STANFORD, Calif. – The Stanford women's golf team was awarded the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Albuquerque Regional, it was announced Thursday.
The Cardinal will be one of 18 teams competing May 8-10 at the University of New Mexico Championship Course. The top six advance to the NCAA Championships (May 19-24) at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois.
"It's really cool that the kids are being acknowledged this way after probably the best regular season in Stanford history," said Anne Walker, the Margot and Mitch Milias Director of Women's Golf. "They deserve this."
It marks the 25th consecutive year Stanford has been selected to participate in the NCAA Regional Championships. The Cardinal won the program's first NCAA title in 2015 and finished second last year.
Stanford, ranked No. 1 in the country much of the season, won three of six starts during the spring. In nine full-field events in 2016-17, the Cardinal claimed four victories, two seconds and two thirds. Stanford also beat UCLA, 3-2, in the consolation finals of the prestigious East Lake Cup in Atlanta, Georgia.
Also in the Albuquerque field are USC, Duke, Miami, Oklahoma State, North Carolina State, Cal, Illinois, Pepperdine, Washington, SMU, Campbell, Denver, New Mexico State, Cal Poly, Sacramento State, Houston Baptist and Texas Southern.
At the other three regional sites, UCLA is the top seed in Lubbock, Texas, Alabama is the top seed in Athens, Georgia, and Florida is the top seed in Columbus, Ohio.
"Hopefully it will help," Walker said of playing at the University of New Mexico Course. "I'm really familiar with it, having coached and played there so many times. I've seen the tough weather, I've seen the nice weather, and I know where the traps are and where the big numbers come from."
Senior Casey Danielson and junior Shannon Aubert have experience on the course and helped Stanford win the 2015 Branch Law Invitational by 10 strokes. The Cardinal combined for a program record 54-hole score of 20-under 856 on the par-73 layout.
"We're not trying to win regionals," said Walker. "We're just trying to take one spot of six. You don't always go pin hunting or take it tight down the hazard line. Sometimes you just hit hybrid in the middle of the fairway, 5-iron up and get the heck out of there."
On Wednesday, Stanford completed the regular season by placing third at the Pac-12 Championships at Sewailo Golf Club in Tucson, Arizona. UCLA scored a wire-to-wire win.
"We didn't play that badly," Walker said. "We just had a nine-hole stretch where we kind of got off our game a little bit. The wind was blowing so hard and our patience wore thin. Par was a good score, yet UCLA was roping in 10 to 15 footers for birdie. I just don't think there was a team in the country that could have beaten them."
Walker is giving her players the next two days off to rest, refresh and catch up on school work.
"If we're lucky enough to make it through New Mexico, it's going to be a long three weeks," she said. "Next week, we're just going to do what we normally do, which is play, compete and have fun with one another and make sure we're having a good time."
