A season that began with a couple of tournament championships last fall ended in disappointing fashion for the BYU women’s golf team at the NCAA Franklin regional in Tennessee.
But at least the Cougars went out with a bang.
BYU fired a closing round 8-under 280 at Vanderbilt Legends Club on Wednesday, jumping three spots up the team leaderboard to finish the regional in seventh place. Unfortunately for BYU, only the top four teams from each regional advance to the NCAA championships, which will be held May 20-25 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
“We just haven’t played our best golf this week. We haven’t been able to find our groove yet, but we have 18 more holes to bounce back, move up the board and see if we can make some noise.” — BYU women’s golf coach Carrie Roberts after Tuesday’s round
Had No. 41-ranked BYU advanced, accommodations would have been made to allow the Cougars to avoid playing on Sunday, which is against school policy for religious reasons.
After firing a 298 on Monday and a 301 on Tuesday, BYU was pretty much eliminated prior to Wednesday’s round, but admirably battled back to finish the once-promising season on a high note. Vanderbilt won the regional with a 16-under-par 848, while Alabama (856), Wake Forest (861) and Texas A&M (867) also moved on.
The Cougars finished 12 shots out of fourth place.
Wednesday, BYU’s Allysha Mae Mateo and Lila Galea’i both shot 3-under 69s to move up the individual leaderboard. Mateo finished in 19th place, while Galea’i, the reigning Utah Women’s State Amateur champion, took 21st.
Part-time Utah resident Grace Summerhays, the 2020 Utah Women’s State Amateur champion, tied for 10th at the Norman (Oklahoma) regional and advanced to nationals with her Arizona State teammates. The Sun Devils finished second in their regional.
BYU’s Annick Haczkiewicz fired a 2-under 70 Wednesday, while Kerstin Fotu added a 72 and Adeline Anderson shot a noncounting 76. Haczkiewicz tied for 30th, while Fotu tied for 40th and Anderson tied for 55th.
“We just haven’t played our best golf this week,” BYU coach Carrie Roberts said after Tuesday’s second round. “We haven’t been able to find our groove yet, but we have 18 more holes to bounce back, move up the board and see if we can make some noise.”
And so ends a season that began with wins in the Dick McGuire Invitational in New Mexico Sept. 13-14 and the Mercedes Benz Collegiate in Knoxville, Tennessee, Sept. 20-21. The Cougars added another team title Feb. 7-8 at the Texas State Invitational in Kyle, Texas.
They also had a third-place finish at the Golfweek Challenge in Colorado Sept. 28-29 and a fourth-place finish at the Gunrock Invitational in Sacramento Feb. 28-March 1.
BYU finished second to Pepperdine at the West Coast Conference championships last week in Henderson, Nevada. The Waves also failed to advance to nationals, finishing sixth at the Ann Arbor (Michigan) regional with a +41.
Haczkiewicz and Mateo are listed as seniors, while Fotu is a junior, Galea’i is a sophomore and Anderson is a freshman.