First conference title since 2015!
Fifty-four holes wasn’t enough to decide the Big 12 women’s golf team title, as after three days of competition there was a 3-way tie for first between Arizona, ASU and Oklahoma State.
That necessitated a sudden death playoff, one featuring all five members of each squad. And when the scores were tallied, it was Arizona taking the Big 12 title in its debut season in the conference.
The UA’s quintet of Charlotte Back, Carolina Melgrati, Julia Misemer, Lilas Pinther and Nena Wongthanavimok combined to shoot even par on the five individual playoff holes, one shot better than ASU and two up on OSU. That gave head coach Giovana Maymon a championship in her first season and Arizona its first conference title since 2015.
Arizona was 7 over in the third round at Houston Oaks Golf Club in Hockley, Texas, finishing at plus-19 and tied with ASU. Oklahoma State and TCU were still on the course, both at plus-17, but OSU had four bogeys on the final two holes and TCU was plus-4 on the final hole.
Wongthanavimok, a junior, tied for second individually at even par for the tourney, two shots behind Kansas State’s Sophie Bert. Back tied for 10th at plus-5 and Melgrati was plus-6 to tie for 14th.
Arizona, which was ranked 19th in the country entering the Big 12 tourney, is expected to qualify for the NCAA regionals.