As the college golf season creeps closer to conference tournaments and the NCAA Championships, every stroke is proving vital.
And there was no shortage of action from the past week. Although the Augusta National Women’s Amateur is ongoing, plenty of women’s college golf teams were in action over the weekend, including many of the stars playing in one of the biggest amateur events in the world. And on the men’s side, a Division II team won a Division I event at Torrey Pines, and one of the nation’s top teams beat a loaded field at the Valspar Collegiate.
Here’s what you need to know from the past week of college golf.
Oklahoma Christian wins UC San Diego Invitational
Torrey Pines in San Diego is a course rich in tradition and history. The property has crowned numerous major champions like Tiger Woods and recently Jon Rahm, and it’s the host of the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open every January.
Now the course has another chapter added to its annals: a Division II team winning a Division I event.
Oklahoma Christian, ranked fourth in D-II, captured the UC San Diego Invitational on Tuesday, shooting 32-under 832 to capture the team title by two strokes over Seattle. Oklahoma Christian shot 12 under in the second and third rounds, the lowest score by any team in the tournament, to take home the title on Torrey Pines’ North Course.
The Eagles also placed three golfers inside the top 10. Exeqiuel Rodriguez took third place individually, shooting 7-under 65 in the final round and finishing at 11-under 205. Alejandro Armijo was T-4 at 9 under and Santiago Villareal was T-7, shooting 8 under.
Eirik Thomassen from CSU-Northridge won the individual title by six shots, shooting 20-under 196 over 54 holes. Seattle’s Nathan Cogswell shot 14 under and placed second.
North Carolina takes Valspar Collegiate
North Carolina’s men’s golf team captured the Valspar Collagiate on Tuesday, shooting 12 under in the final round to card a 27-under 825 and beat second-place Texas Tech by six shots.
The Tar Heels, ranked second in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, picked up their fourth win of the season. North Carolina’s win at the Floridian in Palm City, Florida, came over a handful of highly-ranked foes, including No. 3 Texas Tech (21 under), No. 10 Texas (15 under), No. 7 Florida State (13 under), No. 4 Arizona State (9 under) and No. 12 Pepperdine (9 under).
Ohio State placed fifth at 12 under.
The individual leaderboard was also loaded, with No. 2 Ludvig Aberg from Texas Tech taking home the one-stroke victory at 11 under. North Carolina’s David Ford, ranked fourth, and Georgia Southern’s Ben Carr, who finished runner-up at the 2022 U.S. Amateur, tied for second at 10 under.
Also placing well for the Tar Heels were Austin Greaser, who finished eighth at 7 under. Ryan Burnett tied for 20th at 3 under.
UCLA's Zoe Campos, Pepperdine women victorious in Hawaii
It was a successful trip to Ka‘anapali Golf Course in Lahaina, Hawaii, for the Pepperdine women’s golf team, which captured the team title of the Anuenue Spring Break Classic on Wednesday.
The Waves were one of four schools in the 14-team field to shoot under par in the final round. Pepperdine was tied with Denver entering the final round but shot 3 under to finish at 18-under 846 for the tournament. Denver shot 4 over and finished seven strokes back at 11 under. UCLA placed third at 10 under.
However, UCLA’s Zoe Campos, 17th in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, took home the individual title. It was the first win of her career, and she did it in wire-to-wire fashion.
Campos shot 66-67-71 to finish at 11 under, one shot better than Tulane’s Carla Bernat, ranked 22nd. Denver’s Alyson Bean finished third at 9 under, and Stanford’s Sadie Englemann, playing as an individual, was fourth at 8 under.
Pepperdine’s Lion Higo and Reese Guzman tied for fifth at 7 under to lead the Waves.
Northwestern takes crown at loaded ASU/Ping Invitational
In a field featuring seven of the nation’s top 15 teams, Northwestern came out with a win at the ASU/Ping Invitational at Papago Golf Course in Phoenix.
The No. 14 Wildcats ran away from host No. 9 Arizona State in the team race, shooting 18 under to win by 14 strokes. Northwestern and the Sun Devils were the only two teams to shoot under par. No. 13 Baylor placed third at 3 over, No. 7 Mississippi State fourth at 4 over and No. 8 Texas in fifth at 6 over.
Baylor’s Sera Hasegawa and Northwestern’s Kelly Sim each shot 10-under 206 to share medalist honors. Mississippi State’s Julia Lopez Ramirez, who’s in this week’s field at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, placed third after shooting 8 under. Northwestern’s Dianna Lee was fourth at 4 under.
