Lobos Advance to NCAA Women’s Golf Championship

Courtesy of New Mexico Athletics

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The New Mexico women’s golf team advanced to the NCAA Championship with a strong final round Wednesday at the NCAA San Antonio Regional. The Lobos shot 1-over during the third round at TPC San Antonio to finish in fifth place at 25-over, earning one of the five tickets to the finals.

The NCAA Championship will be held May 19-24 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., and will feature a field 30 teams, the top five finishers from each of this week’s six regionals. The Lobos will be making their 16th overall appearance at the NCAA Championship, and first since 2010.

Joining the Lobos in Scottsdale from the San Antonio Regional are Pepperdine and SMU, who each shot 9-over to tie for the top spot in the regional, along with Oklahoma State and Texas A&M, who each shot 16-over.

“We have played so well this spring, coming down the stretch, that I knew that we could do this,” said head coach Jill Trujillo. “Coming into today, I knew we were capable of shooting a low round, but you can’t control what other teams are going to do. We just focused on all the good things we have been doing all spring and posted a good number. The swing started happening early on and these girls played so tough. It has been way too long since we made it to the finals. Women’s golf keeps getting better and better, so it has become more difficult to make it. I knew this team could do it and we aren’t done yet. We checked the box for winning the Mountain West. We checked the box for getting to regionals and now we checked the box for making it to Scottsdale. Now we want to check the box of making it to match play. We just need to take it one step at a time and focus on all the good things we have done that have gotten us to this point.”

The Lobos opened the day in seventh place, six shots behind Auburn, who held the fifth and final qualifying spot. New Mexico had climbed to fifth by the midway point of the round and led by as many as seven strokes down the stretch. UNM would finish at 25-over, finishing four shots ahead of the seventh-ranked Tigers for the fifth and final qualifying place.

Jenny Lertsadwattana led UNM during the third round with a 1-under 71 on Wednesday. After a bogey on her second hole of the day, she went bogey-free the rest of the round with two birdies and 14 pars to help the Lobos surge up the leaderboard. Lauren Lehigh also took advantage of strong play late in the round, finishing with an even par 72 after being at 3-over through eight holes on her round.

Lisa-Marie Pagliano and Maria Caparros Levin each shot a 1-over 73 in the final round, while Myah McDonald posted a 2-over 74.

The field of 30 will play the first three rounds of the NCAA Championship May 19-21 at Grayhawk Golf Club. The top 15 teams will make the cut and play the final round of stroke play on May 22. The top eight teams from stroke play will advance to match play, which will crown the national champion. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be May 23 and the final on May 24. Golf Channel will televise the action live for the final three days (Monday-Wednesday).