Stanford Takes over 1st in NCAA DI Women's Championships; McCauley Misses Cut

College

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- After getting off to a slow start, top-ranked Stanford, the defending champion, has risen to the top of the leaderboard in the NCAA Women's Division I Championships. The Cardinal were tied for sixth in the 30-team field after their first-round 288, but they came back with a tournament record 273 (-15) in the second round on Saturday. Sunday was the toughest day for scoring so far, and the Cardinal put together the third-best score, a 290, which enabled them to make up a seven-stroke deficit and tale a two-shot lead over second-ranked Wake Forest and 11th-ranked Texas.

Stanford is at 851. Wake Forest and Texas are at 858. The next three teams are lined up -- 4. USC 862, 5. Florida State 863, 6. South Carolina 864 -- and it's another five shots back to the two teams tied for seventh, Arizona and Texas A&M, at 869.

Sophomore Rose Zhang, the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world -- and also the defending champion -- has led the charge for the Cardinal. She opened with a 72 at Gray Hawk Golf Club, but came back with a 5-under 67 on Saturday, and with a 71 on Sunday, she moved up into a tie for third place at 210.

USC freshman Catherine Park sandwiched a record-tying 64 between a pair of 71s, and she leads the individual standings with a 54-hole total of 206. Lucia Lopez-Ortega, whose team, San Jose State, missed the cut by a single stroke, 882 to SMU's 881, is second individually at 208, after a 71 on Sunday. Zhang is tied with LSU's Ingrid Lindblad of LSU for third. Lindblad arrived at 210 with the best score of the day, Saturday, a 68. 

The top 15 teams made the cut. As for the individual cut, it came at 218 (39th place), and there was a three-way playoff, which Clemson's Savannah Grewal won.

Minnesota freshman Bella McCauley, who claimed the only spot for an individual qualifier coming out of the Westfield Regional, made three bogeys late in her first-round 74 and a triple bogey early in her second-round 76, which proved to be more than she could overcome. She shot 73 on Sunday and missed the cut with a 223 (T77).

The individual champion will be determined at the conclusion of Monday's fourth round, and the top eight teams from the 72 holes of qualifying will go into match play on Tuesday.       


NCAA Women's Division I Championships

At Grayhawk Golf Club 

Par 72, 6,368 yards

Scottsdale, Ariz. 

Third-round results 

1. Stanford                  288-273-290--851

2. Wake Forest            279-280-299--858

3. Texas                      292-276-290--858

4. Southern Cal.          296-276-290--862

5. Florida State           288-286-289--863

6. South Carolina       286-276-302--864

T7. Arizona                292-288-289--869

T7. Texas A&M.         287-284-298--869

T9. Pepperdine         295-279-296--870

T9. Georgia               286-290-294--870

11. Oklahoma State  280-291-300--871

12. New Mexico.       287-288-301--876

13. LSU.                    294-288-295--877

14. Mississippi State 301-288-291--880

15. SMU                    291-295-295--881

Did not make the cut 

16. San Jose Stat.     292-293-297--882

17. Baylor.                  289-290-304--883

T18. Michigan State  293-294-298--885

T18. Duke                 2889-296-301--885

20. TCU                     293-295--298--886

21. Texas Tech.        291-298-301--890

T22. Northwestern   303-291-298--892

T22. Oregon State.   297-293-302--892

T24. Clemson           299-287-307--893

T24. Vriginia             298-293-302--893

26. Augusta              296-294-303--896

27. Vanderbilt           305-292-300--897

28. Ole Miss            300-288-310---898

29. Tulsa                 301-306-307--914

30. No. Carolina St. 305-204-308--917

Individuals 

1. Catherine Park, USC                         71-64-71--206

2. Lucia Lopez-Ortega, San Jose St.     68-69-71--208

T3. Ingrid Linblad, LSU                          70-72-68--210

T3. Rose Zhang,Stanford                      72-67-71--210

T3. M. Hinson-Tolchard, Okla. State.   66-70-74--210

Did not make the cut

T77. Bella McCauley, Minnesota.       74-76-73--223