BRADENTON, Fla. – Junior All-American Mariah Stackhouse beat Baylor senior All-American Haley Davis with a two-putt par on the 19th hole Wednesday to lift Stanford to its first-ever NCAA women’s golf title with a 3-2 victory at sun-baked Concession Golf Club.
Stackhouse birdied the last two holes to force sudden death after the teams split the first four matches.
It marked only the ninth time in NCAA history that a men’s and women’s team from the same school have won national titles in the same sport. It also marked the first time the women’s tournament used match play to crown a national champion.
The Cardinal advanced by defeating Arizona and top-ranked USC in the quarterfinals and semifinals on Tuesday.
Stanford received wins from freshman Shannon Aubert and sophomore Casey Danielson, who each went 3-0 in the match play portion of the championship.
Aubert beat Baylor’s Lauren Whyte, 4&3, while Danielson clinched a 2-up win against Laura Lonardi with a final-hole birdie.
Down two in match play with the other four matches decided, Stackhouse birdied the 17th and 18th holes against Baylor’s Hayley Davis to send the match to a 19th hole, played on the par-4 10th hole. Stackhouse found the back of the green on her second shot, and putted within a foot, besting Davis for the title. It was a comeback the Cardinal needed, and one Stackhouse said she’d dreamed of just the night before.
“I actually thought a lot about it last night,” Stackhouse said. “It felt kind of silly, but I envisioned some kind of crazy finish with me having to hit huge shots. I knew I was going to be down and I was going to have to do something crazy to come back.”
After Aubert put the Cardinal on the board first with a 4&3 victory, Baylor answered with a 4&3 win from Giovana Maymon to even the field. The Lady Bears put Stanford on the ropes as Baylor freshman ace Dylan Kim out-dueled Stanford’s Lauren Kim for a 3&1 victory, needing just one win to hoist the championship trophy.
Needing the win, Danielson broke an all-square match open with a big birdie on 17, then drilled her approach shot to birdie the 18th as well, tying the championship at 2-2, and setting up Stackhouse for the win.
“I knew Casey was a key match for us right out of the gate,” Stanford head coach Anne Walker said. “I thought if we can get Casey's match then we had a real shot at it. I had a good feeling about Casey. She kept putting herself in a good position.”
The drama played out on a national stage, as Golf Channel broadcast each hole for the first time in NCAA Women’s Golf Championships history. Also debuting for the sport was match play in the final three rounds, something both teams said they enjoyed.
“It’s great,” Baylor head coach Jay Goble said. “I was the first one to be hesitant about it originally, but going through the last two days, it’s really exciting, and really fun.”
Despite the Cardinal men’s golf team cheering from the gallery, Stanford was in bad shape on the front nine, down in three of five matches.
Stackhouse won the first hole, then fell 3-down after eight. She chipped in for eagle at the 241-yard par-4 12th to win the hole with her opponent having driven green to 15 feet away.
Danielson led most of the way, but let a 2-up lead slip.
Davis avoided Stackhouse’s counters late in the round, and hit the shot of the day from mud and hazard left of fairway at par-4 16th, almost holing out. Davis made the six-foot birdie to go 2-up on Stackhouse.
But Stackhouse responded by reaching 17 in two and two-putted to take the hole. She then hit a gorgeous approach shot to 18 to about 12 feet. Davis was short of the green in two, chipped to four feet, but Stackhouse nailed her birdie putt to force extras.
The 19th hole made Cardinal history.
The victory was Stanford’s second NCAA title of 2014-15 and 107th overall. The Cardinal also won the women’s water polo championship.
Walker became one of five Stanford coaches to win their sport’s first NCAA title in three years or fewer at the helm.