Match-Play Bracket Set: Top-Seeded Stanford Draws Pepperdine; O’Keefe Crowned Individual Champion

The 2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship is down to eight teams and a single-elimination bracket. Top-seeded Stanford opens match play against No. 8 Pepperdine; host Texas draws No. 5 Eastern Michigan in the Eagles’ first-ever NCAA Championship appearance; No. 3 Arkansas meets No. 6 Oklahoma State; and No. 2 Southern California faces No. 7 Duke. The team national champion is now three days and three rounds of head-to-head golf away.

Texas junior Farah O’Keefe arrived at the bracket as the championship’s individual national champion, locking up the medal Monday with birdies on her final two holes to finish at 12 under, two clear of Stanford’s Megha Ganne. Behind her, Stanford finished first after stroke play for the sixth straight season — the kind of consistency that has defined Anne Walker’s program for a decade.

And yet, the favorite’s burden is real. In the match-play era (since 2015), Stanford is the only No. 1 seed ever to convert stroke-play dominance into a national title — the Cardinal did it in 2022 and 2024, and no other top seed has. Last May’s 3–2 final-match loss to Northwestern on this same course is the most recent reminder of how unforgiving match play can be.

The Quarterfinal Bracket

Quarterfinal — 1st tee, 6:50 a.m. PT

2 Southern California · No. 2

7 Duke · No. 10

USC: 9 NCAA appearances, 6–8 match-play record · Duke: 6 appearances, 6–4

Quarterfinal — 10th tee, 6:50 a.m. PT

3 Arkansas · No. 7

6 Oklahoma State · No. 21

Arkansas: 3 appearances, 0–2 · Oklahoma State: 2 appearances, 2–1

Quarterfinal — 1st tee, 7:40 a.m. PT

4 Texas · No. 5

5 Eastern Michigan · No. 27

Texas: 5 appearances, 0–4 in match play · Eastern Michigan: first NCAA Championship

Quarterfinal — 10th tee, 7:40 a.m. PT

1 Stanford · No. 1

8 Pepperdine · No. 11

Stanford: 11 appearances, 16–7 (best record in field) · Pepperdine: 2 appearances, 0–1

Quarterfinal Pairings

“Stanford in 2022 and 2024 is the only No. 1 seed in the match-play era to go on and win the national title.”

Stanford’s Familiar Burden

The Cardinal arrive at match play as a buzzsaw on paper: 13 shots clear of the field after 72 holes, two players in the individual top four (Ganne second, Meja Örtengren just outside), and the deepest five in the bracket. They are also, statistically, the team most likely to be eliminated by something the leaderboard didn’t see coming. Eight match-play eras and only two top-seeded winners — both Stanford’s — means everyone else in the bracket is, in a sense, playing with the odds. The Cardinal own the best NCAA match-play record in the field (16–7) and have lost a national final on this course as recently as a year ago. That history is the entire context for Tuesday morning.

Eastern Michigan’s First-Ever Appearance — In the Bracket

The week’s most improbable storyline belongs to Eastern Michigan, the Mid-American Conference program making its first NCAA Championship appearance — and reaching match play on its first try. The Eagles climbed five spots into fifth on Monday with the only under-par round among the top six. Their reward: a quarterfinal against host Texas and the individual national champion. With zero match-play history to lean on (or live up to), Eastern Michigan plays free.

Texas’s Match-Play Gap — With the Medal Holder Leading

Host Texas has played in five NCAA Championships in the match-play era and has never won a match in this format (0–4). The Longhorns now have a chance to flip that history, with Farah O’Keefe — the player who just outlasted everyone in stroke play — anchoring the lineup. Eastern Michigan’s Janae Leovao gets her in the third match.

O’Keefe Wins the Medal — on Home-State Soil

Through four rounds, O’Keefe never finished outside the top of the leaderboard. She opened 69-69 to share the 36-hole lead, added a third-round 68 to push to 10 under in a tie at the top, and birdied her final two holes Monday to clinch the medal by two. Her week was as steady as it was relentless: O’Keefe led the field in birdies and stamped a Player of the Year résumé with the championship-week individual title. Megha Ganne (Stanford) finished second at 10 under, Duke freshman Rianne Malixi climbed five spots to third (−9), and USC senior Catherine Park slipped to fourth with a final-round 74 after Sunday’s 65.

Final individual leaderboard, top seven. Complete standings at NCAA.com.

Final Stroke-Play Team Standings

Eight seeds advance to match play. Final stroke-play scores for the 7–8 seeds at NCAA.com.

2026 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship Schedule & Results

2026 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship FAQ