PLEASANTON, Calif. -- Arizona State freshman Linnea Strom rallied from four strokes down entering the final round to win the Pac-12 Individual Women’s Golf Championship on Wednesday. Behind a career-low 66 in the third round, Strom set the new conference 54-hole record with a combined 11-under, 205 (71-68-66).
Strom approached the 18th green in a tie with No. 1-ranked Bronte Law from UCLA. Law, one group ahead of Strom, had just birdied 18 to even it up with the ASU freshman. However, the rookie never hesitated and two-putted for birdie, her sixth of the day, for a 6-under 66 to hold on to the title.
"Linnea went out and played beautiful golf today and was so solid," said head coach Missy Farr-Kaye. "She has amazing composure for someone her age. She was patient all day.
"At the Wildcat Invitational, she sort of lost composure down the stretch, lost the lead and we talked about it right after -- how would she handle a moment like this later on."
Strom -- ranked No. 19 by Golfstat -- said she woke up with a different vibe on Wednesday than the prior two days.
"I had a good feeling the whole day," she said. "I played really good the first two rounds, but felt I had more and better shots to take ahead of me. My focus was to go out and give it all I had."
According to Farr-Kaye, Strom didn't know where she sat down the stretch and she didn't tell her.
"Our team made an agreement that if the girls wanted to know anything during their round, they had to be specific and direct," said Farr-Kaye. "She asked me on the 17th tee, 'How is it going?', and I simply replied, 'We're all doing great'."
On 17, Strom hit her second shot into a greenside bunker, but went up-and-down for par to hold her lead at the moment. From the 18th tee box, Farr-Kaye said there are only a few girls that could drive the ball as far as necessary to play the 18th the way most want. She said Strom nailed her drive before hitting her hybrid over the water and the bunker to the right edge of the green.
"I made the 18th really low key and at the time, she didn't even know she was in the lead," said Farr-Kaye.
"I had no idea where I was at when I teed off on 18," said Strom. "Once I realized I had taken the lead with my final putt, I was so happy and of course wanted to win so bad after not winning at the U of A tournament. It's hard to describe overall, but I'm just so happy."
When asked what changed her play from the first two days to Wednesday, Strom pointed to the same thing Farr-Kaye mentioned after Monday's round -- her putting. Strom joked that she still left a few out there.
The Sweden native's victory becomes the first Sun Devil women's golf individual championship -- and 12th overall -- since Carlota Ciganda’s second-consecutive victory in 2010.
Strom also joins a prestigious group of ASU women's golf individual champions, along with Ciganda, Louise Stahle, Jimin Kang, Grace Park, Wendy Ward, Brandie Burton, Pearl Sinn, Pam Wright and Danielle Ammaccapane. Her 54-hole score also ties her for the second-lowest total in ASU women's golf history along with hall of famer Wendy Ward and Jimin Kang.
On top of Strom's accomplishments, as a team, the No. 10 Sun Devils finished in third place after shooting a final-round best of 6-under par for a combined 13-under, 851 over the three days. It becomes the highest finish as a team since their Pac-12 Championship in 2009, which is also the same season the Devils won the National Championship.
The Devils also rallied from a three-shot deficit to top No. 11 Arizona by six strokes and clinch the Territorial Cup Series® point. ASU now has a 9.5 to 6 point lead over Arizona in the Territorial Cup Series®, with the Sun Devils.
Junior Monica Vaughn also helped vault the Sun Devils up the leaderboard down the stretch. Shooting a 3-under 69 in her final round, the returning All-American finished in a tie for fifth at 6-under par. She tied her career-best Pac-12 finish when she also placed fifth as a freshman in 2014. Her combined 210 was also the second-lowest score of her season and collegiate career.
Also shooting one of her best collegiate combined scores was sophomore Roberta Liti, finishing with a 2-over 218. It was her third-lowest of her time at ASU and her second-lowest of the season.
NCAA Regionals begin on Thursday, May 5 and the Sun Devils will wait to see where they will play.
| Arizona State Pac-12 Women's Golf Champions | ||
| Year | Name | Score |
| 1987 | Danielle Ammaccapane, Sr. | 294 |
| 1988 | Pam Wright, Sr. | 288 |
| 1989 | Pearl Sinn, Sr. | 221 |
| 1990 | Brandie Burton, Fr. | 214 |
| 1993 | Wendy Ward, So. | 218 |
| 1995 | Wendy Ward, Sr. | 211 |
| 1999 | Grace Park, So. | 211 |
| 2002 | Jimin Kang, So. | 216 |
| 2005 | Louise Stahle, Fr. | 207 |
| 2009 | Carlota Ciganda, Fr. | 210 |
| 2010 | Carlota Ciganda, So. | 214 |
| 2016 | Linnea Strom, Fr. | 205* |