Women's DI Regionals Preview
Who will punch their tickets to La Costa? (Clippd Article)
As anticipated in my previous column, the conference leaderboard which drew the longest looks for me on the women’s side was the ACC Championship. This was, of course, mainly due to the (until that point) video game-like unbeaten season of the Stanford Cardinal.
Stanford cruised to a scripted 15-shot victory during the stroke play portion of the championship. However, their no-hitter season was broken by Wake Forest during the semifinals of the matchplay portion. Stanford is most definitely still on a golden run, but the upset prompted me to dive into what other upsets might loom in women’s golf.
Charlottesville, Virginia Regional
Top 5 seeds: South Carolina (#4), Virginia (#11), Ole Miss (#16), Florida (#21) UCLA (#27)
Next 7: UCF (#33), Charleston (#42), NC State (#45), BYU (#55), Princeton (#68), Richmond (#161), Radford (#169)
Take it to the bank: South Carolina (above) and Virginia
South Carolina is a #1 seed for a reason. They have remained in the top-5 national rankings all year and currently have five players ranked in the individual top-100 – including three players in the top-20 (Hannah Darling, Louise Rydqvist, and Ella Galitsky). The Gamecocks are in incredible form, coming off their SEC title where they won both the #1 seed after stroke play, as well as the match play title. Kalen Anderson’s team ranks 3rd in par 5 scoring, and 15th in bogey or worse percentage.
Virginia, ranked 11th nationally, is in form and will have the advantage of home soil. The Cavaliers were likely disappointed by their result at ACCs, as they suffered an early exit from the match play portion of the championship. However, Coach Ria Scott’s team still showed great form by finishing second in the stroke play portion – only defeated by (then) the unbeaten Stanford Cardinal. Although Virginia doesn’t have the underlying numbers that jump off the page (they are 28th in bogey or worse percentage while only posting eight team rounds under par this year), they do have a top-tier player in form, Amanda Sambach (ranked 12th individually).
Watch out for: College of Charleston (SC) and NC State.
Despite somehow averaging over par on par 5s this season, College of Charleston has made the sixth most birdies in women’s DI this year (508). Further, their 41 individual rounds under par this season rank top-20 nationally as well. The Cougars are in form – they just won their conference championship (CAA) where four players placed in the top-10 individually.
Finally, there was a regular-season tournament played on Birdwood Golf Course back in the Fall. NC State and Richmond are the only teams in this Regional field which played in the Cavalier Regional Preview back in September (in addition to Virginia). Word on the street is the course has changed significantly since then due to extreme weather in the Fall, but the Wolfpack played solid here last time as they finished fourth. That certainly can’t be a disadvantage.
My picks: South Carolina, Virginia, Ole Miss, College of Charleston, NC State
Read the full article on Clippd HERE