Cheyenne Knight of Alabama
(Alabama Athletics Photo)
ATHENS, GA (May 10, 2017) - Top-seed Alabama took the lead during the second round and then pulled away on Wednesday to win the Athens Regional by 14 shots. The Crimson Tide finished 7-under and as the only team under-par at the University of Georgia Golf Course.
On a picture perfect day for golf, Alabama received four rounds of even-par or better golf led by Cheyenne Knight's 3-under 69. Knight, 5-under, for the tournament finished tied for second with teammate Lauren Stephenson who closed with an even-par 72.
Knight was 1-over after 7 holes but flipped the script during the second half of her round with three straight birdies on Nos. 8-10 and an additional birdie on the 18th.
Kristen Gillman fired a final round 1-under 71 to finish 2-under and in a tie for fifth while Mia Landegren shot an even-par 72 to post a 5-over tally that put her in a tie for 24th.
"I think we did great," said head coach Mic Potter whose team is headed to its 12th straight NCAA Championship. "I wasn't too worried going into today because everyone was playing really well. We are very familiar with the course since we play every year at the Liz Murphey, not to mention other tournaments. We are getting more and more comfortable with the speed of the greens and the breaks. I felt like we were trending in the right direction. All year we have started slow and played well in the last round so I thought we had another good round in us and sure enough we did."
In the medalist race Jennifer Kupcho of Wake Forest finished 10-under and captured the title in wire-to-wire fashion. Beginning the day on the 10th hole and with a one-stroke lead Kupcho started strong with three birdies in her first six holes to take control of the tournament. Overall on Wednesday Kupcho carded six birdies and two bogeys.
The five shot victory was the third of the season for Kupcho and it punched her ticket as an individual into the field for the NCAA Championship. This is the second straight season that Kupcho has advance to the NCAA's as an individual.
“I was just hitting the ball well and my putter was on fire all week,” said Kupcho who finished sixth at last years NCAA's. “I had a lot of confidence on the course and that allowed me to play well. I am excited to represent the school at the NCAA Championships.”
Behind Kupcho in the medalist standings came Knight and Stephenson in second place, Laura Fuenfstueck (College of Charleston) was fourth at 3-under while Gillman, Maya Walton (Princeton) and Sarah Cho (Northwestern) shared fifth at 2-under.
From each regional six teams will advance to the NCAA Championships.
Outside of Alabama the teams also advancing are Northwestern (+7) in second place, 14-seed Michigan State (+8) finished third, Baylor (+13) took the fourth spot, Clemson (+20) was fifth and in sixth it was North Carolina (+22).
By advancing Clemson is on their way to the programs first ever NCAA Championship. The program just started four years ago but it is quickly establishing itself as a program to contend with.
The most notable team to miss the cut was host Georgia who finished 25-over and in seventh place. Also missing the cut was Arizona at 30-over, the Wildcats were hoping to avenge last season when they missed match play at the NCAA Championship by a stroke.
Along with Kupcho the other two individuals from a non-qualifying team to reach the NCAA Championship are Laura Fuenfstueck (College of Charleston) and Maya Walton (Princeton).
-Alabama and Wake Forest Athletics contributed to this story
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NCAA Women's East Regional
54 hole women's NCAA Regional from which the low
teams advance to the NCAA Championship.
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