Top-ranked Stanford and USC advanced to the match-play quarterfinals of the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.
Host Northwestern captured the stroke-play portion of the tournament with a score of 301-298-298–897, 33-over-par, followed by Stanford (pictured) at 311-298-296–905, Arizona State at 311-309-289–909 and Ohio State at 311-299-303–913.
USC totaled 315-303-296–914 to tie for fifth with Florida, which finished at 320-302-292–914, while Baylor was seventh at 311-300-306–917, followed by Kent State at 303-304-312–919.
The top eight teams advanced to the match-play portion of the tournament that will determine the national championship.
“The course hasn’t played the same over the last three days,” said Coach Anne Walker of Stanford, which won the NCAA title in 2015 and was second last year. “We’ve had different wind, haven’t had the same temperature, we haven’t had the same conditions, so (the course) hasn’t really played the same yet.
“I’m not sure what the game plan is for tomorrow yet. We’re going to meet as a team, see who we’re playing, but I don’t think we’ll really change too much what we do out there on the golf course. We’ve got some things to do tonight about how we’re going to approach tomorrow.”
In the match-play quarterfinals on Tuesday, Northwestern faces Kent State, Stanford takes on Baylor, Arizona State meets Florida and USC tangles with Ohio State.
“(Baylor is) tough and will be highly motivated,” Walker said of the Bears, who lost to the Cardinal in the 2015 final. “We’ll have to be ready to play but are excited for the challenge.”
California tied for 14th at 319-306-303–928 and Pepperdine finished 23rd at 330-320-308–958.
Senior Monica Vaughn of Arizona State captured the NCAA individual title with a score of 74-72-71–217, 1-over, while Leona Maguire of Duke totaled 77-71-70–218 to tie for second with Jennifer Kupcho of Wake Forest, who shot 74-70-74–218.
Elodie Van Dievoet of Michigan finished at 72-79-68–219 to tie for fourth with August Kim of Purdue, who wound up at 72-73-74–219.
Andrea Lee of Stanford was sixth at 77-71-72–220, followed by Amy Lee of Baylor at 77-74-70–221, while Tiffany Chin of USC carded a score of 77-76-69–222 to tie for eighth with Haylee Harford of Furman, who came in at 76-75-71–222.
Albane Venezuela of Stanford posted a score of 77-73-73–223 to tie for 10th with Cheyenne Knight of Alabama, who finished at 78-76-69–223, and Ainhoa Olarra of South Carolina, who came in at 76-70-77–223.
Marthe Wold led California in solo 22nd at 77-76-74–227, while Hira Naveed of Pepperdine tied for 32nd at 74-80-76–230.
