Oregon State women’s golf is headed to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 1998 after a stunning 54-hole performance at the Westfield (Ind.) regional.
The Beavers, one of the last teams to receive an at-large berth in the 72-team regionals field, finished second at Westfield following a 4-under 284 Wednesday at The Club at Chatham Hills. It is easily the best showing by OSU in a women’s golf regional. The previous best was seventh.
Oregon State just missed winning the regional, carding a 54-hole score of 17-under 847 to finish two strokes behind Westfield champion Mississippi State. Vanderbilt was a stroke back of OSU in third. Virginia and Tulsa rounded out the top five.
By finishing among the top five teams, Oregon State earns a berth in the NCAA Championship, May 19-24 at Scottsdale, Ariz. This is the Beavers’ second national tournament appearance in school history.
“I don’t know that it’s sunk in yet,” OSU coach Dawn Shockley said by phone. “Pretty incredible. Pretty much don’t have words right now.”
Oregon, the 2022 NCAA runner-up and ranked No. 8 nationally, struggled throughout its three-day run and finished 10th of 12 teams. The Ducks shot a final round of even-par 288, and finished at 9-over for 54 holes.
Oregon State had two players finish among the top 10 in Chayse Gomez and Madde Sund. Gomez, a junior from California, tied for seventh with Sund, a sophomore from Sweden, at 6-under 210. Both shot 71s Wednesday.
Kyra Ly, a freshman from Cleveland High in Portland, shot the Beavers’ low round of the day at 70. She tied for 21st at 2-under 214. Amanda Minni made three birdies and an eagle on the way to a 72, and tied for 26th at 217. Danique Stokmans posted a non-counting 74 and tied for 35th overall.
The 54-hole tournament scores were career lows for Ly, Gomez and Sund. It was a surprising accomplishment for an Oregon State team that hadn’t finished higher than sixth in a tournament this season.
“All year we’ve had one person play well and another hasn’t. We hadn’t had it all year. To be honest, we hadn’t played well at all, in the sense of as a team,” Shockley said. “We knew they were capable. (Assistant coach Kelly Kerkvliet) and I had a sneaky little feeling that this was going to be the one.”
Oregon State started the day in second, eight shots behind Mississippi State. The Beavers had a fat cushion over sixth place regarding qualifying for the NCAAs, the primary mission of regionals. But plenty of teams have melted down during the final round. For an Oregon State team that hadn’t been in this position, it was a concern.
“We told them to keep playing the same way. We didn’t change things. We knew we didn’t have anything to lose. No one was expecting us to make it,” Shockley said. “They felt like going for it, and we gave them the green light.”
Did they ever. The Beavers stomped on the gas at the outset, as Stokmans, Gomez and Minni set the tone with birdies at the first hole. Minni was on fire early, with two birdies and an eagle during her first five holes. Gomez made birdies on four of her first seven holes. Ly bounced back from two early bogeys with birdies at No. 4, 5 and 7.
By the time Oregon State made the turn, the Beavers were giving Mississippi State all it could handle. OSU briefly took the team lead early on the back nine. The Bulldogs bounced back and regained first place, but it then became a tussle down the stretch before Mississippi State prevailed.
“Probably one of the happiest days of my coaching career, for sure,” Shockley said.
Oregon’s low scorer was Hsin-Yu Lu, who tied for ninth at 5-under after shooting a final round 66. Lu missed qualifying for the national tournament as an individual by two strokes. Tying for 17th at 3-under was Briana Chacon, who shot three 71s.
–Nick Daschel | ndaschel@oregonian.com | @nickdaschel
