Campus Insider Blog

Alabama women captures first NCAA title

Friday, May 25, 2012 Comments
Alabama team NCAA shot.jpgFRANKLIN, Tenn. (AP) -- Alabama won its first women's golf title Friday, holding off two-time champ Southern California by a stroke on the 72nd hole in the NCAA Division I championship.

Oklahoma's Chirapat Jao-Javanil won the individual title by four strokes, closing with a 2-under 70 to finish at 6-under 282.

The Crimson Tide gave coach Mic Potter his first national title and first for a program in its seventh trip to the national tournament when senior Brooke Pancake rolled in a 4-footer for par on No. 18. It's the third national title this year for Alabama, which also won in football and gymnastics, and sixth for the Southeastern Conference.

Alabama finished at 6-over 294 in the fourth round for a 19-over 1,171 total.

USC trailed Alabama by 14 strokes after 36 holes and by two going into the final round. The national champs in 2003 and 2008 tied the Crimson Tide five times atop the leaderboard and led by five strokes before losing the lead on the back nine. The Trojans shot 293 for a 1,172 total. They were followed by LSU (289-1,173) and Virginia (292-1,175), which lost a six-stroke lead in the first round when Elizabeth Brightwell signed an incorrect scorecard.

Jao-Javanil, ranked 59th by GolfStat and 41st by Golfweek, won the first women's individual title for Oklahoma.

The sophomore from Thailand had won two tournaments earlier this year at the Central District Invitational and the Golf Week Conference Challenge and finished second at the Big 12 Championship as she helped lead Oklahoma to its first league title since 2000. She finished fifth at the West Regional.

Jao-Javanil2.jpgShe started the final round tied with Guilia Molinaro of Arizona State and bogeyed No. 18, her ninth hole, to fall into a three-way tie. But Jao-Javanil (left) birdied No. 1 for a one-stroke lead over LSU's Tessa Teachman, while Molinaro bogeyed to fall to 2 under. Jao-Javanil wrapped up the title with a flourish on another tap-in birdie on the par-5 ninth.

Pancake tried to chase down Jao-Javanil and had plenty of holes to do it a pond away from the par-3 course where she first learned to play. But the Alabama senior from Chattanooga bogeyed No. 16 to fall four strokes back with two to play. Pancake shot 73-286. She was followed by Laura Gonzalez-Escallon of Purdue (70) and LSU's  Teachman (74) at 287.

That left Pancake to help the Tide win the team title.

USC had gone up by five strokes reaching 13 over with Alabama at 18 over. The Trojans had three bogeys on the par-3 No. 16 and finished with eight bogeys and one double bogey in the final five holes combined to just come up short after Sophia Popov birdied No. 18.

Alabama had a four-stroke lead when Hannah Collier birdied Nos. 17 and 18. But Jennifer Kirby set up the dramatic finish with a double-bogey on the final hole. Chipping from behind the green, her ball went only a few feet, and her next chip went about 6 feet past the hole before Kirby two-putted. Inah Park then rolled in a 5-footer for birdie, pulling USC within a stroke of Alabama at 20 over.

Pancake laid up on the par-5 18th with her third shot landing in the trees just left of the fairway. Her shot onto the green wound up about 60 feet from the hole, a shot that would have been perfect for the third-round pin. Pancake hit the right side of the cup, and the ball looked like it might go in before going 4 feet past for par. She holed out the par putt to start Alabama's latest celebration.

Photos by J.D. Cuban
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Do teams hold on to final-round leads at NCAAs?

Friday, May 25, 2012 Comments
FRANKLIN, TENN.--Statistics often can be used to prove whatever point you're trying to make. Still, it's interesting to look at how the 54-hole leaders have done in the final round of the NCAA Women's Championship to get a sense of Alabama's chances Friday afternoon at Vanderbilt Legends Club.

The Crimson Tide have a two-stroke edge on USC, which, if past precedent helps predict future results, means Alabama has a good shot at holding its first NCAA title at the end of play today. Since 2002, the team leading the tournament entering the final round has won every year except two (2002: Duke knocking off Arizona; and 2009: Arizona State coming back to beat USC).

Yet another trend might suggest that Alabama's chances at victory are a little more tenuous. Of the previous final-round leaders since 2002, only twice has the lead been as small as two strokes. And those two times were--you guessed it--in 2002 and 2009.

Here are the raw numbers:

Year, third-round leader, stroke lead
2002, Arizona, 2*
2003, USC, 7
2004, UCLA, 5
2005, Duke, 8
2006, Duke, 13
2007, Duke, 8
2008, USC, 3
2009, USC, 1**
2010, Purdue, 7
2011, UCLA, 7

* eventual winner is Duke
** eventual winner is Arizona State
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NCAA title still in Alabama's grasp, but lead shrinks

Thursday, May 24, 2012 Comments
FRANKLIN, TENN.--The bright side says that Alabama has a two-stroke lead heading into the final round of the NCAA Women's Championship Friday, a position Mic Potter's squad would gladly have signed up for when starting play at Vanderbilt Legends Club two days ago.  

The problem is that it requires getting past the fact that midway through the back nine Thursday, the Crimson Tide had a commanding 15-stroke advantage and appeared to be well on their way to claiming their first ever national championship.

But this is college golf, with the game's ultimate prize at stake, a scenario that tests even the most hearty souls. And so Potter must put every bit of the coaching acumen he has acquired in his 30-year Hall of Fame career to get his group to forget how its four counting scores shot a 11 over on the back nine and appreciate while they haven't won the NCAA title yet, they also haven't lost it.

"There is nothing to do but go play well and if you don't, the teams behind us are all really good. They're not going to lay down and let us play mediocre," said Potter after his team posted an 18-over 306, leaving it at 13-over 877 through 54 holes. "We've got to take control and worry about ourselves and do what we can to control our destiny."

Meanwhile USC, 12 strokes back of Alabama in seventh place entering the day and starting off the 10th tee Thursday afternoon, took advantage of the fact its starting five would be finishing up their round on the easier front nine. Making three birdies on the short par-5 ninth hole, the Trojans shot a six-over 294 to close the gap to two and give themselves a chance to pick up the school's third NCAA title in 11 years.

"We sort of got what we wanted, which is to go off the back nine and get it over with," Gaston said, "because if we could kind of hang in there on the back, we knew potentially we could do some good things on the front."

Alabama's back-nine slide brought much of the rest of the field back into contention, with Purdue, South Carolina and Virginia all just six strokes back at 19 over and nine schools overall now within 11 strokes of the lead.

What will be the challenge for the Crimson Tide faithful is to forget just how quickly things started to get away from them. In a 30-minute span, the team shot a collective 11 over on the 15th, 16th and 17th holes.

No one was immune. Brooke Pancake, who was leading the tournament individually at the start of the round and had a three-shot advantage through 14 holes, got to the par-4 15th and proceeded to four putt from 25 feet for a double bogey. She then stepped to the tee on the par-3 16th and hit a 9-iron into the water left of the green, joining teammates Hannah Collier and Jennifer Kirby in rinsing their tee shots.

When Pancake parred the par-5 18th hole to close with a 75, she found herself in a tie for third place with LSU's Tessa Teachman, one stroke back of Oklahoma's Chirapat Jao-Javanil, who shot a 70 in the morning wave, and Arizona State's Giulia Molinaro, who had posted a 72 despite making a double bogey of her own on the 15th hole.

"I made two pretty careless mistakes," Pancake said. "But I can't ponder on those and let them change my mindset for tomorrow. I've had two good rounds that have put me in the position that I'm in and hopefully I'll have another good one tomorrow and finish off well."

"I think just down the line, one to five, we were hanging on a little too hard," Potter said. "Human nature is to try to protect a lead, and I don't know why it is that way because almost always it jumps up and bites you."

Working in his favor is the fact that Potter has an experienced group he'll be taking back to the North course tomorrow, Pancake, Kirby and Stephanie Meadow all having earned All-American honors during their careers. It will take discipline to let Thursday's play fade away. But that's what championship teams can do.
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OU's Jao-Javanil playing like a contender

Thursday, May 24, 2012 Comments
FRANKLIN, TENN.--Oklahoma sophomore Chirapat Jao-Javanil is pretty honest about what first got her interested in the game of golf, and it has nothing to do with hitting a little white ball.

"I think the golf cart attracted me," said the 19-year-old from Thailand, who thought cruising around with her father was a pretty cool way to spend an afternoon.

Ten years later, it's the competition that inspires the woman nicknamed Ja. A two-time individual winner this season, she helped her Sooner squad claim the Big 12 conference title last month and finds herself in the thick of the individual race at the NCAA Women's Championship.

A third-round 70 while competing in the morning wave Thursday at Vanderbilt Legends Club left Jao-Javanil (pronounced Jow Jav A Nell) at four-under 212 through 54 holes, in third place as the afternoon wave with individual leader Brooke Pancake (-6 through 36 holes) began play.

Her round included four birdies, three in a five-hole stretch as she made the turn, a solid effort given how the day's warmer conditions were baking out the already firm-and-fast greens on the North course.

Sooner coach Veronique Drouin-Luttrell says that the biggest thing working in Jao-Javanil's favor this week is her calm and collected approach to the game.

"She's always pretty confident," Drouin-Luttrell said. "Her mental game is honestly one of the best out there, on the team for sure. She just knows how to play. She'll be aggressive on some holes and others she'll be [cautious]. She's very smart."

A former OU men's golfer gave Drouin-Luttrell a heads up about the Thai native when she was a junior golfer. Trusting the recommendation, the coach invited Jao-Javanil to visit Norman and offer her a place on the squad despite never having seen her play in a tournament. "I took a chance and it turned out pretty good," she said with a wry smile.

Ja, meanwhile, admits she didn't even know Oklahoma was one of the 50 states when she was contacted by Drouin-Luttrell, but liked Norman and the atmosphere and decided to give it a try.

With the potential to inch up the leader board as the afternoon conditions make scoring that much more challenging, Jao-Javanil says she's won't be watching the scores too intently. "I can't control how everyone else plays," she said. "Hopefully I'll just be close to the lead."
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Alabama learns from 2011 stumble, takes Day 2 lead at NCAAs

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 Comments
FRANKLIN, TENN.--What a difference a year makes.

At the 2011 NCAA Women's Championship, Alabama arrived as a favorite to claim the team title only to be out of the hunt after just 36 holes, the Crimson Tide shooting a 28-over 604 to put them 20 strokes back of the lead after two rounds.

Twelve months later, Mic Potter's group had similarly high expectations entering this year's national championship, yet have found Vanderbilt Legends Club more to its liking. After opening with a two-under 286, the second-ranked team in the Golf World/NGCA coaches' poll posted a second-round three-under 285 to claim a 11-stroke lead on UCLA, North Carolina and Virginia.

Potter, an NGCA Hall of Fame coach in his seventh year at Alabama after a 20-plus year tenure at Furman, said the experience of playing for a national title is something that's difficult to simulate during the year. Thus, even though his team has won three team titles in 2011-12 and finished inside the top five in every event since the season opener, trying to capture the ultimate prize creates a new level of anxiety.

"I think you have to learn by being there to handle expectations," Potter said. "And going into last year as one of the favorites, I hate to admit it but for an Alabama program that had never been there, it's something you have to go through. … It's hard to handle it if you've never done it. So we may have needed that. All you can do is just learn from it and get back there and try again."

Leading the way this week in Tennessee is senior Brooke Pancake, a native of Chattanooga whose second-round 70 lifted her into the 36-hole individual lead at six-under 138, two strokes better than Arizona State's Giulia Molinaro and three ahead of South Carolina's Katie Burnett, Virginia's Portland Rosen and N.C. State's Brittany Marchand.

A semifinalist at last year's U.S. Women's Amateur and a member of the U.S. Curtis Cup team that will be competing next month in Scotland, Pancake isn't a surprise pick to be atop the leader board. That said, she's recently been battling a balky putter, one that caused her to close last month's SEC Championship with a 80-79 finish, then post a surprising T-35 showing at the NCAA East Regional.

"It's something I've really been working on lately," Pancake said. "When I get comfortable over my putts, it doesn't matter how well I'm hitting it or not, I have that confidence I can get up and down. Or if I have a bad hole, I'm like, 'OK, there are more birdies out there.' So that's what I've been kind of trying to stick to for the last two days and hopefully the next two days because this is a long tournament."

Pancake says the attitude of the team is solid at the mid-way point of the tournament, teammates Stephanie Meadow, Jennifer Kirby, Hannah Collier and Courtney McKim all focused on the task at hand.

"We've lived and learned a bit," Pancake said. "We're just trying to peak at  the right time. And now we're just kind of at ease and trying to be really comfortable and say, 'You know we've worked really hard to this point and hard work pays off.' "

Suffice it to say, UCLA knows all about hard work paying off, the Bruins having claimed the 2011 NCAA title and entered this week's championship as the top-ranked school in the country. When the Bruins wrapped up a two-over 290 second-round score, coach Carrie Forsyth lamented about her squad's difficulties making many putts on the North course's new mini-verda Bermuda greens. But when the afternoon wave of schools couldn't make much of a dent on the fast and firm North course, UCLA saw itself dashed up the leader board.

"I think we've just made a few little mistakes each of the last two days," said Forsyth, who saw senior Brianna Do lead the way for her squad with a one-under 71. "We just have to tighten it up."

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While the North Course is playing tough, there were sub-par scores to be had as demonstrated by South Carolina's Burnett. The senior shot a 67 Wednesday to set the Gamecocks 18-hole NCAA Championship scoring mark while also helping the team post the day's low round, a seven-under 281 that vaulted them from T-18 to second place.

"We went out with the same game plan that we did every day," said South Carolina coach Kalen Anderson. "We got off to a good start, had some momentum and had some putts go in. They just had some things go there way. And you know once they start getting hot, they tend to kind of just keep it going. It was fun."
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Vanderbilt gives fans something to cheer for in Round 2

Wednesday, May 23, 2012 Comments
FRANKLIN, TENN.--If you felt a sudden gust of wind blowing around Vanderbilt Legends Club late Wednesday morning, you have Greg Allen to thank for it. The sigh of relief that the Vanderbilt women's coach exhaled was measurable after his squad posted a four-under 284 during the second round of the NCAA Women's Championship

Indeed, the performance was significant improvement from the previous day, in which his squad shot a 18-over 306 to finish the first round in a tie for 22nd, 20 strokes back of Alabama.

Perhaps the anticipation of playing the national championship on its home course got the better of them. It was a moment that the entire squad had been looking forward to throughout the 2011-12 season, if not longer. Allen noted that when the school put in the bid to host the 2012 tournament, it was knowing that the Lady Commodores would have two of his team's most talented players, senior Marina Alex and junior Lauren Stratton, coming in with plenty of experience, a recipe he hoped might lead to big things.

What played out Tuesday, however, was anything but memorable. Alex, the SEC player-of-the-year who was considered by some a favorite to capture the individual title here, shot an opening 77 while Stratton posted a 75, unfortunately the best score of any Vanderbilt player.

"I was shocked," Allen said. "That wasn't the team we saw at Ohio State [during the NCAA Central Regional]. That wasn't the team we saw all week here preparing for this."

Working in their favor, perhaps, was the quick turnaround they faced going into Wednesday's playing as part of the wave that played the first round in the afternoon and the second round in the morning. Unable to dwell too long on the poor start, the team proved to itself and its fans that it was better than it showed.

Despite the rough start, the squad received encouragement from the Vanderbilt faithful. Former Commodore All-American Brandt Snedeker sent a text message to Allen to relay to the team, telling them to keep their heads up and understand there was still plenty of golf left.

Sure enough, the group responded, Alex bouncing back with a 68 while Stratton shot a 70.

Key to the turnaround was Vanderbilt's play on the North course's back nine. On day 1 they shot 13 over on that stretch of holes while shooting five under on day 2. Similarly, the squad went from posting an even par score on the short par-5 ninth hole, which played the easiest of any in Round 1, to a four under total during the second round.

"Obviously they were more relaxed and had some more fun out there," Allen said. "Obviously when you make birdies you have more fun."

The question now is whether they have enough holes ahead of them to get back into contention. At the end of the morning wave Wednesday, Vanderbilt was still 19 strokes back of first-place Alabama.

"We've just got to take the mindset that we know how to play this course and we know we can play it well," Allen said. "From there, we'll see what we can do."
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Virginia scoring snafu helps Alabama take Day 1 lead at NCAAs

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 Comments
FRANKLIN, TENN.--What looked like it was going to be an historic day for Virginia at the NCAA Women's Championship turned a little surreal Tuesday afternoon when a scorecard snafu caused the Cavaliers to fall out of first place some three hours after they completed their first round at Vanderbilt Legends Club.

Sophomore Elizabeth Brightwell's signed scorecard had her for a 71 with a 4 on the par-4 fourth hole. However, Brightwell had actually made a 5 on the hole, a mistake that didn't come to light until the team had eaten lunch and was about to leave the course for the day.

The resulting DQ bumped Virginia from a six-under 282 total to an even-par 288, still the best round the school had ever posted at the national championship thanks to a school-record 66 from first-round individual leader Portland Rosen. Yet the six-stroke swing allowed Alabama to jump atop the leader board by day's end, the Crimson Tide posting a two-under 286 in the afternoon wave to take the lead at NCAAs for the first time in school history.

"I feel bad for Elizabeth and bad for the team," said Virginia coach Kim Lewellen. "We just have to go out there and keep playing."

Alabama coach Mic Potter was pleased to hear his team sat in first after 18 holes, but he was happier that the squad simply put together a solid round overall. Senior Brooke Pancake, who played her first ever golf tournament as a 9 year old on the Legends Club's par-3 course, posted a four-under 66 that tied her for third overall. Sophomore Stephanie Meadow shot a 69 to put her T-5.

Teeing off on the 10th hole to start their rounds, the Crimson Tide got the more difficult back-nine stretch out of the way earlier and felt comfortable knowing they had the par-5 seventh and ninth hole to finish on. Sure enough, the school was six under on those two par-5s.

"They're in love with finishing [on the front side]," Potter said. "We have got to get over that real fast."

The solid start also helps erase some bad memories from last year's NCAA Championship, when Alabama came into the tournament one of the favorites to claim the title only to shoot a 13-over 201. Similarly, rough starts at this year's SEC Championship and the NCAA East Regional raised doubt for an experienced squad that finished the season ranked No. 2 in the Golf World/NGCA coaches' poll.

"You just want something solid the first day. I don't know if it's important to be leading after the first round, you just want to be in position," Potter said. "But you know we've got a comfort level with this golf course that we haven't had in a while. We play here every year [at the Mason Rudolph fall tournament]. It's a litlte bit different, but I think we all like the [course] changes."

Upon hearing of Brightwell's mistake, Potter empathized with Lewellen and the Cavaliers.
 
"As a coach it scares me to death whenever they walk out of that tent," Potter said. "They just have to be careful. We talk about it all the time."

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This is second straight NCAA Women's Championship where a Virginia golfer is leading after 18 holes. A year ago at The Tradition Club in Bryan, Texas, Brittany Altomare held the Day 1 lead with a three-under 69.

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This is also the second straight NCAA Women's Championship round where there was a DQ for scoring error. Purdue's Thea Hoffmeister had her final-round score tossed at the 2011 NCAAs when her scorecard had her down for a stroke more than she shot on the 12th hole and a 5 instead of a 6 on the 18th. The final total still added up to a 75, but because she signed a scorecard with a number on a hole that was less than what she shot (the score on 18), she had to be disqualified.
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'Batman' to the rescue for UVa's Rosen

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 Comments
Rosen_putter.jpgFRANKLIN, TENN.--Virginia sophomore Portland Rosen calls the newest club in her bag "Batman." It certainly seemed to have superhero powers during the first round of the NCAA Women's Championship Tuesday at Vanderbilt Legends Club.

With a six-under 66 on the North course—including a front-nine 29—the Sugar Land, Texas,  native set a school 18-hole scoring mark while grabbing the early 18-hole lead by two strokes over North Carolina's Catherine O'Donnell.

Rosen credited the impressive showing—which included six birdies and an eagle—to the new Odyssey belly putter she started using in practice last week. She had struggled all year with her putting, an issue that surfaced again at the NCAA Central Regional when she missed all 12 birdie tries she had during the tournament, finishing 101st with a 28-over 244 total.
 
From the moment she put the club in her hands, Rosen was convinced she was on to something. "It just felt good," said Rosen, who had shot just one round lower than 73 all season. "My dad says I have quick hands and coach was like I think you're going to like this because you uses your hands so much with chipping."

Indeed, Virginia coach Kim Lewellen also noticed an immediate difference. "As soon as she put it in her hand she significantly started to roll the ball better," said Lewellen, who was the one who gave the putter the nickname Batman because of the clubhead's similarity to the Batman logo. "With the shorter putter she would have a tendency to start it a hair left of her line. this one she starts on the line every time."

Rosen gave her putter a rest on the opening hole of the tournament. In the first group off the tee, she holed out a 5-iron approach shot from 171 yards for an eagle.

She then proceeded to make birdies on the fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth holes to turn in seven under. As the round progressed, Rosen said she started to understand what athletes mean by feeling in the zone.

"I always sing [on the course]," said Rosen, who finished opened with an 80 at last year's NCAA Championship, en route to a 102nd place finish. "It's something that I do. People tell me to sing if I'm not having a good day. Today I was singing country songs. I don't know, maybe because I'm in Tennessee."

Photo courtesy of Jim Daves/University of Virginia

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Rosen's performance boosted the Cavaliers into first place as a team through the morning wave, UVa posting a NCAA school-record even-par 288, three shots than its previous best finish. This despite Elizabeth Brightwell being disqualified after signing for a 71 when she shot a 72 (incorrectly putting down a 4 instead of a 5 on the fourth hole).
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Wrist, first-round score have Cangrejo feeling fine

Tuesday, May 22, 2012 Comments
FRANKLIN, TENN.--At breakfast Tuesday morning, the first round of the NCAA Women's Championship set to begin at 7:33 a.m., Duke coach Dan Brooks approached Alejandra Cangrejo one last time with the same simple question he had been  asking her regularly since the team arrived in Tennessee.

How does the wrist feel?

"Fine," said Cangrejo, assuring Brooks that it was OK to keep her in the lineup for the national championship.

This despite the fact that less than two weeks earlier at the NCAA East Regional, Cangrejo had to withdraw during the first round when she aggravated a nerve playing a shot out of the rough, leaving the Blue Devils with just four players for the remainder of the event.

Eighteen holes later, "fine" was the same response the sophomore from Colombia offered well wishers, only now she had an even-par 72 score to back her up.

The question of Cangrejo's availability had caused Duke coach Dan Brooks to bring a sixth player, walk-on Irene Jung, to Vanderbilt Legends Club as a precaution. Brooks contacted Jung the day of Cangrejo's injury, informing her she needed to prepare as if she was going to be competing at the NCAA Championship. Jung traveled from her home in Canada to Nashville, and stayed with the team prior to the start of the championship, but could not actually participate in the practice rounds because she wasn't officially in the lineup.

Cangrejo played 18 holes of golf the previous Friday back on campus at Duke to test things out. Then during the two practice rounds on the Legends North course, Brooks had Cangrejo play only nine hole each day to see if she was healthy enough to compete but not do anything that might aggravate the injury.

"We never hit a shot out of the rough until the first practice round," Brooks said. "I honestly didn't know whether to have her hit one or not out of the rough. You might get out here and play a rough free round; she did almost today. Or do you save that one that takes her out for the tournament?"

Convinced she was indeed "fine," Brooks let her play and was rewarded when the team posted a one-over 289 (led by Lindy Duncan's 70) to be in second place at the end of the morning wave, one stroke back of Virginia.
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New course, same challenge for NCAA Women's field

Monday, May 21, 2012 Comments
FRANKLIN, TENN.--For 11 years the best teams in women's college golf have come to Vanderbilt Legends Club each fall to compete in the Mason Rudolph Championship. Familiarity with the North course wouldn't seem to be an issue, then, as the 6,377-yard, par-72 layout hosts the NCAA Women's Championship starting Tuesday.  

Yet the complexion of the course that the 24 schools and six individuals will be facing this week outside of Nashville is different than the one they've played previously, thanks to some subtle changes that may well have an impact on who'll be crowned the national champion.  


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