Baylor women’s golf was awarded the No. 5 seed in the NCAA Athens Regional during the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships selection show Thursday morning on Golf Channel.
Baylor will be making its fifth NCAA Regional appearance in six seasons under head coach Jay Goble, and the program will be making its 15th all-time NCAA Regional appearance – all in the last 18 seasons.
“We’re excited to head to Georgia,” Jay Goble said. “The seed isn’t as important as going to a site where you want to go, and we wanted to go to Georgia because it’s a course we’re familiar with. We played in the Liz Murphey Collegiate on that course in 2015, and Dylan Kim was on that team and played well there, so it’s nice to have that experience.”
The last time Baylor played in an NCAA Regional was 2015, when the Lady Bears won the San Antonio Regional on their way to a runner-up finish at the NCAA National Championship. BU also made Regional appearances under Goble in 2012, 2013 and 2014, and the Lady Bears have earned a National Championships berth in two of their four Regional appearances under Goble (2012 and 2015).
The three-day, 54-hole tournament will be hosted by Georgia at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga. Baylor is among 18 teams that will compete in the Regional, which runs May 8-10, and the top six teams will advance to the 35th-annual NCAA Championships at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill. Additionally, the three lowest scoring individual on non-advancing teams will move on to the Championships.
The 18-team field at the Athens Regional features No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Northwestern, No. 4 Arizona, No. 5 Baylor, No. 6 Wake Forest, No. 7 UCF, No. 8 Tennessee, No. 9 North Carolina, No. 10 Clemson, No. 11 Augusta, No. 12 Auburn, No. 13 Kansas State, No. 14 Michigan State, No. 15 Troy, No. 16 Princeton, No. 17 North Florida and No. 18 Quinnipiac.
Eight of nine Big 12 Conference teams earned Regional bids. In addition to Baylor and Kansas State at the Athens Regional, Oklahoma State is the No. 5 seed at the Albuquerque Regional, and Texas (No. 5), Oklahoma (No. 6), Texas Tech (No. 9), TCU (No. 10) and Iowa State (No. 13) are in the Lubbock Regional.
Live scoring will be available for each round in the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship at www.Golfstat.com. Follow @BaylorWGolf Twitter and Facebook for updates throughout the season.
NCAA ATHENS REGIONAL (Golfstat Ranking)
1. Alabama (No. 3)
2. Georgia (No. 8)
3. Northwestern (No. 11)
4. Arizona (No. 14)
5. Baylor (No. 19)
6. Wake Forest (No. 22)
7. UCF (No. 25)
8. Tennessee (No. 31)
9. North Carolina (No. 35)
10. Clemson (No. 39)
11. Augusta (No. 43)
12. Auburn (No. 45)
13. Kansas State (No. 51)
14. Michigan State (No. 53)
15. Troy (No. 85)
16. Princeton (No. 109)
17. North Florida (No. 134)
18. Quinnipiac (No. 210)
