Cristina Ochoa (NCGA photo)
Cristina Ochoa will head into the 2022-23 NCAA Division I season with a bit of steam behind her.
The 20-year-old junior made history, capturing the title at the inaugural NCGA Women's Amateur Championship after defeating
Antonia Malate, 3 and 2, in Friday's fog-shrouded finals at Spyglass Hill.
"It's a great feeling to win this event. Especially being it's the first one," said Ochoa, a native of Bogota, Colombia who came to the States after being recruited by Cal. "It's been a very long year of hard work, so it feels very rewarding."
The No.3 seed, Ochoa had to get past No.1 seed Antonia Malate. A fifth-year senior at San Jose State had entered the week coming off a recent runner-up finish at the California Women's Amateur.
For Ochoa, the difference came early, as she'd build a 3-up lead through the first nine holes thanks in part to a birdie on the par-4 4th. From there, Malate was never able to get closer than 2-up. On the par-3 15th, Ochoa gave herself some extra wiggle room by making birdie.
"I feel that for the week, par was a good score and I did a good of that," Ochoa said. "Getting the chance to play Spyglass Hill was amazing. It's a really, really good challenge."
Malate, who had her friend Josh on the bag as a caddie, played prep golf at nearby Stevenson School. While she knew the course, in the final a balky putter let her down.
"I just couldn't make any putts, and a lot of my approach shots spun off the greens," said Malate, who has future aspirations of turning pro. "Getting to play Spyglass was such a treat."
While Malate went with a lucky caddie, so too did Ochoa. Her caddie was Bears teammate Kristine Tran. On Thursday, Ochoa defeated Tran 4 and 3 in the semifinals.
"It was amazing having Kristine on the bag," Ochoa said. "She has a similar game to mine and she knows the course. We had fun and she helped me relax."
Ochoa's win gave the Cal women a sweep in the 2022 majors---Kaylyn Noh won the NCGA Women's Stroke Play, Annika Borrelli won the California Women's Am and Ochoa won the Women's Amateur.
View results for NCGA Women's Match Play
ABOUT THE NCGA Women's Match Play
18 holes stroke-play qualifying cut to 32 players
(including exempts) for
single-elimination match play.
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