Wildcats Begin Quest For Fourth National Title on Friday
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Arizona Women's Golf's quest for its fourth national championship begins on Friday, May 20 at 7:36 a.m. (MST) when the Wildcats tee off at the NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club. Arizona advanced to NCAA Championships for a 23rd time in program history following its thrilling run through the Stanford Regional two weeks ago.
"The ladies are playing great golf right now, and I was proud to see them rise to the occasion under pressure at regionals to get us to the championships," said head coach Laura Ianello. "To be playing our best golf at this time of year, with NCAA championships at a desert course, it is a very exciting time for our program. We've seen this course before, seen what desert golf has to offer, and I don't think our team is going to be intimidated by this setting."
The Wildcats' fifth-place finish at the NCAA Stanford Regional came after an impressive effort in the third and final round. In what was perhaps the team's best round of the season, Arizona moved up two spots as senior Yu-Sang Hou carded the best round of her career. Hou shot 66 in the final round, which also tied the second-lowest round in a regional in program history. The senior went on to finish in fourth place at 6-under for the tournament.
The spring has been a challenging one for the Wildcats who were unable to field their complete line up until Yu-Sang Hou, Vivian Hou and Ya Chun Chang returned from Taiwan until halfway through the season. Once Arizona played with its full roster, it finished second at the Clover Cup in the Phoenix area, fourth at the Pac-12 Championships at Stanford and fifth at NCAA Regionals also at Stanford Golf Course.
The program has advanced to the NCAA Championships five times since 2015, playing into the match play in 2015, 2018 and 2019. The Wildcats downed UCLA, Stanford and Alabama in match play during its national championship run in 2018. Arizona advanced to the semifinals of match play in 2019 before losing to eventual national champion Duke.