Vivian Hou (Courtesy of Arizona Athletics)
The storylines surrounding the Pac-12 Preview which gets underway on Monday will be as much about the individuals who aren't at Nanea Golf Club as the ones who are.
Top-ranked Stanford headlines the field which includes all 11 Pac-12 women's teams plus Hawai'i, but the Cardinal lineup will have a much different look to it other than the one which was largely been responsible for the team's three wins this fall.
If the Cardinal is to win its fourth consecutive tournament, it will have to do so without the services of freshman Rose Zhang, the world's top female amateur who has won three straight events to start her collegiate career, and Rachel Heck, the defending NCAA individual champion and last year's ANNIKA Award winner. Both will be representing the United States at The Spirit International, along with freshman Caroline Sturdza (Switzerland) and sophomore Rebecca Becht (Belgium).
Stanford is expected to start mainstays Aline Krauter and Angelina Ye, along with Brooke Seay, Sadie Englemann and Calista Reyes in its quest for a fourth straight team title.
Even though Stanford will not be at full strength, the Pac-12 Preview field is stacked with talent, as Oregon (No. 3), UCLA (No. 11), Arizona State (No. 15), Arizona (No. 23) and USC (No. 24) are ranked inside the top-25 by Golfweek/Sagarin.
Additionally, five players ranked among the nation's top individual players will also be featured, including Cindy Kou of USC (6), Krauter (9), Calynne Rosholt of Arizona State (10), Hsin-Yu-Lu (13) and Tze-Han Lin (23) of Oregon.
Oregon began its fall schedule with an impressive win at the Mason Rudolph Championship in September, where the Ducks put together three subpar rounds of 276 (-10), 283 (-283) and 279 (-9) for a program-record score of 26-under 838, which was good for a 14-stroke victory over Alabama. Oregon sophomore Hsin-Yu (Cynthia) Lu fired a final-round 7-under 65 to earn her first collegiate victory with a 17-under score of 199, six shots clear of Camille Boyd of Washington.
Arizona, semifinalists in the last four NCAA Championships, competed in the East Lake Cup last week and though the Wildcats were without the services of their two top players, Vivian and Yu-Sang Hou, gave second-ranked Oklahoma State all it could handle in the semifinals and then defeated defending NCAA Champion Ole Miss in the third-place match. The Cats have enjoyed plenty of success on the Big Island, winning Pac-12 Preview titles in 2019 and 2018.
"The Pac-12 Preview is an annual favorite on our schedule, which we have had great success in," said head coach Laura Ianello. "It will be great to have Yu-Sang and Vivian return after successfully qualifying for stage three of LPGA qualifying last week. We have played a lot of quality rounds of golf this fall, and this event will be a great way to wrap up the first half of our schedule."
The Pac-12 Preview will feature a shotgun start beginning each day at 7:30 a.m. HT/10:30 a.m. PT. Nanea Golf Club will play at 6,449 yards at a par of 73.
ABOUT THE
Pac-12 Women's Preview
The Pac-12 members get together to hold a
conference
championship preview
as the fall season nears its conclusion.
Team (best four scores out of five players) and
individual competitions.
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