Emma Talley
(Live match play scoring can be found at the link at the bottom of this article)BRADENTON, Fla. — Alabama junior Emma Talley, the 2013 U.S. Women's Amateur champion, won the NCAA Women's Medal Championship on Monday, shooting 69 in the final round to edge Gaby Lopez of Arkansas and Leona Maguire of Duke by a stroke.
Though her Crimson Tide team didn't make it to the match play portion of the tournament, which begins Tuesday at The Concession Golf Club, the stroke play victory for Talley is quite a feat. Each year, the women's national championship is one of, if not the most elite stroke play tournament in women's amateur golf.
Talley entered the fourth round with the lead, and was almost caught by both Lopez and Maguire. Lopez, a junior from Mexico City, fired 66 on Monday while Maguire, a freshman from Ireland, posted 68 as both players finished just one shot back of Talley.
Meanwhile, the eight teams qualifying for match play are the No. 1 seed USC Trojans, followed by Duke, Baylor, Stanford, Arizona, Tennessee, Texas Tech, and Washington.
The first match kicking off Tuesday morning will be Duke's Maguire facing off with Texas Tech's Sarah Brown.
ABOUT THE
NCAA Division I Women's Championship
30 teams and 6 individuals not on a qualifying
team make up the field for the championship of
NCAA
Division I women's golf.
After 72 holes of stroke play, the individual
champion is crowned, and the low 8 teams advance
to
match play to determine the team champion.
View Complete Tournament Information