SUGAR GROVE, Illinois - The Arizona State women's golf team topped Northwestern on Wednesday to earn its eighth team title, the most of any women's golf program in NCAA history and the 499th overall team title for the Pac-12.
The title is added to the best trophy case in all of women's golf, as the team has been a part of three straight titles, five in six years, and six within nine years (1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998) prior to its 2009 title and now its 2017 championship.
"We're all floating on cloud nine," said head coach Missy Farr-Kaye. "We keep saying, is this real, is this real, and it is. This is a grueling championship now with this format, and it's an exciting format, but you have to be ready to play a lot of golf. Then when you factor in some weather delays and problems – I think we left the hotel at 4:30 am three times then had 12-hour, 13-hour days, and it's a lot. But we knew that, and that's been part of our training for the year to do that, to be ready for that, to be all in on May 24th.
Farr-Kaye, the 10th head coach in ASU history, was hired just two years ago (June 26, 2015) and now has been a part of NCAA title teams in three fashions. She was an assistant coach for the 2009 team and was a member team under Hall of Fame head coach Linda Vollstedt and helped Arizona State bring home its first of seven NCAA titles as a senior in 1990. She graduated from Arizona State in 1990 with a degree in Organizational Communications and is a 1985 graduate of Xavier High School in Phoenix.
"It's thrilling and exciting. Our goal has been to get to the top eight and see what we can do and when we accomplished that, we move on to the next day, took it one day at a time, and didn't get ahead of ourselves. We didn't worry about the future, we were just working hard to stay in the present, enjoy the moment, and that's where we are so we're going to enjoy this moment."
It also marked the 12th time in NCAA history an individual medalist was part of the NCAA title team, as senior Monica Vaughn earned the individual honor on Monday. Arizona State also did it in 1995 (Kristel Mourgue d'Algue at Country Club of Landfall in Wilmington, North Carolina) and in 1994 (Emilee Klein at Eugene Country Club in Oregon).
"To be an individual winner and to win as a team is just incredible," said Vaughn. "The team win for me is a really special thing, more special than my individual win. To win with my family has been so incredible out there this week, all week, and it's been a long week. I'm really tired, but it's just funny because I played my best golf on the last day on the last round. But that's just the way golf goes, and I'm just really grateful that we did it."
Vaughn and sophomore Linnea Strom mounted the comeback to start the morning as the Sun Devils found themselves down to Stanford, 2-1, in the semifinals, called late Tuesday night due to darkness following a rain delay.
Strom just going back to all square before the hiatus, while Vaughn was down one, both would make remarkable comebacks on the 19th hole to swing the momentum back in the Sun Devils' favor to earn the 3-2 victory, sending ASU to the final.
The program says goodbye to Vaughn, who graduated earlier this month, but returns the remainder of the championship team as well as newcomer Raquel Olmos Ros in 2017-18.
Semifinals – ASU wins 3-2-0
Olivia Mehaffey def. Andrea Lee, 2&1
Monica Vaughn def. Albane Valenzuela, 1UP in 19
Casey Danielson def. Sophia Zeeb, 3&2
Shannon Aubert def. Roberta Liti, 4&3
Linnea Strom def. Madeline Chou, 1UP in 19
Championship – ASU wins 3-1-1
Olivia Mehaffey def. Sarah Cho, 4&3
Hannah Kim vs. M Vaughn, all square through 18
Kacie Komoto def. S Zeeb, 3&1
Roberta Liti def. Janet Mao, 5&4
Linnea Strom def. Stephanie Lau, 5&3
The title is added to the best trophy case in all of women's golf, as the team has been a part of three straight titles, five in six years, and six within nine years (1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998) prior to its 2009 title and now its 2017 championship.
"We're all floating on cloud nine," said head coach Missy Farr-Kaye. "We keep saying, is this real, is this real, and it is. This is a grueling championship now with this format, and it's an exciting format, but you have to be ready to play a lot of golf. Then when you factor in some weather delays and problems – I think we left the hotel at 4:30 am three times then had 12-hour, 13-hour days, and it's a lot. But we knew that, and that's been part of our training for the year to do that, to be ready for that, to be all in on May 24th.
Farr-Kaye, the 10th head coach in ASU history, was hired just two years ago (June 26, 2015) and now has been a part of NCAA title teams in three fashions. She was an assistant coach for the 2009 team and was a member team under Hall of Fame head coach Linda Vollstedt and helped Arizona State bring home its first of seven NCAA titles as a senior in 1990. She graduated from Arizona State in 1990 with a degree in Organizational Communications and is a 1985 graduate of Xavier High School in Phoenix.
"It's thrilling and exciting. Our goal has been to get to the top eight and see what we can do and when we accomplished that, we move on to the next day, took it one day at a time, and didn't get ahead of ourselves. We didn't worry about the future, we were just working hard to stay in the present, enjoy the moment, and that's where we are so we're going to enjoy this moment."
It also marked the 12th time in NCAA history an individual medalist was part of the NCAA title team, as senior Monica Vaughn earned the individual honor on Monday. Arizona State also did it in 1995 (Kristel Mourgue d'Algue at Country Club of Landfall in Wilmington, North Carolina) and in 1994 (Emilee Klein at Eugene Country Club in Oregon).
"To be an individual winner and to win as a team is just incredible," said Vaughn. "The team win for me is a really special thing, more special than my individual win. To win with my family has been so incredible out there this week, all week, and it's been a long week. I'm really tired, but it's just funny because I played my best golf on the last day on the last round. But that's just the way golf goes, and I'm just really grateful that we did it."
Vaughn and sophomore Linnea Strom mounted the comeback to start the morning as the Sun Devils found themselves down to Stanford, 2-1, in the semifinals, called late Tuesday night due to darkness following a rain delay.
Strom just going back to all square before the hiatus, while Vaughn was down one, both would make remarkable comebacks on the 19th hole to swing the momentum back in the Sun Devils' favor to earn the 3-2 victory, sending ASU to the final.
The program says goodbye to Vaughn, who graduated earlier this month, but returns the remainder of the championship team as well as newcomer Raquel Olmos Ros in 2017-18.
Semifinals – ASU wins 3-2-0
Olivia Mehaffey def. Andrea Lee, 2&1
Monica Vaughn def. Albane Valenzuela, 1UP in 19
Casey Danielson def. Sophia Zeeb, 3&2
Shannon Aubert def. Roberta Liti, 4&3
Linnea Strom def. Madeline Chou, 1UP in 19
Championship – ASU wins 3-1-1
Olivia Mehaffey def. Sarah Cho, 4&3
Hannah Kim vs. M Vaughn, all square through 18
Kacie Komoto def. S Zeeb, 3&1
Roberta Liti def. Janet Mao, 5&4
Linnea Strom def. Stephanie Lau, 5&3
| #NCAAGolf Women's Individual Medalists on Team Champions | ||||
| 2017 | ASU | Monica Vaughn | Rich Harvest Farms | Sugar Grove, Illinois |
| 2013 | USC | Doris Chen | UGA Golf Course | Athens, Georgia |
| 2005 | Duke | Anna Grzebian | Sunriver Resort, Meadow Course | Sunriver, Oregon |
| 2003 | USC | Mikaela Parmlid | Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex | West Lafayette, Indiana |
| 2002 | Duke | Virada Nirapathpongporn | Washington National Golf Club | Auburn, Washington |
| 2000 | Arizona | Jenna Daniels | Trysting Tree Golf Course | Corvallis |
| 1996 | Arizona | Marisa Baena | Bel Air Country Club | Los Angeles |
| 1995 | ASU | Kristel Mourgue d'Algue | Country Club of Landfall | Wilmington, North Carolina |
| 1994 | ASU | Emilee Klein | Eugene Country Club | Eugene |
| 1989 | SJSU | Pat Hurst | Stanford Golf Course | Stanford |
| 1986 | Florida | Page Dunlap | OSU Golf Club | Columbus |
| 1982 | Tulsa | Kathy Baker | Stanford Golf Course | Stanford |