She's a Stackhouse

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Mariah Stackhouse held on to win the UC Irvine Invitational by shooting a final-round 73 to claim a two-shot victory over Pepperdine’s Grace Na Tuesday at Santa Ana Country Club. Stackhouse finished the 54-hole tournament with a 4-under 212 (70-69-73) for her fourth career win and seventh top-10 showing on the season.

To go along with the victory, Stackhouse received a sponsor exemption to the 2014 Kia Classic (March 27-30) at the Aviara Golf Club.

Stanford pulled out its third team victory with an even-par 864 (289-289-286) at the par-72, 5,842-yard course. The Cardinal is one victory away from matching its three-match winning streak to begin the spring portion of last season’s schedule.

“I’m very proud of the players and the poise they showed throughout this event,” Margot and Mitch Milias Director of Women’s Golf Anne Walker said. “It’s always hard to win a tournament when you are leading by 10 strokes going into the final round because you tend to protect the lead, yet today we put in the work to be great over every shot. I couldn’t be happier with our effort.”

Stanford went for 2-under on the final circuit to distance itself from second-place Texas A&M. The Cardinal bettered the second-place Aggies by 13 strokes, with Pepperdine (879), Gonzaga (891) and Long Beach State (894) rounding out the top five.

Three Cardinal players finished in the top four and each of its five performers fell within the top 50 at the 13-team event. Lauren Kim and Casey Danielson tied for fourth at even, Quirine Eijkenboom (+7) tied for 13th and Mariko Tumangan (+20) tied for 44th.

Danielson’s 3-under 69 tied for the best scorecard on the last 18 holes. Danielson was 5-under through her final 12 holes until a double bogey on the par-4 13th put her and 3-under.

Stackhouse birdied the 488-yard, par-5 10th in each of her three rounds.

The Cardinal will travel to the East Coast for the Darius Rucker Invitational (March 7-9) in Hilton Head, S.C.