciting.”
Sadie Englemann, a senior from Austin, Texas, who captured the individual title on Monday, gave Stanford a 4-and-3 victory over Mia Nixon, while Paula Martin Sampedro, a freshman from Spain, beat Lana Calibuso-Kwee, 2 and 1.
Blanca Fernandez Garcia-Poggio of Texas A&M defeated Caroline Sturdza, a Cardinal junior from Switzerland, 2 and 1, while Jennie Park gave the Aggies their only other point by downing Kelly Xu, a sophomore from Claremont, 3 and 1.
“We have a really good group and I’m very proud of the way we turned things around there at the end,” said Stanford Coach Anne Walker, who guided the Cardinal to the 2022 NCAA Championship. “Everybody played great golf and it’s nice to be in the final.”
Stanford will play in the final against defending champion Wake Forest, which got past USC, also by a score of 3-2.
All-American Rachel Kuehn gave the Demon Deacons a 2-and-1 victory over USC’s Cindy Kou, a junior from China, Mimi Rhodes defeated Catherine Park, a sophomore from Irvine, 3 and 2, and Carolina Lopez-Chacarra downed Amari Avery, a junior from Riverside, 2 and 1.
Bailey Shoemaker, a freshman from Dade City, Fla., gave the Trojans their first point by beating Anne-Sterre den Dennen, 2 and 1, before Brianna Navarossa, a senior from San Diego took down Macy Pate, 4 and 3.
On the men’s side, North Carolina defeated Georgia Tech and Florida State slipped past Florida, both also by scores of 3-2, so the Tar Heels and Gators will meet in the match-play final.
USC and Texas A&M will play for the women’s consolation title, while Florida and Georgia Tech will meet for the men’s consolation title.
The teams were unable to play this week at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, the usual site of the tournament and also the course where the annual Tour Championship on the PGA Tour is held, because it is being renovated.
For complete results, visit: https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=match&tid=28491&rid=1 and https://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=28489
