College Golf News: Women
Michigan State’s women’s golf team shot a 5-over par 293 in the final round to place second among 18 teams at the Big Ten Championship, held at Bulle Rock Golf Course (par 72, 6,325 yards) in Havre de Grace, Md.
The Spartans had fired a tournament-best 7-under par 281 in Saturday’s second round to take a three-shot lead heading into the final round, but No. 5-ranked Oregon carded a sizzling 12-under par 276 in round three to pull away for the team title.
Illinois finished third, Ohio State was fourth and Northwestern rounded out the top-five. Michigan placed 8th this year.
Senior Brooke Biermann led the Spartans, finishing T4 at 3-under par 213 (72-69-72).
Junior Taylor Kehoe tied for 10th place at even-par 216 (72-71-73). Kehoe had seven birdies in the final round, including five on the back nine.
Three days later, Michigan State was selected for NCAA Women’s Golf Regional in Norman, Oklahoma, as the No. 4 seed. It’s the 9th consecutive NCAA regional invitation for MSU, and the 25th in the last 26 years, all under the direction of head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll. The ongoing consistency of the MSU Women’s program, especially for a northern tier program, is astounding.
The 12 teams competing in the Norman Regional include, in order of seed, Stanford, Northwestern, North Carolina, Michigan State, Duke, Oklahoma, Baylor, Oregon State, Tulsa, Denver, Furman and Southern Mississippi.
In 2023, Michigan State won the NCAA Palm Beach Regional, the first time the program had won an NCAA Regional title. The Spartans finished the tournament three strokes ahead of second-place Duke. Spartan Brooke Biermann also won medalist honors.
“Every year, we have our work cut out for us, but I feel very good about the teams that are there and very good about our team,” Slobodnik-Stoll said about playing in Oklahoma.
Michigan State has qualified for the NCAA Championship finals 13 times since 2000.
MAC All-Conference Teams:
Eastern Michigan University landed two players on the all-conference lists as Savannah de Bock was selected All-MAC First Team and Mariana Vega selected All-MAC Second Team. More importantly, DeBock was selected to go to the NCAA Regional as an individual, to be played at Ohio State. She also became the first EMU player ever to be granted an NCAA Regional invitation.
de Bock has put together one of the best seasons in EMU history as the sophomore rewrote the record books throughout the year with six of the top eight 54-hole scores recorded by an Eagle, including a school-record 204 (70-65-69) to win the Golfweek Red Sky Classic (Sept. 23-25). She has been a top-10 finisher in six tournaments this season.
de Bock carries an average of 72.9, which stands as the school record, bettering the 74.7 average posted by Kelsey Murphy in the 2015-16 season. In individual round history, she has carded seven of the program's 23 rounds of 69 or lower, including a school-record 65 at the Golfweek event, breaking the record of 66 set by Murphy in 2015.
Currently ranked No. 129 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, de Bock is the No. 3 seed among individuals in the NCAA Columbus Regional.
EMU placed third in the conference tournament championship. Central Michigan was T7 and Western Michigan closed out in 10th.
The MAC All-Conference team was dominated by Kent State, with its five selections. However, freshman Ella Zanatta at Central Michigan also made the second team.
Grand Valley State Wins GLIAC Title:
Senior Olivia Stoll led wire-to-wire, earning individual medalist honors by shooting a title-clinching 7-under for 36 holes (137). Ferris State junior Lizzie Anderson finished second, while Stoll’s teammates Megan Miron and Paula Badino tied for third, posting a 3-over par for the opening 36 hole stroke play.
Transitioning to match play, Grand Valley State secured the top seed, then defeated Ferris State, 3.5-1.5, at Gull Lake View’s Stonehedge North Golf Course in a thrilling, down-to-the-wire medal match play final, securing the Lakers the conference title.
