Rachel Heck pulled the curtain down on her collegiate golf journey in style as she won the anchor match to guide Stanford to their third NCAA championship.
Heck delivered the final point with a 4&3 victory over UCLA's Kate Villegas as the Cardinal won 3-2 to secure their second team championship in three years after their maiden win in 2015.
The American, who won the 2021 individual championship, has battled through numerous injuries over the past year and announced in March that she would not be turning professional following her graduation this summer.
"It's unreal, and I'm honestly speechless," Heck said. "This is the moment that kept me going through the injuries, just picturing this. The fact that it happened is absolutely unreal.
“It just felt like some type of higher power [was with me]. I’ve been praying so much these past two weeks – these past two years really – just praying that I could find peace. I played so freely just knowing that I’m so beyond happy with where my life is at.”
While Heck may take the headlines, it was Kelly Xu who got Stanford off to the perfect start, winning 4&3 against Meghan Royal to ensure the sophomore went undefeated in match play for the second straight year.
As both teams traded points, the final eventually came down to Heck's anchor match against Villegas, with victory secured on the 15th green when the UCLA senior was unable to match her opponent's superb two-putt birdie from off the green.
"That is Rachel Heck for you. She deserves that, but it's also like it was scripted to be that way," Stanford coach Anne Walker said after the win.
IT'S OVER! 🏆🌲@StanfordWGolf WINS the 2024 NCAA D1 Women's Golf National Championship for the second time in three years! 📺: Golf Channel & @peacock | #NCAAGolf pic.twitter.com/KtYveLsRIvMay 23, 2024
"I'm kind of not surprised and she is a heck of a lag putter. For anyone else to be in that front left part of the green, it would have been a little tough.
"But for Rachel to roll it so close, it was great. It wasn't by accident we decided to put Rachel in that last spot. She is a mature kid, and it takes a lot to rattle her."
While Heck will now etch her name into the history books as one of Stanford's greatest women's collegiate golfers - alongside ex-teammate Rose Zhang - the 22-year-old said that Wednesday's showing had not made her reconsider her decision to swerve the professional game.
“I think it’s so funny after regionals and throughout this week, people are saying, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to go pro?’” she added.
“I don’t know where all you read that I’m not turning pro because I don’t think I can do it. I just don’t want … that’s not me and where I see my life going. This is the perfect bow on an incredible journey in this game.”
