Zhang Claims Historic Title

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Rose Zhang overcame a four-shot deficit to begin the final day of NCAA Championships, firing a bogey-free, 4-under 68 to win her second consecutive national championship. Zhang is the first woman to ever win multiple national titles in her career, claiming her 12th victory in the process. 

Zhang's 12th win tied Lorena Ochoa for most in Pac-12 Women's Golf history, while she surpassed Tiger Woods, Maverick McNealy and Patrick Rodgers for the most wins in Stanford Golf history. 

Zhang also won for the eighth time in 10 events this season, tied for the most in women's collegiate golf history for a single season, and tied with Tiger Woods for most in a single season in Stanford golf history. 

With her 68 on Monday, Zhang finished the season with an NCAA record 68.81 scoring average of 31 rounds, nearly a stroke better than her 69.68 NCAA record from her freshman season.

Zhang posted a clean scorecard for the second time in three days, making 14 pars to go with birdies on No. 4, 6, 7 and 11. After USC's Catherine Park finished 1-over to fall back to 9-under for the tournament, Zhang and San Jose State's Lucia Lopez-Ortega were tied for the lead at 1-under. Lopez-Ortega bogeyed No. 7 and 8 (her 16th and 17th holes) to fall back to 8-under. Zhang held a one-shot lead as she moved to 18. Her tee shot on the Par 5 found the middle of the fairway and she laid up for her second shot. Her approach landed about eight feet from the hole, and she safely two-putted for her winning par. 

In addition to Zhang, Sadie Englemann posted her second 3-under 69 of the week to finished at 5-under 283 and tied for 10th. Englemann earned her seventh Top-10 finish in 11 events this season.

Freshmen Megha Ganne (1-under 287) and Kelly Xu (even-par 288) both finished in the Top 30, placing tied for 21st and tied for 28th, respectively. 

Stanford earned the No. 1 seed for match play and will face No. 8 Pepperdine in the quarterfinal on Tuesday morning beginning at 7:10 a.m.

7:10 » Rose Zhang vs. Reese Guzman

7:20 » Sadie Englemann vs Kaleiya Romero

7:30 » Megha Ganne vs Jeneath Wong

7:40 » Kelly Xu vs. Lion Higo

7:50 » Brooke Seay vs Lauren Gomez

Stanford, the defending national champions, is the only program nationally to have qualified for match play in all eight seasons of the current format. Texas (2), Wake Forest (3), South Carolina (4), USC (5), Florida State (6) and Texas A&M (7) also qualified for match play. The winner of the Stanford-Pepperdine match will play the winner of the South Carolina-USC match in the afternoon at 1:35 p.m. GOLF Channel has live coverage of the quarterfinals beginning at 9 a.m. PT and the semifinals at 2 p.m. PT. 

 

NCAA Championships (Grayhawk Golf Club, par 72)