Courtesy of Stanford Athletics
After another hot and windy day at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., the 24-team field at the NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships was reduced to 15 following the first cut on Sunday.
The final round of stroke play on Monday will determine the individual champion and which eight teams advance to the match play portion of the event, which gets underway on Tuesday with quarterfinal action.
Top-ranked Stanford moved one step closer to locking up the No. 1 seed in match play after the Cardinal shot a 5-under 283 on Sunday to open a seven-stroke lead over Pac-12 rival Oregon (+9). Texas A&M (+13) and UCLA (+14), which have combined for just one stroke play win this season, are in third and fourth place, respectively, followed by Auburn (+21) and Florida State (+23).
San Jose State has moved into a tie for seventh LSU (+24) and San Jose State are tied for seventh. The Spartans, the only non-Power 5 Conference school at Grayhawk, have been making steady strides up the leaderboard following a shaky opening round. After carding a 19-over score of 307 on Friday, the Spartans improved by 11 shots in round two and carded a 3-under 285 today to move from 14th into a tie for seventh.
Only six strokes separate LSU and San Jose State from four other teams looking to crash the top eight on Monday, including USC (+28), Georgia (+28), Purdue (+29) and Arizona State (+30).
At 37-over Texas and Virginia are 13 strokes off the current cutline.
Baylor was holding onto the 15th spot by a single stroke over South Carolina and Wake Forest with three holes remaining, but played 3-over down the stretch, sending the Gamecocks and Demon Deacons to a playoff to decide the 15th and final spot.
With each team having a player on holes 14-18 with the low combined score advancing to tomorrow's medal round, South Carolina edged Wake Forest, 23-22, to secure the last spot over the ACC Champion.
Stanford's
Rose Zhang is closing in on the individual title, as the top female amateur in the world increased her lead to seven strokes over Georgia's
Jenny Bae after a third-round 69 left the freshman at 9-under 207 after 54-holes. Zhang is attempting to become the second consecutive Stanford player to win the individual title following
Rachel Heck's victory last season.
GOLF Channel will televise Monday's final round of stroke play live beginning at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time.
Related: Complete GOLF Channel Schedule
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At a Glance: Day Three at Grayhawk
Top eight teams as of today: 1. Stanford (+E); 2. Oregon (+9); 3. Texas A&M (+13); 4. UCLA (+14); 5. Auburn (+21); 6. Florida State (+23); t-7. LSU (+24); San Jose State.
Made the cut: t-9. USC (+28); Georgia; 11. Purdue (+29); 12. Arizona State (+30); t-13. Texas (+37); Virginia; 15. South Carolina (+39).
Top five individuals: 1. Rose Zhang, Stanford (-9); t-2. Tze-Han Lin, Oregon (-2), Jenny Bae, Georgia; 4. Natasha Andrea Oon, San Jose State (-1); 5. Six tied (+1).
ABOUT THE NCAA Division I Women's Championship
30 teams and 6 individuals not on a qualifying
team make up the field for the championship of
NCAA
Division I women's golf.
After 72 holes of stroke play, the individual
champion is crowned, and the low 8 teams advance
to
match play to determine the team champion.
View Complete Tournament Information