University of Washington
NCAA Regionals
Dawgs Advance To NCAA Finals
May 10, 2015 | Women's Golf
Live Scoring
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – No. 6 Washington was far from its best at the final round of the NCAA San Antonio Regional, but it was enough to advance to the NCAA Finals for the 12th time in program history. The Dawgs finished with a score of 12-over 300 to tie for fifth place at 2-under 862 for the championship.
"Survive and advance," said head coach Mary Lou Mulflur. "Today that's about all we did."
After two days contending for the lead, the Huskies went backwards in the final round, but their work over the first 36 holes held up to advance. Washington will now compete in the NCAA Finals in Bradenton, Fla., on May 22 to May 27.
"We came into today looking to make a move for the win and ended the day just hanging on by our fingernails," said Mulflur. "The bottom line is everyone starts again from square one in two weeks."
The Huskies will be guaranteed three days of stroke play, needing to finish in the top 15 (or top nine individuals not on a top-15 team) to advance to the final day of stroke play. The fourth day will determine the individual champion and the eight teams that will advance to the match play portion of the tournament, which will determine a single team champion. The new format for NCAA women's golf will be covered more in depth this season by the Golf Channel.
With the Dawgs falling from contention for the Regional title, No. 21 Baylor took advantage, winning with a cumulative score of 22-under 842. No. 3 UCLA finished second at 19-under, while No. 14 Tennessee dropped back to third at 14-under after leading heading into the final day. No. 11 Texas A&M finished fourth at 10-under, while No. 37 Texas Tech tied for the final two qualifying spots with Washington at 2-under.
No. 43 Texas was the first team out, placing seventh at even par. The Longhorns entered the day in sixth place, but shot 5-over on the day to finish two shots away from the NCAA Finals.
Individually, Hayley Davis of Baylor led wire to wire to earn the Regional title. She finished with a three-day total of 16-under 200. Bronte Law of UCLA was second at 11-under, while Dylan Kim of Baylor and Emmie Pietila of Tennnessee tied for third at 8-under.
The Huskies were led by Charlotte Thomas who earned a top-10, finishing tied for 10th at 3-under for the week. Her final round of 1-under 71 was the only in red figures on the day for the Huskies. Thomas made four birdies and three bogeys on the day to lead the Dawgs to the NCAA Finals.
Sophomore Eimi Koga also fared well, finishing tied for 13th at 2-under. Koga made a pair of eights over the first five holes to ruin any chance of contending for the individual title, but then righted the ship to play the final 13 holes at 3-under. Koga's resiliency ended up playing big as UW kept her score of 4-over 76 that included quadruple and triple bogeys.
Also shooting 4-over 76 was Jennifer Yang who finished at 5-over for the tournament and tied for 51st. Yang made just one birdie on Saturday, mixing with five bogeys.
Cyd Okino and Ying Luo rounded out the squad, each shooting 5-over 77 for the final round. Okino finished the week at 2-over and tied for 33rd, while Luo was 4-over and tied for 46th.
The Dawgs will now turn their attention to the NCAA Finals, which will be played at Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Fla. Despite a rough final round at regionals, the Huskies will be among the teams with hopes of making some noise at the finals.
"We are excited to be going," said Mulflur. "I could not be more proud of these guys."
Players Mentioned
