While most of the women’s golf programs hoping for a bid to the upcoming NCAA Tournament were in their clubhouse or at their coach’s house watching the NCAA Selection Show, Arizona had a different spin on it.
Coach Laura Ianello and the Wildcats were flying back to Tucson from Pullman, Washington — site of the Pac-12 Tournament that ended late Tuesday afternoon — when the field for the upcoming tournament was announced.
It took nearly 45 minutes into the show, aired on Golf Channel, for the very last regional to be revealed; that’s when the Wildcats finally found out they are headed to Las Vegas.
Arizona is a three seed in a regional that will be played at Spanish Trail Country Club in Las Vegas from May 6-8. The NCAA championship rounds are being played at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California from May 17-22.
People are also reading…
UCLA is the No. 1 seed in the Las Vegas regional, with (2) Arkansas, Arizona, (4) Florida State and (5) Cal rounding out the top five seeds.
In total, nine Pac-12 teams heard their names called, including two more No. 1 seeds in Stanford and USC, as well as No. 3 seeds ASU and Oregon and eighth-seeded Oregon State.
It’s the 31st consecutive year Arizona has participated in the NCAAs. The Wildcats are vying for their fourth title this year; they won in 1996, 2000, 2018 and they were runners up in 1992 and 2002. Ianello has won once as a golfer (2000) and as a coach (2018) at her alma mater.
Last year, Arizona won the Raleigh Regional title — its first in 13 years. However, the Wildcats just missed out in playing in the final eight at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale. It was only the third time in a decade that they didn’t play in the finals (2017 and 2020 — the latter when COVID-19 cancelled the NCAAs).
In addition to that 2018 championship, UA has finished in the Top 10 in 2019, 2021 and 2023.
After going east for the regional last year, playing not too far from Tucson and in a desert should be a slight advantage; at least the Wildcats won’t have to pack their hats and gloves like they did for the Pac-12 Championships.
After surviving the first windy day in Pullman and being tied for ninth, the Wildcats clawed their way back into contention. Arizona ended up finishing sixth at 4 over par as a team.
In the second round, freshman Charlotte Back shot a 64 — the lowest round in UA history and the lowest round ever at the Pac-12 Championships, with nine birdies and only one bogie. She followed that with a 70 to finish in sixth place overall at 5 under.
Arizona’s steady senior Gile Bite Starkute was the only other Wildcat who shot under par — she was 1 under, finishing in a seven-way tie for 16th place.
Contact sports reporter PJ Brown at pjbrown@tucson.com. On X(Twitter): @PJBrown09