Adela Cernousek (Texas A&M Athletics Photo)
In what was a dominant performance for 54 of the 72 stroke-play holes,
Adela Cernousek of Texas A&M shot rounds of 68-68-68-72 to finish 12-under and win the NCAA Division I women's championships at the La Costa Resort and Spa Champions Course in Carlsbad, Calif., by three shots over
Lottie Woad of Florida State.
Cernousek was T2 after the first round, but two more rounds of 4-under 68 gave her a comfortable six-shot lead heading into the final round. Her final round of even-par 72 allowed her enough space to take the win.
The first-round leader, Woad, finished in second place at 9-under with rounds of 65-74-71-69. She recently won the 2024 Augusta National Women's Amateur.
Paula Martin Sampedro of Stanford finished in solo third place at 6-under, and Aine Donegan of LSU and Maria Jose Marin of Arkansas finished T4 at 5-under to round out the top five.
With this win, Cernousek has jumped from No. 45 to No. 19 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com Women's Rankings. She has put together an impressive season, finishing in solo second place at the 2023 Stephens Cup, finishing T6 at the SEC Women's Championships, and T3 at the NCAA Women's South Regional. She also recently earned medalist honors at the 2024 U.S. Women's Open Qualifying.
In the team competition, Stanford finished as the No. 1 seed, carding rounds of 285-285-285-299 to finish tied 2-over.
Stanford and LSU both finished 2-over and tied for first, but Stanford earned the No. 1 seed based on the non-counting cumulative score. The final round played the hardest of the four, with only USC carding an under par round.
Texas A&M earned the No. 3 seed, USC earned the No. 4 seed, Clemson earned the No. 5 seed, UCLA earned the No. 6 seed, Oregon earned the No. 7 seed, and Auburn earned the No. 8 seed.
2023 national champion Wake Forest finished just outside of the match play bracket, finishing two shots back of Auburn at 22-over.
All 30 teams competed in the first three rounds, Friday through Sunday, in a 54-hole stroke play tournament.
The field was cut to 15 teams for Monday's fourth and final round of stroke play. The top eight teams have moved on to match play, with the quarterfinals and semifinals on Tuesday and the national championship match on Wednesday.
Tuesday's Quarterfinal Matches
No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 8 Auburn
No. 2 LSU vs. No. 7 Oregon
No. 3 Texas A&M vs. No. 6 UCLA
No. 4 USC vs. No. 5 Clemson
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