Cal Seeded No. 7 In Tournament
The California women’s golf team takes the No. 7 seed into the Palm Beach Gardens Regional from May 8-10 at the PGA National Resort. The Golden Bears will be competing with the same lineup that saw them take sixth place at last month’s Pac-12 Championships.
The top five teams at the regional – co-hosted by Florida Atlantic and the Palm Beach County Sports Commission – will advance to the largest NCAA Championship field in women’s golf history.
“I think the team is feeling so joyful and intentional. They’re very excited to be here,” Cal head coach Nancy McDaniel said. “All week, they’ve been getting their finals prepped, getting their last assignments in and getting organized with their final exams next week. It’s a lot of organization, but just getting them on the plane and out here to Florida has them in the right mindset for what we’re here for and what this year has meant.”
At the Pac-12 Championships, the Bears were led by graduate student Annika Borrelli, who finished at 3-under par (71-70-72 – 213) to finish in a tie for seventh place individually. She has been one of the team’s top golfers in her first year with the program, shooting par or better a team-leading nine times in the spring and owning the second-lowest scoring average (74.0) for the year.
“I’m really proud of the team. They’ve been resilient and their enthusiasm hasn’t wavered from our plan and their goals,” McDaniel said. “They’ve had to really dig deep to come into this week.”
Returning to regionals for the second straight year are juniors Cristina Ochoa and Mika Jin. After beginning the year with a third-place finish at the USF Intercollegiate and later tying a program record with an opening-round score of -6 at the Pac-12 Preview, Ochoa has continued to lead the team with a 73.8 scoring average and six top-20 finishes. Jin was the Bears’ third-lowest scorer in the fall (74.3) and the team’s top finisher at the Stanford Intercollegiate in October.
“Just having that experience under their belt is important, but they understand that it’s still just the game of golf,” McDaniel said. “They bring a good balance of that. We know we’ve been working hard for this and our confidence and belief is there. Having people who have been there before is always going to be important.”
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