SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Saturday was indeed moving day for the Stanford women’s golf team.
Making the most of the calmer morning conditions at Grayhawk Golf Club, the Cardinal posted a 10-under round to zoom up the leaderboard and take over the top spot after two days of the 2021 Division I NCAA Championships.
“I wouldn’t know. I don’t look at leaderboards,” Stanford head coach Anne Walker said after her team shot 10 under to get to 7 under overall. “I believe in my team and I know that at every turn they’re giving it the best they’ve got and me looking at leaderboards isn’t going to change that.”
Freshman standout Rachel Heck, ranked No. 1 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, remains the individual leader after shooting a 67 for her 12th straight round in the 60s.
“They played great today. No surprise that Rachel is at 5 under [today] leading the way,” Walker said. Heck is at 8 under overall, five shots ahead of Duke’s Gina Kim and Louisville’s Lauren Hartlage.
Duke, who won the team title in 2019 and is the defending champion, is next at 3 under. Everyone else is over par. Texas is in third at 1 over. Florida State shot 3 under and moved into fourth at 7 over. Wake Forest is 9 over and in fifth place.
Oklahoma State (+10), Ole Miss (+11), LSU (+12) and Oregon and Arizona (+14) round out the top 10.
Coming together
Of the 24 teams in the field, Stanford had to deal with some of the more restrictive local health regulations due to COVID.
“We didn’t actually get our team to campus until, our first practice was Feb. 25 and we actually didn’t have a practice,” Walker said. “We just went straight into a 36-hole match with San Jose State and Cal, which was hilarious because our two freshman have never played the golf course. Rachel shot 78 and hasn’t looked back since that moment.”
In April, three players participated in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and a fourth Cardinal played in the ANA Inspiration. All four had to quarantine for seven days upon returning to Palo Alto and couldn’t practice during those seven days.
Dealing with adversity appears to have brought this Stanford team together.
“The message we kept hammering home with them was the journey is going to be different this year, but we have to believe the path will take us somewhere good and if we stay the course we’ll wind up in a good spot.”
Moving on up
South Carolina, the top-ranked team in the Golfweek/Sagarins, was in last place after the first day and despite shooting 24 shots better on Saturday, the Gamecocks were still in last for a good part of the morning at even par. As the wind picked up and more teams started their second rounds, they started climbing the leaderboard, ending the day 14th out of 24 teams.
South Carolina Gamecocks golfer Ana Pelaez hits on the 11th fairway during the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club. (Photo by Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports)
“Yesterday was really rough, the wind kind of took a toll on us and got the best of us. Not the best day mentally,” South Carolina head coach Kalen Anderson said. “Today was good, we had a good strong start, unfortunately just finished poorly coming in.
“We’re going to need a little help from the field. We just gotta hang in there and hopefully we get two more days to fight after the top eight.”
Playing a desert course in this championship adds another challenge for South Carolina.
“Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to get our here because of COVID,” Anderson said. “We were pretty much locked down in the Southeast this year but it is a new experience. But it’s golf. It’s not an excuse by any means. It’s a good track and difficult and challenging.
Mixed reaction on substitution rule
In 2019, coaches were permitted to make substitutions at the NCAA Women’s Championship for the first time, but only in the match-play portion. Interestingly, none of the eight coaches who got a team in the bracket chose to use the rule.
Beginning this championship season, substitutions became permissible at any point during regionals and the national championship (provided the coach made the substitution between rounds). On Saturday, three teams – South Carolina, Michigan State and Ole Miss – made use of the modified rule.
South Carolina’s Anderson was one of those coaches who made a switch, subbing out Lois Kaye Go (87) for Pimnipa Panthong (90).
“In general, I’d probably leave my normal five in,” she said. “But right now, we got a little bit of movement in the fifth spot, got a couple people struggling in the 5th and 6th spot so I am doing some movement. It’s kind of nice to have that.
“I think as long as a championship as this is, it makes it interesting to have that sub. I wasn’t a big fan of it at the beginning but now I think it’s a pretty good idea.”
Arizona head coach Laura Ianello doesn’t plan to deploy the maneuver.
“I have the mindset that if I have to sub, it’s because one of my girls is either deathly ill or injured and cannot play. I’m not subbing out for poor performance,” she said. “But that’s my philosophy. I don’t want to change the chemistry. … You have to know your team chemistry, you have to know your culture, you have to know your team dynamics. I want these ladies to know that I trust them and I believe in them.
“I don’t want to cause more stress. Golf is stressful enough, golf is really freakin’ hard so, I want the least stressful environment as possible.”
“I’m not a fan of the substitute rule,” ASU coach Missy Farr-Kaye said. “I never have been. I think it’s a little dodgy. I know three teams subbed in today, I don’t know how it all went. I think some teams it might work really well. I think it’s really difficult. We have a sixth player that if someone got hurt or injured and had to go, we could put her in. She’s a very good player but if anybody feels that if they played poorly or if I’m not happy about something, I’m going to pull ’em, then it’s hard to give them that confidence and worry about what they’re going to do and who’s going to get pulled.
“Maybe some coaches use it brilliantly this week and more power to them but I haven’t gotten to where I really like it just yet.”
Even in the switch from stroke play to match play?
“Same thing. I’m not there yet.”
Up next
The third round starts Saturday at 6:30 a.m. local time with the top six teams on split tees, then the next six teams start at 7:30 a.m. on split tees. The afternoon wave starts at 11:30 a.m. with six teams on split tees. The final groups will go off split tees at 12:30 p.m.
At the end of the third round, the field will be cut to the top 15 teams.