The University of Arkansas women’s golf team saw its deep postseason run come to an end Monday at the NCAA Championships in Southern California.
The No. 10 Razorbacks put two golfers in the top 20 while shooting a 12-over 300 to fall to 25 over for the tournament, five shots shy of the cut to the final eight teams at the Omni La Costa North Course in Carlsbad, Calif.
For the fourth day in a row, the Razorbacks were in good shape at the turn but slipped on their back nine to lose ground to par. Arkansas spent part of the day inside the cut line before finishing in 10th place, three shots behind defending NCAA champion Wake Forest (+22) in ninth and five shots behind Auburn (+20) for the final slot of match play.
Texas A&M’s Adela Cernousek followed three rounds of 68 with an even-par 72 to take medalist honors at 12 under for the tournament. She won the individual title by three shots over Florida State sophomore Lottie Woad.
The match play field is loaded with four Pac-12 teams and three SEC schools to go along with Clemson of the ACC.
No. 1 Stanford and LSU tied for the stroke play win at 2 under. Those schools will be joined in the match play quarterfinals Tuesday morning by Texas A&M (+5), Southern Cal (+13), Clemson (+18), UCLA (+19), Oregon (+19) and Auburn, with the semifinals taking place in the afternoon. The championship match is scheduled for Wednesday.
The Razorbacks were led by freshman Maria Jose Marin, who began the round at 5 under as one of 14 players under par, along with junior teammate Kendall Todd.
Marin shot even-par 72 to tie for fourth place. The native of Cali, Colombia, became the fifth Razorback to notch a top-5 finish at the championships, joining medalists Stacy Lewis (2007) and Maria Fassi (2019), second-place Kelli Shean (2011) and Gaby Lopez, who tied for second in 2015.
Todd could not find a birdie Monday and completed her round with a 77. She finished 4 over and in a tie for 19th place.
Sophomore Reagan Zibilski had her best round of the tournament, a round of 74 with a team-high three birdies that brought her to 22 over and tied for 78th place. The other counting score for the Razorbacks was senior Kajal Mistry’s 77, which left her at 16 over and tied for 70th.
Senior Miriam Ayora had the non-counting score for Arkansas, a 78 that moved her to 20 over and tied for 75th.