Moving to Monday

CARLSBAD, Calif. — Top-ranked Stanford women's golf continued to close the gap between themselves and first place Texas A&M. After three rounds of stroke play, the Cardinal trails only the first place Aggies by one stroke and did so by shooting its third-straight 3-under 285. Stanford survives the first cut and qualifies for the final round of stroke play on Monday afternoon.
 
Paula Martin Sampedro continues to be steady at the top for the Cardinal, posting another 2-under 70. Through three rounds of her first NCAA Championship, she is four strokes under par, and finds herself tied for fourth overall and just one stroke back of second place. It might be too big of a deficit to catch the leader, however, as Adela Cernousek of Texas A&M leads the field at 12-under after three rounds.
 
Continuing to move up the leaderboard is Megha Ganne, who occupies 12th outright after Sunday. She is two strokes under par for the weekend and shot an even-72 during the third round, with a great finish on the back nine. Ganne had four bogeys on the front nine, but then kept a clean scorecard on the back nine with two birdies, getting herself back to par for the day. She finished tied for 21st at last year's NCAA Championship and has a great chance for her first top-10 finish at NCAAs.
 
Tied for 15th overall is Rachel Heck, who finished the day with a 1-over 73. The middle portion of her round was the best, as she birdied on nine and 12, which at the time put her back even with par. For the weekend, Heck is even with par, which is quite the feat considering how challenging the course has played for most of the field, and even more impressive when remembering that Heck has not made it through an NCAA Championship since 2022.
 
One of the best rounds of the day by a Stanford golfer was put up by Kelly Xu, who struggled through the second round but had a strong rebound. She finished her third round with a 2-under 70, tied for the best round by any Stanford golfer in the tournament. Xu was able to find success almost everywhere on the course, piling up six birdies to lead Stanford golfers. She had multiple birdies on par 3s, 4s, and 5s, showing strength in a variety of holes and layouts. Her jump from Saturday to Sunday is impressive, as she finds herself inside the top-30 after being outside the top-70 entering the day.
 
Sadie Englemann remains just outside the top-20 overall, but her positioning has continued to improve all weekend. She finished with just one birdie during her 2-over 74, but climbed up into a tie for 21st, representing an eight-spot jump. Her best finish at the NCAA Championship came last year, when she tied for 10th, but she is has finished inside the top-50 every season at Stanford.
 
The field has been cut down to 15 teams, with those 15 qualifying for the final round of stroke play on Monday. Stanford will tee off at 12:20 pm, by virtue of holding one of the top three scores through three rounds. Following stroke play, the field will shrink to the top eight teams for match play. Heading into Monday, Stanford is 22 strokes inside the projected cut line.
 

NCAA Championship (Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, par 72)