Ray, Stanford Claim NCAA DI Title

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- There were no players from Minnesota in either of the NCAA Division I golf tournaments this year. But there was a native Minnesotan involved in the men's tournament, and his team did pretty well.  

Conrad Ray, who played high school golf at Austin Pacelli -- he finished sixth in the Class A portion of the state tournament as a senior in 1993 --  has been the head coach at Stanford for 15 years. And on Wednesday, Stanford defeated Texas 3-2 to win its ninth national team championship, eight of them NCAA titles, and one NIGA (National Intercollegiate Golf Association).

This was the second NCAA crown for the Cardinal during Ray's time as coach. They won their first for him in 2007. 

Ray was also part of a championship team at Stanford as a player, in 1994. He didn't actually play in the NCAA tournament that year, but he was on the team, and by the time he was a senior in 1996-97 (the year after Tiger Woods left Stanford to join the PGA Tour), Ray was the No. 2 player in the lineup. After graduating (with a degree in public policy) and turning professional, he played on the Nationwide (now Web.com) Tour and had 12 top-10 finishes. But he never quite made it to the PGA Tour and decided to try coaching in 2004. (He didn't give up tournament golf completely, however, and qualified for the U.S. Open ithe following year.)  

Henry Shimp, a junior from Charlotte, N.C., made it official on Wednesday when he secured a 2&1 victory over Spencer Soosman. But the star for Stanford was Isaiah Salinda, a senior All-American from San Francisco. He might have been the best player in the field over the course of the six-day tournament.

Salinda, who is No. 14 in the World Amateur Rankings, tied for sixth in the medal-play portion of the NCAA with a 72-hole total of even-par 288 at Blessings Golf Club. He then went 3-0 in match play, beginning with a 3&1 victory over Eugenio Chacarro of Wake Forest in the quarterfinals. That was the first of three consecutive 3-2 victories for Stanford in the team competition. 

Vanderbilt was the semifinal oppenent, and Salinda led the way by defeating Patrick Martin 3&2. 

But he saved his best for last. His opponent in the final was the Texas freshman Cole Hammer, the No. 5 amateur in the world. It was Hammer who put on a spectacular show in the semis, as he birdied six of the first eight holes on the way to a 4&3 conquest of Oklahoma State's Matthew Wolff. Wolff was the medalist in the stroke-play portion of the tournament, with a 10-under total of 278. He finished five strokes ahead of runner-up Steven Fisk of Georgia Southern. Arizona State's Chun An finished third, sevein behind at 285. Hammer tied for 38th at 299.

Wolff was 3 under for 15 holes Tuesday afternoon against Hammer, but it wasn't nearly good enough -- because Hammer was 7 under. 

Although Stanford won the championship, Oklahoma State was the best team in college golf all season, and the Cowboys were the best team in the tournament during the past week. They won the stroke-play portion by 31 strokes, posting a four-day total of 1136 (16 under). Vanderbilt finished second with 1167, and Wake Forest was third with 1172.

Oklahoma State continued on cruise control in the first round of match play, beating SMU 4-1. 

Texas was a speck in the rearview mirror for Oklahoma State during stroke play. The Longhorns tied for fourth at 1180, 44 shots behind. (Stanford was another nine back in sixth at 1189.) But strange things can happen in match play, and Hammer's victory over Wolff put the Longhorns in a position to beat the Cowboys, which they proceeded to do. The team score was tied 2-2 when Steven Chervony of Texas made a sensational birdie on the 18th hole of his match against Zach Bauchou. Chervony was 1 down and 50 yards behind Bauchou off the tee at 18, but he hit a 205-yard 5-iron to within 15 feet of a tucked pin and then made the birdie putt. 

That sent the match to extra holes, and Chervony won when Bauchou three-putted the green at No. 1 for a bogey. 

The title match on Wednesday was the seventh round of golf in six days for the players on the two teams, and after his heroic effort against Wolff, Hammer might have run out of gas. He was tied with Salinda after nine holes, but he hit an errant drive and fatted a pitch shot at the 605-yard, par-5 10th, losing the hole to a par. Salinda then won the 11th with a birdie. Hammer made a miraculous par from deep in the trees at the 12th, but he lost the 215-yard, par-3 13th to another Salinda birdie.

At the 14th, Hammer found a bunker with his tee shot and went on to lose that hole to Salinda's par. Both players hit their second shots just over the green at the 560-yard, par-5 15th and two-putted for birdies. The result was a 4&3 victory for Salinda.

With the eight NCAA crowns to its credit, Stanford ranks third, behind Houston (16) and Oklahoma State (11). 


A week earlier, Duke beat Wake Forest 3-2 to take possession of its seventh Women's NCAA DI championship. That puts the Blue Devils one behind Arizona State, which has the most women's titles with eight.

It's pretty obvious that the NCAA tournament's match-play format is not the optimal way to identify the best team -- 72 holes at stroke play is a better test -- but it does provide great theater for The Golf Channel. That was certainly true of the championship match for the women. (The Women's NCAA, like the men's, was played at Blessings GC.) In that final, three of the individual matches went to extra holes, and the issue wasn't settled until Letizia Bagnoli of Wake Forest hit her second shot into a penalty area on the second extra hole (the par-5 15th) and lost to the Blue Devils' Miranda Wang.

Another of the extra-hole matches in the final featured Wake Forest senior Jennifer Kupcho against Duke's Jaravee Boonchant. Kupcho is ranked No. 1 in women's amateur golf, and she's almost certainly the most famous female amateur in the world these days, thanks to her impressive performance on the way to victory in the inaugural Augusta Women's Invitational in early April. Kupcho also won the individual championship at the NCAA last year, and although she didn't repeat this year (she tied for 23rd in the stroke-play portion), she had never trailed in six matches at the NCAA tournament -- until the 17th hole of her match against Boonchant.

Kupcho drew even by winning the 18th hole with a par, but Boonchant won the first extra hole -- and the match -- also with a par. 

The second-most famous female amateur is probably Maria Fassi, a senior at Arkansas who finished second to Kupcho at Augusta. That introduced her to a lot of golf fans, but Fassi was already familiar to anyone who attended either of the two Annika Intercollegiate tournaments that have been played in the Twin Cities. She won the first Annika Intercollegiate at Olympic Hills in the fall of 2017, and she was at the Royal Golf Club last fall for the second playing of the tournament, although she didn't do as well, tying for 23rd.

Fassi was the medalist at this year's NCAA, coming from a stroke behind on the last day of stroke play with a 5-under 68, for a 54-hole aggregate of 211 (minus 8). Sierra Brooks of Florida was second, four behind at 215, and Arizona's Bianca Pagdanganan took third with 217. 

Texas earned the No. 1 seed by qualifying with a 54-hole total of 883. Duke was next at 890, three ahead of USC. Fassi's Arkansas team claimed the No. 4 seed with 900, and then came Wake Forest at No. 5 with 902. 

Fassi continued to play well in the quarterfinals against Wake Forest, winning her match 2&1. Nevertheless, Arkansas lost as a team, 3-2. Wake Forest then defeated Auburn 4-0-1 in the only match of the women's tournament that wasn't decided by a score of 3-2.

Duke won its quarterfinal match over Stanford, thanks to Virginia Elana Carta, who had to go 24 holes before she could claim victory. Texas found out how little being the No. 1 seed means when it was upset by the No. 8 seed, Arizona. Arizona was dispatched, in turn, by Duke a few hours later.  



Men's NCAA Division I Championships

At Blessings Golf Club

Par 73, 7,550 yards

Fayetteville, Ark. 

Final results of stroke play (the top eight teams advanced to match play)

1. Oklahoma State                    290-276-286-284--1136

2. Vanderbilt                             307-288-287-285--1167

3. Wake Forest                         296-297-288-291--1172

T4. Texas                                  298-290-289-303--1180

T4. Oklahoma                           305-287-288-300--1180

6. Texas A&M                           296-287-301-308--1192

7. Stanford                                291-287-299-312--1189

T8. SMU                                   308-293-292-303--1196 (won playoff to claim the final spot in match-play portion of the tournament)

Failed to qualify for match play

T8. Clemson                               302-292-298-294--1196

10. California                            292-301-306-298--1197

11. Pepperdine                         312-291-293-303--1199

12. Auburn                               292-294-312-302--1200

13. Ohio State                         297-296-302-306--1201

14. USC                                  304-304-292-302--1202

15. TCU                                  311-295-288-311--1205

Did not qualify for fourth round

28. Illinois                               311-301-303--915

Individuals

1. Matthew Wolff, Oklahoma State       73-66-70-69--278

2. Steven Fisk, Georgia Southern         76-68-68-71--283

3. Chun An Yu, Arizona State               69-74-70-72--285

T4. Lee Detmer, Wake Forest              72-74-71-69--286

T4. Justin Suh, USC                             71-75-68-72--286

T6. Isaiah Salinda, Stanford                 70-70-74-74--288

T6. Collin Morikawa, California            67-72-76-73--288

T8. Zach Bauchou, Okla. State           73-71-730-75--289

T8. Austin Eckroat, Okla. State            73-71-70-75--289

T8. Trent Phillips, Georgia                    73-71-77-68--289

Notables

T15. Viktor Hovland, Oklahoma State   75-70-76-71--292

T15. Parker Coody, Texas                     72-72-75-73--292

T26. Henry Shimp, Stanford                   73-69-73-80--295

T38. Cole Hammer, Texas                     75-76-71-77--299

T41. Spencer Soosman, Texas              76-77-73-74--300

T47. Steven Chervony, Texas                 75-70-77-80--302

T47. Pierceson Coody, Texas                 81-72-70-79--302

T53. Brandon Wu, Stanford                    73-75-74-81--303

66. Daulet Tuleubayev, Stanford            75-73-78-80--306

Match play

Quarterfinals

Vanderbilt 3, Texas A&M 2

Stanford 3, Wake Forest 2

Oklahoma State 4, SMU 1

Texas 3, Oklahoma 2

Semifinals  

Stanford 3, Vanderbilt 2

Texas 3, Oklahoma State 2

Final

Stanford 3, Texas 2


Women's NCAA Division I Championships

At Blessings Golf Club

Par 73, 6,397 yards

Fayetteville, Ark.  

Final results for stroke play

1. Texas                     302-294-287--883

2. Duke                       305-281-304--890

3. USC                        306-289-298--893

4. Arkansas                302-296-302--900

5. Wake Forest           309-299-294--902

6. Arizona                   304-294-306--904

7. Stanford                  304-300-302--906

8. Auburn                    313-295-307--915

Failed to qualify for match play

T9 Illinois                    320-296-301--917

T9. Purdue                  312-294-311-917

11. Florida                   321-294-303--918

12. Florida State         321-298-305--924

13. Northwestern        313-294-318--925

T14. Arizona State      310-302-314--926

T14. Virginia                314-307-305--926

T14. Mississippi           314-297-315--926

17. Kent State              325-308-297--930

18. Washington            311-311-315--937

19. San Jose State      324-302-312--938

20. UCLA                     315-308-318--941

21. Indiana                  322-313-309--944

22. UCF                       321-308-316--945

23. Vanderbilt               319-316-311--946

24. Tennessee             328-311-311--950

Individuals

1. Maria Fassi, Arkansas                      72-71-68--211

2. Sierra Brooks, Florida                      75-67-73--215

3. Bianca Pagdanganan, Ariz.              69-74-74--218

4. Hailee Cooper, Texas                       80-69-69--218

5. Amanda Hollandsworth, Va. Tech.  75-72-72--219

6. Albane Valenzuela, Stanford           74-73-73--220

T7. Jaravee Boonchant, Duke             76-72-74--221

T7. Amelia Garvey, USC                      74-73-74--221

Notables 

T10. Giina Kim, Duke                           79-70-75--223

T16. Ana Belac, Duke                          76-69-79--224

T19. Miranda Wang, Duke                   75-72-78--225

T23. Jennifer Kupcho, Wake Forest    78-76-72--226

T23. Siyun Liu, Wake Forest                79-74-73--226

T43. Virginia Elana Carta, Duke          82-71-77--230

T54. Vanessa Knecht, Wake Forest    78-79-75--232

T103. Letizia Bagnoli, Wake Forest    74-83-84--241

Match play

Quarterfinals 

Arizona 3, Texas 2

Wake Forest 3, Arkansas 2

Duke 3, Stanford 2

Auburn 3, Texas 2

Semifinals 

Duke 3, Arizona 2

Wake Forest 4-0-1, Auburn 1-0-4

Final

Duke 3, Wake Forest 2