Luellen’s Tigers upend Texas in NCAA quarterfinals
Photo: Auburn team celebrating their comeback on Tuesday against Texas. Photo by Maggie Roller.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – National championship hopes remain alive for Arizona, Duke, Wake Forest and Auburn as each secured 3-2 quarterfinal wins in the 2019 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships at Blessing Golf Club (par 73, 6,397) on Tuesday.
The day’s action, originally scheduled to include both quarterfinals and semifinals, was impacted by severe weather, with a six-plus-hour delay. Both the semifinals and finals are scheduled for Wednesday, with the semifinals teeing off of the No. 1 and 10 tees at 7 a.m., followed by the two winners meeting in the title match at 2:25 p.m.
Auburn and Wake Forest teeing off Wednesday morning in the semifinals of the NCAA Golf Championship.Auburn, coached by Melissa Luellen (McNamara), former Tulsa All-American and national champion, made a stirring comeback against top-seeded Texas, overcoming significant deficits in three matches to pull out the 3-2 win in near darkness when Brooke Sansom made a birdie putt to edge Emily Hoffman in 20 holes. The Tigers face Wake Forest this morning.
Haley Moore’s putt on 18 clinched the win for the Wildcats as defending champion Arizona defeated Southern California 3-2 in the first decision of the round as she edged Gabriela Ruffels.
Jennifer Kupcho, last year’s medalist, clinched the 3-2 win for Wake Forest over host Arkansas as she edged Kaylee Benton on her 18th hole, sending the Demon Deacons to the semifinals.
Duke’s Virginia Elena Carta notched the 3-2 win for the Blue Devils, edging Stanford’s Ziyi Wang on the 24th hole, tying the match play record for longest match.
Quarterfinals, May 21 :
No. 2 Duke def. No. 7 Stanford, 3-2
No. 6 Arizona def. No. 3 Southern California, 3-2
No. 8 Auburn def. No. 1 Texas, 3-2
No. 5 Wake Forest def. No. 4 Arkansas, 3-2
Semifinal Matchups, May 22:
7 a.m. – Semifinal #1 – Duke vs. Arizona, hole #1
7 a.m. – Semifinal #2 – Wake Forest vs. Auburn, hole #10
Championships, May 22
2:25 p.m. – Winner Semifinal 1 vs. Winner Semifinal 2
Follow live scoring of semifinals and finals action.
GOLF Channel Wednesday schedule (ET)
7AM – 9AM                          Morning Drive (Live)
9AM – 1PM                          NCAA Women’s Golf Championships Semifinals (Live)
1PM – 2:30PM                     NCAA Women’s Golf Championships Semifinals (Replay)
2:30PM – 4PM                     Golf Central Pre Game (Live)
4PM                                       Back to regular scheduled programming with NCAA Women’s Golf Championships Finals (Live)