Baylor Women's Golf Falls in NCAA Title Match Playoff
Bears fall just short on first playoff hole
THE RUNDOWN
BRADENTON, Fla. – Baylor women's golf fell on the first playoff hole in the NCAA Division I national championship match against Stanford on Wednesday at The Concession Golf Club. The Bears got wins from Dylan Kim and Giovana Maymon, but Hayley Davis' putt on her 19th hole just missed, ending Baylor's chance at a national championship.
Davis was 2-up with two holes remaining and had an eight-foot putt on the 17th green that would've clinched the national title, but Stanford's Mariah Stackhouse evened the match with wins on No. 17 and No. 18, and then Stackhouse won by making par on the first playoff hole, No. 10. It was a dramatic reversal from Baylor's semifinal match against Duke, where the Bears' Lauren Whyte clinched the match over the defending national champions on her sixth playoff hole.
Maymon won her match against Quirine Eijkenboom, 4-and-3, and Dylan Kim claimed a 3-and-1 victory over Lauren Kim to get the Bears within one point of the title. Laura Lonardi trailed most of the day before she fought back to all-square by winning the 14th hole, but she was eventually defeated by Casey Danielson, 2-up. Whyte, the hero of the semifinal win, was defeated 4-and-3 by Shannon Aubert.
The second-place finish was by far the best in program history – BU only advanced to the NCAA Championship twice previously, and the best finish was a tie for 16th in 2012, head coach Jay Goble's first year at the helm.
HIGHLIGHTS
· Baylor finished 4-2 this season in match play, with all matches against top-15 ranked teams. Back in March at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, the Bears lost to No. 4 Duke and defeated No. 3 UCLA and No. 2 South Carolina. BU beat No. 12 Tennessee and avenged its lost to Duke on Tuesday before falling to No. 13 Stanford on Wednesday.
· Lonardi lost in match play for the first time all season, dropping to 5-1.
· Kim finished the season 3-2-1 in match play, with her only two losses against top-50 ranked players. She defeated the nation's top-ranked player, Duke's Leona Maguire, in Tuesday's semifinals.
· Davis won eight holes, lost nine and halved two.
· Davis trailed only twice all day – after losing the first and 19th holes.
· Lonardi won four holes, lost six and halved eight.
· Whyte won two holes, lost six and halved seven.
· Kim won five holes, lost two and halved 10.
· Maymon won six holes, lost two and halved seven.
· Davis finished the season 3-2-1 in match play, including three wins against top-100 ranked players.
· Davis suffered a tough loss on No. 12 after driving the par-4 green and just missing her eagle putt. Stackhouse chipped in for eagle to take the hole.
· Davis went 2-up after winning No. 16 with a memorable approach from the mud and 8-foot birdie putt.
· Maymon led wire-to-wire after winning on the first hole. She built her lead to 3-up on No. 6 and maintained that lead the rest of the day.
· Kim also led wire-to-wire after winning the first hole. She led 2-up at the turn, then won the next two holes to go to 4-up. Her opponent closed to 2-up on No. 16, but Kim won the match on No. 17.
· Lonardi lost the first hole and trailed by two for most of the front-nine, but she twice battled back to all-square with wins on No. 10 and again on No. 14.
STAT OF THE DAY
8 – the number of holes won by Hayley Davis. The only times she trailed all day were after losing the first and 19th holes.
TOP QUOTE #1
"I love seeing the fight out here in match play with that crew. They fight to be the best at everything they do and they fought out there on the golf course every second today. Yes, it stings, because you're so close to the pinnacle. But for me as a coach and I know for them as a player, I'm going to use it as motivation to get back here and to get back in that position again, because I love it.” – head coach Jay Goble.
TOP QUOTE #2
“Since my freshman year when I came in at the same time as Jay (Goble), just kind of changed the goals of the program, like we need to be competing for a national championship. That's why I came to Baylor because that's what I wanted for the program. Where the program was before I came, I knew it wasn't the best program, but it had potential, and that's why I came to Baylor because I knew it really could be like this. So yeah, I'm just really excited how it's going for them, and I think it's only going to get better, too.”- senior Hayley Davis.
MATCH PLAY RESULTS
Baylor 3-1-1 vs. Tennessee (Quarterfinals)
Laura Lonardi (BU) 3-and-2 over Lucia Polo (UT)
Hannah Pietila (UT) 4-and-2 over Lauren Whyte (BU)
Hayley Davis (BU) 3-and-2 over A.J. Newell (UT)
Giovana Maymon (BU) 3-and-2 over Emmie Pietila (UT)
Dylan Kim (BU) halved vs. Anna Newell (UT)
Baylor 3-2 vs. Duke (Semifinals)
Lauren Whyte (BU) halved-W in playoff on 24th hole over Lisa Maguire (Duke)
Sandy Choi (Duke) 6-and-5 over Giovana Maymon (BU)
Laura Lonardi (BU) 2-and-1 over Gurbani Singh (Duke)
Dylan Kim (BU) 1-up over Leona Maguire (Duke)
Celine Boutier (Duke) 3-and-2 over Hayley Davis (BU)
Baylor 2-3 vs. Stanford (Finals)
Casey Danielson (STAN) 2-up over Laura Lonardi (BU)
Shannon Aubert (STAN) 4-and-3 over Lauren Whyte (BU)
Dylan Kim (BU) 3-and-1 over Lauren Kim (STAN)
Giovana Maymon (BU) 4-and-3 over Quirine Eijkenboom (STAN)
Mariah Stackhouse (STAN) halved-W in playoff on 19th hole over Hayley Davis (BU)
