José Marin in First After 54 Holes at NCAA Championship, Arkansas Easily Makes Cut
CARLSBAD, Calif. – The Arkansas women’s golf team shot its best round of this week’s NCAA Championship with an 8-under 280 in Sunday’s third round at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
The Hogs, who after the first round sat near the bottom of the leaderboard tied for 21st, jumped all the way to T-5th at 3-over and comfortably above the +18 cut line.
For the third straight day, sophomore Maria José Marin (-9, 1st) paced the Razorbacks and is now leading the field after carding a bogey-free 7-under 65, the lowest round of the event thus far. The round is also the lowest ever by a Hog in the NCAA Championship, besting Razorback legends Stacy Lewis, Gaby Lopez and 2019 NCAA Champion Maria Fassi.
José Marin sank two birdies in her first nine holes before things clicked. After the turn, the Cali, Colombia, native birdied holes 1 and 2 (Arkansas teed off from the 10th), parred 3 and 5, and birdied 4, 6 and 7. Her nearly-20 foot putt on the par-5 6th hole was easily the most impressive of the day, but José Marin was more pleased she birdied the hardest hole on the track, the par-4 13th, which averaged 4.45 strokes in the first three rounds.
“Today I started giving myself chances at birdie in the first two holes but they didn’t go in,” José Marin said after her round. “But as I said, golf is a game of patience and that’s key. I told my coach yesterday that I was going to birdie 13, that was not a good hole to me during the first two rounds. I birdied 13 and that gave me a pretty good boost of confidence. I know the back nine plays kinda hard because of the wind, especially on 15, 16, 17 and 18, because they aren’t covered by anything so the wind gets in the way. I was really patient. If I didn’t have the birdie, I had the par secured. I had a birdie on 17 and then took advantage of my really good tee shots on 1 and 2 for a chance at birdie and after that something clicked in my game. I couldn’t focus on anything that wasn’t the hole.”
José Marin will enter Monday’s final round of stroke play with a 1-shot advantage over Stanford’s Paula Martín Sampedro. After the completion of the final 18 holes, an individual champion will be crowned as the format will switch to match play to determine a team champion.
Arkansas was also propelled into the top 5 via a 3-under 69 from sophomore Abbey Schutte (+11, T101). The Goodyear, Arizona, native shot a 76, followed by an 82, in the first two rounds and sat at 14-over par and tied for 144th prior to Sunday. Schutte finished 2-under in her first nine holes and had two birdies on the last nine but two-putted the par-3 third hole.
Freshman Clarisa Temelo (+3, T37) and junior Reagan Zibilski (+10, T91) were Arkansas’ remaining counting scores, each with a 73. Senior Kendall Todd carded a 3-over 75 and is tied for 76th at +8.
The Razorbacks will tee off the fourth and final round of stroke play at 1:25 p.m. CT and will need a top 8 finish to earn the program’s first trip to the match play portion. Golf Channel will provide live coverage beginning at 5 p.m.
The Razorbacks
1. Maria José Marin 70-72-65=207 -9
T37. Clarisa Temelo 74-72-73=219 +3
T76. Kendall Todd 77-72-75=224 +8
T91. Reagan Zibilski 79-74-73=226 +10
T101. Abbey Schutte 76-82-69=227 +11
For more information on Arkansas women’s golf, follow @RazorbackWGolf on social media.
