Bests in the Battle of the Bay – Stanford Cardinal

SAN MARTIN, Calif. — Second-ranked Stanford women’s golf continued its run of success during the 2024-25 season on Tuesday afternoon at the annual Battle of the Bay against San Jose State. In the third installment of this match play rivalry, the Cardinal used strong performances from some of its veteran golfers to help secure a 5-1 win over the Spartans. Stanford is now 4-0 in match play this season.

The day got off a fast start with Paula Martin Sampedro the first to clinch a point for the Cardinal, doing so over Isabella Cioe 5&3. The sophomore from Spain took a lead on the first hole and quickly got out to a three-stroke lead just four holes into the round. There was just one blemish on her scorecard during the round and four birdies, and that’s how she closed it out on the 15^th green, with a putt for birdie to win the match. Martin Sampedro is now 2-0-2 in match play this season, dating back to October.

Not far behind her in terms of finishing time was Megha Ganne, but she was a bit further back on the course. Despite being the second-to-last to tee off on Tuesday, Ganne took the lead on the first hole like Martin Sampedro and was the second to finish overall. She beat Tessa Kremser 6&5 with a clinical match play performance. Through five holes, she had a four-stroke lead and at the turn the lead was up to five strokes. She secured it with a par putt on 13 for her first match play win of the 2024-25 season.

The clinching result of the afternoon came from Nora Sundberg, who had a back-and-forth affair with Nicola Kaminski. Sundberg trailed early but won consecutive holes on six and seven to take a one-stroke lead. It stayed either tied or 1up until 16, when Sundberg went for par and took a two-stroke lead. She lost 17, which set up an important final hole, but Sundberg made a clutch putt from 10 feet out to secure a 1up win and a Stanford team victory.

Kelly Xu continued to be one of the very best in the country in match play with a 3&1 win over Lucia Lopez-Ortega. The turnaround for Xu was impressive, as she trailed by three strokes after 10 holes but then rattled off five-straight hole wins on 11-15, using three birdies to help her cause. She closed it out on 17 after Lopez-Ortega hit a double bogey and gave the match to Xu. Unbeaten in match play at the NCAA championship last year, Xu already has three match play wins this season.

Stanford did not lose a match against San Jose State. Meja Ortengren and Moa Andersson finished tied after the…