DU women will stay in western U.S. for NCAA Regionals as they’ll travel to Stanford; CU’s O’Loughlin places 13th in men’s Pac-12 meet
By Gary Baines – 4/28/2021
The University of Denver women’s golf team has played all five of its tournaments this season in the western half of the continental U.S. And, as things turned out, the Pioneers will be staying out west for their NCAA Division I Regional tournament.
With all the other regional sites being in the eastern half of the country — Louisville, Ky.; Baton Rouge, La.; and Columbus, Ohio — DU was selected for a trip to Stanford, Calif.
DU, coming off its sixth Summit League team title as well as another victory in April, will be seeded 10th out of 18 teams in Stanford, where the regional is scheduled for May 10-12. The top six finishers — and the top three individuals not on those teams — from each regional will qualify for the NCAA national championships in Scottsdale, Ariz., May 21-26.
With this automatic berth — thanks to winning the league title — DU will be making its 19th consecutive NCAA Regional appearance. Denver is currently ranked 40th in the nation by Golfstat and 42nd by Golfweek.
“We’re really excited to be going back to Stanford,” DU coach Lindsay Kuhle said. “To make this the 19th straight year for the program is incredible. We have been to Stanford — a couple years ago for the Condoleezza Rice Stanford Invitational and back in 2014 for the West Regional. Two of our players in Camille (Enright) and Mary (Weinstein) have already played there, and they like it.”
Wake Forest will be the top seed in Stanford, while the host Cardinal is seeded fifth. In all, seven California-based schools are at the site.
While DU was the only Colorado-based team in women’s NCAA Regionals, the University of Colorado’s Malak Bouraeda, a junior from Texas, will be competing as an individual at the Baton Rouge Regional.
Meanwhile, Coloradan Lauren Lehigh and her New Mexico team will be the 12th seed in Columbus, and Colorado native Dawn Shockley will see the Oregon State team that she coaches compete as the seventh seed in Baton Rouge. Tulsa, where longtime Coloradan Mikayla Tatman is an assistant coach under former CSU head coach Annie Young, will be in Baton Rouge as the 13th seed.
For all the women’s Division I Regional fields, CLICK HERE.
— Meanwhile, one individual from a Colorado-based school earned a spot in the women’s NCAA Division II Regionals. Faith Kilgore of Colorado Christian, a junior from Texas, will compete in the DII West Regional in Denton, Texas May 3-5. The top three teams and top three individuals not on those teams from each super regional will advance to the DII national championships, set for May 11-15 in Dearborn, Mich.
Elsewhere in local college golf:
— In men’s conference tournament action, the University of Colorado tied for ninth place as a team in the Pac-12 meet in Santa Rosa, Calif. The Buffs posted a strong final round (8 under par) to move up in the standings. They finished at 11 over par for four rounds, ending up 52 strokes behind champion Arizona. The field featured six teams ranked in the top 50 in the nation.
Daniel O’Loughlin, a senior from England, led CU individually by tying for 13th place in the 72-player field. O’Loughlin went 71-70-71-70 for a 6-under 282 total and finished 10 behind the individual champion. Victor Bjorlow was next best for the Buffs, closing with a college-career-best 65 to check in at 288, tied for 32nd.
For all the scores from the Pac-12 tournament, CLICK HERE.