BRADENTON, Fla. – Casey Danielson clinched a pair of matches to catapult the Stanford women’s golf team during the NCAA Championships contested at The Concession Golf Club on Tuesday.
Danielson did the deed in both the quarterfinals against Arizona (4-1) and semifinals against USC (3-2). Stanford, which was seventh in the league tournament earlier this season, knocked off both Pac-12 Conference foes to earn a showdown in the finals with Baylor.
Championship action tees off at 11:10 a.m. (PT). Golf Channel's live coverage Wednesday will begin at noon. Live results will be available at GoStanford.com.
Making its 30th NCAA tournament appearance, Stanford still seeks its first national crown.
“We’ve done a great job of staying in the present, and tomorrow we’ll come out and stay the same way,” said head coach Anne Walker. “We’ve had a really game plan for this golf course. We have that experience, we have it under our belt and we know if we stick with our plan, that’s the best we can do.”
Stanford picked up its quarterfinal win over fifth-seeded Arizona and received a game-saving effort from Danielson to advance.
Danielson could have won her match against Wanasa Zhou on 18, save for a three putt. That forced extra action, and Danielson nailed a 15-footer on the par-4 10th to live another hole.
On 11, Danielson lagged a 45-footer to within a few inches and Zhou missed her par attempt to send Stanford to the semifinals.
Leading by four with four holes to play against USC’s Kyung Kim, Danielson gave back a pair before sticking her approach on 17 to a safe distance. Kim’s drive found water and she later conceded the winning putt to Danielson.
Mariah Stackhouse got on top of Arizona’s Lindsey Weaver and never trailed while handling her business. Stackhouse dropped her match with USC’s Amy Lee, 6&4.
“All of us went out this morning with the intention to play as well as we can and the goal was to be in the semifinals match and have an opportunity to play in the final match,” Stackhouse said. “My girls had my back, and that’s all that matters, and we’re playing in that championship match.”
Lauren Kim came from behind to take Arizona’s Kendall Prince in the opener. Three times Kim trailed by two holes. After the 11th, Kim won four straight holes and birdied 17 to secure the win.
Kim defeated USC’s Gabriella Then, 4&3.
“It was a really long day, and I have blisters on my feet,” said Kim. “But focusing on making good shots and making putts one after the other, and staying in the moment helped me.”
Quirine Eijkenboom fell to Manon Gidali of Arizona, 3&1, after being all square through nine. Eijkenboom took USC’s Karen Chung to a 20th hole before falling in overtime.
Shannon Aubert was down two to Arizona’s Krystal Quihuis through five, rallied to take the lead after 11 and held the Wildcat at bay while Danielson clinched her match.
Aubert later went back and forth with USC’s Annie Park, and the match was all square through 12. Aubert went to work and took the next four, locking up the win on the 16th.