SUGAR GROVE, Ill. – Monica Vaughn of Arizona State overcame a two-shot deficit to begin the day to win medalist honors at the 2017 NCAA Division I Women's Golf National Championships on Monday at Rich Harvest Farms. Vaughn recorded a final round 71 to post a 54-hole total of 217, claiming the sixth individual national title in Arizona State history.
Vaughn had four birdies in her final round, including two in her final four holes, to win the title by a stroke over Jennifer Kupcho of Wake Forest (218) and Leona Maguire of Duke (218). Purdue's August Kim and Michigan's Elodie Van Dievoet, who carded the low round of the day with a 68, tied for fourth with a three-round total of 219.
"It was a really tough week for everyone, including myself," said Vaughn. "I came out a champion, but really tough conditions, great course, had some tough weather, but was able to put that aside and really keep my focus, and I think that's what did it for me this week."
Vaughn joins Danielle Ammaccapane (1985), Emilee Klein (1994), Kristel Mourgue d'Algue (1995), Grace Park (1999) and Azahara Munoz (2008) as individual national champions from Arizona State. The senior from Reedsport, Ore., who also won the NCAA Lubbock Regional two weeks ago, finished fifth at the NCAA Championships as a sophomore in 2015.
Led by Vaughn's final round 71, as well as a team-best 70 from Linnea Strom, Arizona State improved six places in the team standings to earn the No. 3 seed in match play; the Sun Devils will face No. 6 Florida in Tuesday's quarterfinals.
In the team competition Northwestern, who had led after each of the first two rounds, posted a final round score of 298 to earn the top seed in the Match Play Quarterfinals. The Wildcats will face No. 8 seed Kent State on Tuesday morning.
"I'm so proud of them, we played great golf," said Northwestern head coach Emily Fletcher. "Each day we got going pretty well. Today, hole one was a bear but we played it pretty well. Hannah Kim had an eagle on two. Even though the other players may not know how each other is doing, they feed off the momentum."
Stanford and Southern California become the only two schools to advance to the match play in all three years using the format for the NCAA Championships. The Cardinal will be the No. 2 seed after recording a final round 296 and will face seventh-seeded Baylor. The Trojans meanwhile will be the fifth seed and will meet No. 4 Ohio State in the quarterfinals.
Arizona State, Florida, Kent State, Northwestern and Ohio State will be making their first appearance in the match play portion of the NCAA Championships.
Golf Channel coverage on Tuesday begins with Golf Central Pre Game at 8:30 a.m. CT, followed by match play quarterfinals coverage at 10 a.m. CT. Golf Central Pre Game will return at 12:30 p.m. CT, looking ahead to the semifinals of match play, with live coverage of the semifinals beginning at 3 p.m. CT.
