Twenty-four teams and 12 individual competitors will vie for the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships, which get underway on Friday at Grayhawk Country Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. The teams qualified through four regional sites while the individual competitors were the top three finishers not affiliated with an advancing team from each regional.
The teams will play 54-holes of stroke play before the field is trimmed to the top-15 teams and top nine individuals for Monday’s final round. The individual champion will be crowned on Monday, while the top eight teams will advance to the match play portion of the event which will determine the national champion.
GOLF Channel will begin three days of live coverage with Monday’s final round.
Live Scoring
The Field
A total of 24 teams qualified for the NCAA Championship through four regional sites, including South Carolina, Florida State, Texas, UCLA, Auburn, Michigan State, LSU, Ole Miss, Baylor, Oregon, Maryland, Alabama, Georgia, Duke, Arizona State, Kentucky, Michigan, Kent State, Stanford, Wake Forest, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, Arizona and Southern California.
Individual Competitors
Hanna Alberto (Sam Houston); Kaisa Arwefiall (San Jose State); Mikayla Bardwell (Tennessee); Christin Eisenbeiss (North Florida); Karen Fredgaard (Houston); Nataliya Guseva (Miami, Fla.); Lauren Hartlage (Louisville); Beth Lillie (Virginia); Celina Sattelkau (Vanderbilt); Brigitte Thibault (Fresno State); Louise Yu (Vanderbilt); Anna Zanusso (Denver).
NCAA Championship Field by Conference
SEC (7): Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina
Pac-12 (6): Arizona State, Arizona, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA, USC
ACC (4): Duke, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest
Big 12 (3): Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas
Big Ten (3): Michigan, Michigan State, Maryland
MAC (1): Kent State
The Course
Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. will serve as then venue for the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships. The course will play at 6,384 yards and to a par of 72 for the women’s championships. Grayhawk will also serve as the host for the 2022 and ’23 NCAA Championships.
The Format
The championship format consists of 24 teams and 12 individuals completing 54 holes of stroke play (Friday-Sunday). Following the first three rounds, the top-15 teams along with the top nine individuals not on an advancing team proceed to the final day of stroke play Monday to determine the top eight teams for match play competition and the 72-hole stroke play individual champion. The top eight teams then compete in match play for the NCAA Championship on Tuesday & Wednesday.
Players to Watch
The 10 finalists for the ANNIKA Award, presented to the annually to the most outstanding women’s golfer, are in the championship field at Grayhawk. The list includes Allisen Corpuz, USC; Karan Fredgaard (Houston); Linn Grant (Arizona State); Rachel Heck (Stanford); Ingrid Lindblad (LSU); Ana Pelaez (South Carolina); Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (South Carolina); Emma Spitz (UCLA); Maja Stark (Oklahoma State); and Beatrice Wallin (Florida State).
Linn Grant, Pauline Roussin-Bouchard
Grant is the top-ranked women’s amateur in the world as listed by Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com, while Lindblad (2nd), Roussin-Bouchard (3rd), Spitz (5th), Pelaez (6th), Corpuz (7th), Stark (8th), Gina Kim of Duke (9th), Wallin (10th) also hold spots in the top-10. Heck, winner of five tournaments this season, is currently ranked 14th.
Heck and Stark, along with Amelia Garvey (USC), Gurleen Kaur (Baylor), Gina Kim (Duke), Amanda Linner (Arizona State), have qualified for the U.S. Women’s Open which gets underway on June 3 at Olympic Club in San Francisco.
GOLF Channel Live Coverage Schedule
Monday, May 24 – 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. (Live final round, individual stroke play coverage)
Tuesday, May 25 – 9 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. (Live quarterfinals coverage)
Tuesday, May 25 – 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. (Live semifinals coverage)
Wednesday, May 26 – 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. (Live finals, match play coverage)