Still on front nine of final round of the NCAA Austin Regional. Hogs are -1 today. Texas is -6 today on its home course and has trimmed the lead. But Hogs have a 26 shot cushion on the last qualifying spot for nationals. I think they’re safe there…
Dylan Kim is -1 today for the Hogs and is second in the individual race at -7. Maria Fassi is -5 and tied for third. All five of our players today are in the narrow range of -1 to +1 for the round.
Wonder if any of them are playing with the virus today, apparently Cara Gorlei played with it yesterday with the coach and trainer staying close by. East Carolina had to be disqualified because 3 of their players came down with it and they couldn’t play yesterday.
Hadn’t heard that. Gorlei is playing today reasonably well (+1 for the day).
Lead got back to 11 briefly and is now back down to 8. Alana Uriell is -2 for the day, Kim and Fassi are +1 and Kaylee Benton is even.
They’ve just started the back nine.
Lead is back to 11 midway through the back nine. Uriell is three under for the day, Fassi and Benton are even and Kim is +1, and the Whorns have given back a few shots. Kim and Fassi are second and third in the individual standings, and four Hogs are in the top 11 individuals.
This on SEC Network?
No, actually our softball game with Kentucky in the SEC Tournament is on (we’re ahead 2-1 in the 5th). Golfstat website has very good results updated almost in real time. I thought it, being in Austin, might be on Bevonet, but they’re showing EOE football reruns.
Up by 12 now, they’d have to finish plus 40 on these last few holes to miss moving on. I know you can concede in match play, can that be done on regular golf? Just curious.
Nope, have to putt out every hole, etc. Our girls are in threesomes with the players from Texass and Florida, which was third this morning (tied for third with Baylor right now), so they’re seeing the main competition.
Right now as a team, we have 16 holes left to play among the five players. Since highest score is thrown out, we’d have to average a triple bogey for every remaining hole not to qualify.
And Maria Fassi won the individual title, shooting 69 today to finish at -8. Dylan Kim finished third at -5, Alana Uriell and Kaylee Benton finished T-4 at -4.
That’s domination - when you can go on someone else’s course (Texas, which makes it all the sweeter) and have all four of your top players in the top 11 in a field that included 18 teams (90 golfers). Congrats to the ladies - now . . . carry it on to the finals!
In other regionals:
Second-ranked Alabama cruised to an 8-shot win in the Tallahassee regional; FSU, Furman, Arizona and Washington also advanced, and Clemson beat Wake Forest in a playoff for the sixth spot.
Fourth-ranked Duke won by 9 over Virginia in the Madison regional; USCw, AzState, Ohio State and Northwestern also advanced.
Stanford, ranked fifth in the country, leads UCLA by 1 late in the San Francisco regional. Kent State, Louisville, Ole Miss and Okie Lite are also in position to advance (Okie Lite has nationals on its home course). EDIT: Stanford now leads by 2, and Okie Lite is tied with Colorado for the sixth spot.
As far as surprise eliminations, #9 USCe and #11 Michigan State failed to advance. The lowest ranked teams going to Stillwater are #46 Ohio State and #40 Ole Miss. Hogs are ranked #3, by the way. If current standings hold, the regional winners are ranked #2, 3, 4 and 5, with #1 UCLA finishing second.
It’s not on the regular channel that’s SEC Softball there! Is it SEC network plus?
Nope. Perhaps SECN would show a regional on an SEC home course, but none of this year’s were. I don’t believe they have rights to show a regional played in Austin (Bevonet would carry that if anyone, and they didn’t).
That also means the NCAA tournament in Stillwater, OK won’t be on the SEC Network either. It’s a good day for the ladies.
Nationals will be covered on the Golf Channel for both women and men.
A reminder on the new NCAA format: There will be three rounds of stroke play to crown an individual champion and trim the team race down to the top eight teams. There will then be three rounds of match play, one team against another, to select the team winner. Same format was used in the SEC tournament, with the Hogs winning the title match over the Poultry.