After two rounds of play at the NCAA Championships, the No. 10 Stanford women’s golf team is in a tie for fifth place with No. 7 Purdue at 2-over par 578, three strokes out of third but 18 behind No. 1 USC. Individually, freshman Mariah Stackhouse is alone in fifth after a 4-under 68 second round, four shots behind tournament leader Stephanie Meadow of Alabama.
Rain and lightning delayed Wednesday’s round for more than two hours, and while the Cardinal was able to get back on the course and complete its round, six teams have yet to finish. Their second-round play will resume today at 7:25 a.m. EST, with the third round starting at its regularly scheduled time.
The delay only affected one Stanford golfer, freshman Lauren Kim, who was about to attempt her final putt on her final hole of the day when play was suspended. Kim went on to par the hole and now sits in a tie for 28th at 2-over 146. Sophomore Mariko Tumangan, riding a nice wave of momentum from the Pac-12 and West Regional tournaments, is in a tie for 15th at 1-under after an even-par second round of 72.
As a team, the Cardinal shot two strokes lower on Wednesday than it did in Tuesday’s first round, as four of its five golfers improved on their previous day’s score. Senior Sally Watson, playing in her fourth NCAA Championships, lowered her score from 76 to 73, but was outdone by junior Danielle Frasier’s eight-shot improvement from 84 to 76. With its current positioning, this team is almost guaranteed to place much better than Stanford’s three previous NCAA teams, which had an average finish of 22nd.
—Cameron Miller