4-Stroke Swing Gives Vaughn NCAA Title; Burnham Ties for 24th

SUGAR GROVE, Ill. -- The combined stroke-play/match-play format for the NCAA Women's Championships is contrived and doesn't work very well when it comes to the supposed purpose of the tournament -- to identify the best team. Last year, the best team didn't win. For that matter, Washington, the team that did win, wasn't second-best team, either. Or third-best. So it goes.

On the other hand, the Golf Channel-dictated format does make for great TV, as was demonstrated once again on Monday in the final round of stroke-play competition at this year's tournament.

The individual championship, which is settled the way it should be, by stroke play, had a dramatic twist. For most of the day, it seemed more like a coronation than a competition. Wake Forest sophomore Jennifer Kupcho birdied the par-5 second hole and the par-4 ninth to get to 2 under for the tournament, and she led by three strokes or four strokes from the time she started the back nine at Rich Harvest Farms. She was three ahead when she arrived at the 17th hole, a 367-yard, par-4. Her tee shot found the fairway.

By the time she got to her ball, however, Monica Vaughn had made her second birdie in a row, at the 496-yard, par-5 seventh, and was 1 over par for the tournament. (Vaughn started on the back nine Monday).

It didn't seem like a big deal at the time. Kupcho still led by two, and she had made only one bogey all day, at the 371-yard, par-4 14th. Now she had 127 yards to the 17th green, and basically, all she really needed to do to secure the individual title was to clear the water and hit the green, two-putt for par and then make a par at the relatively easy 18th. Instead, Kupcho hit her second shot into the bank in front of the green, and the ball bounced backwards from there into the water. After taking a penalty stroke, she hit the green with her fourth shot. Then she three-putted, ramming the first putt 7 feet past and missing the come-backer. Triple bogey 7.  

It was a four-stroke reversal, in a span of maybe 12 minutes. Suddenly, Vaughn -- who had been officially written off by the Golf Channel after she missed a 2-foot par putt at the par-3 fifth hole -- wasn't just back in contention. The Arizona State senior was leading by a shot. 

Kupcho, who had birdied the 476-yard, par-5 18th in each of the first two rounds, could only par it on Monday. Meanwhile, Vaughn was parring the last two holes on the front nine to cap off a closing 71 (1 under), which gave her a 54-hole total of 217 (1 over) -- and a one-stroke victory. 

Over on the back nine, Kupcho was in shock. She signed for 74, and that put her at 218, in a tie for second with Duke's Leona Maguire, who closed with a 70. (The stroke-play portion of the tournament was supposed  to be 72 holes, but severe storms forced the cancellation of Saturday's round, and the tournament was reduced to 54 holes.)

Michigan's Elodie Van Dievoet, the Big Ten individual champion, bounced back from a second round 79 with a 68 on Monday. She finished at 219 and tied August Kim of Purdue for fourth. 

The team qualifying for the eight available spots in Tuesday morning's match-play quarterfinals, was also sensationally dramatic.

Northwestern and Stanford pretty much cruised into the quarters. They were at the top of the standings from early Friday, and the Wildcats wound up in first with a cumulative 897, eight ahead of Stanford, the 2015 NCAA champ and 2016 runner-up. But after those two, things got interesting.

Arizona State, with Vaughn leading the way, moved up seven places, from 10th to third (909). Ohio State was near the top of the standings the entire tournament and finished fourth at 913. 

Florida was another team that made a big move, up seven places to tie for fifth with USC, right behind Ohio State at 914.

Of course, for every team that made a big move up the standings, there was a team that made a big more down.

South Caroliina was one of the teams that went the wrong direction. The Gamecocks began the day in sixth, with nine shots between themselves and ninth place. They ended the day in 10th with an aggregate of 923, four out of eighth.

Baylor was suffering a major oil leak on the back nine and seemed in danger of playing its way right out of the top eight. But the Bears got a couple of clutch pars at the very end and held on to seventh place with a cumulative 917. But the Drama Queens of the Day were women from Kent State. 

At about the same time it was dismissing Vaughn's chances to win the individual medal, the Golf Channel pronounced Kent State to be a top-8 lock. It certainly looked that way. The Golden Flashes were still in third with only a few holes to go, but then they started losing strokes at an alarming rate.

There were five players per team at Rich Harvest Farms, and four scores counted. The Kent State women lost two shots to par at No. 13 (158 yards, par 3), one at the 14th (371, par 4), two at the 15th (409, par 4) and two more at the 16th (168, par 3). Then came a near total disaster at the 17th, where Kent State's five players lost nine shots to par! -- a bogey, two bogeys and a quadruple bogey. But the Flashes managed to play the 18th in even par (three pars, one bogey, one birdie), and they slipped into the scorer's tent one ahead of North Carolina -- 919 to 920.

For Michigan State, the Big Ten team champion, it was a lost weekend. The Spartans got off to a rocky start in the wind and cold on Friday, and they just never got going, eventually finishing 19th in a field of 24 teams with a tab of 938, 19 strokes too many. 

The lone bright spot for the Spartans was Sarah Burnham, a junior from Wayzata. She, too, started slowly, with a 79 on Friday, but the former two-time MGA Women's Player of the Year improved a little on Sunday (77), and she closed with a 73 to move up 21 places and tie for 24th with a 229. 


WOMEN'S COLLEGE GOLF

NCAA Division I Championships

At Rich Harvest Farms

Par 72, 6,343 yards

Sugar Grove, Ill. 

Final results (Saturday's second round was cancelled, and the stroke-play portion of the tournament was reduced to 54 holes. The top eight teams qualified for the match-play portion of the tournament, which begins Tuesday.)

1. Northwestern                301-298-298--897

2. Stanford                        311-298-296--905

3. Arizona State               311-309-289--909

4. Ohio State                    311-299-303--913

T5. USC                           315-303-296--914

T5. Florida                        320-302-292--914

7. Baylor                           311-300--306--917

8. Kent State                    303-304-312--919

Did not qualify for match play

9. North Carolina             314-310-296--920 

10. South Carolina           313-300-310--623

11. Purdue                         315-306-304--925

12. Furman                       323-302-301--926

13. Texas                         317-303-307--927

T14. California                 319-306-303--928

T14. Alabama                  328-313-287--928

T16. Miami                       316-303-310--929

18. Duke                           325-309-300--934

19. Michigan State            317-317-304--938

T20. Florida State             325-310-309--944

22. Texas Tech                 335-313-303--951

23. Pepperdine                330-320-308--958

24. Oregon                       333-319-308--960 

Individuals (The individual champion was determined at the end of 54 holes.)

1. Monica Vaughn, Arizona. State        74-72-71--217

T2. Jennifer Kupcho, Wake Forest         74-70-74--218*

T2. Leona McGuire, Duke                      77-71-70--218

T4. Elodie  Van Dievoet, Michigan          72-79-68--219 

T4. August Kim, Purdue                          72-73-74--219

6. Andrea Lee, Stanford                          77-71-72--220

7. Amy Lee, Baylor                                 77-74-70--221

T8. Haylee Harford, Furman                   76-75-71--222

T8. Tiffany Chan, USC                            77-76-69--222

T24. Sarah Burnham, Mich. State         79-77-73--229

T45. Casey Danielson, Stanford           80-75-76--231

* -- indicates a player who is competing only as an individual