PHOTO BY GORDON SEAY
San Jose State claimed the team championship by three strokes and defending NCAA champion Rachel Heck of Stanford captured the individual title in the Lamkin Invitational at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Santa Fe.
The 12th-ranked Spartans, coached by Dana Dorman, won for the first time since the 2018-19 season when they claimed the Minnesota Invitational and The Gold Rush, posting a score of 289-291-293—873, 9-over-par, followed by top-ranked Stanford at 280-297-299—876, Arizona State at 289-292-303—804, Oregon at 291-297-300—888 and Texas at 297-289-307—893.
“It was amazing because we beat not only undefeated and top-ranked Stanford, but several other several other ranked teams,” said Dorman, who was a three-time All-American at San Jose State before playing 10 seasons on the LPGA Tour. “It was a great team effort and I’m just so proud. Everyone played great. … We’ve been in a mode where we’re ready to go win. We knew that this team is the real deal, so instead of being happy to finish second in these really good tournaments, it’s like, ‘OK, let’s actually finish it off,’ and that’s what happened today.
“We’ve been in a mode where we’re ready to go win,” Spartans head coach Dana Dormann said. “We knew that this team is the real deal, so instead of being happy to finish second in these really good tournaments, it’s like, OK, let’s actually finish it off, and that’s what happened today.
“We just kept telling our team to be in position and believe in themselves and you never know when things are going to go your way. The weather turned, our team hung tight, they were grinding away and made a few putts down the stretch that made the difference. … We are just so thrilled. The field was amazing; not only Stanford but a lot of teams that have had a lot of success.
“So, we’re super excited to have San Jose State coming back and trying to return to what we used to have with our program.”
UCLA was sixth at 295-290-309—894, followed by USC at 301-293-303—897, while Mississippi totaled 293-300-308—901 to tie for eighth with Arizona, which finished at 299-303- 299—901, and San Diego State was 10th at 294-298-311—903.
Pepperdine was 11th at 303-313-299—915, followed by Cal at 313-301-319—933.
Heck, a sophomore from Memphis, Tenn., claimed the seventh victory of her Stanford career with a score of 70-73-68—211, 5-under, followed by Ashley Moore of Arizona State at 68-74-72—214, Natasha Andrea Oon of San Jose State at 69-72-74—215, while freshman Rose Zhang of Stanford shot 69-73-75—217 to tie for fourth with Safie Kibsgaard Nielson of Oregon, who wound up at 69-74-74—217.
Zhang, ranked No. 1 in the women’s world amateur rankings and the college rankings, had won her first three events at Stanford.
Kajsa Arwefjal of San Jose State carded a score of 68-81-70—219 to finish in a big tie for sixth with Amari Averi of USC, who wound up at 77-68-74—219, Sadie Engelmann of Stanford, who totaled 69-75-75—219, Bentley Cotton of Texas, who shot 72-70-77—219, and Emma Spitz of UCLA, who came in at 72-68-79—219.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion San Jose State were Lucia-Lopez Ortega, whose score of 78-73-74—235 left her in a tie for 22nd that included teammate Antonia Malate, who finished at 74-76-75—225, while Louisa Carlbom tied for 28th 79-70-79—228, and Jordyn Parr tied for 32nd at 73-73-82—228.
For complete results, visit https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=23784
