SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego State women's team continues its postseason when it travels to Stanford, Calif., to compete in the NCAA Stanford Regional, May 10-12, at Stanford Golf Club.
The Aztecs, who are making their seventh consecutive regional appearance and 10th in the last 11 years, will be among the field vying for a spot in the NCAA Championships, scheduled for May 21-26 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
SDSU garnered the 12 seed in the 18-team regional and will be joined on the par-71, 6,269-yard Stanford layout in order of seed by Wake Forest, Oklahoma State, USC, Virginia Tech, Stanford, Arizona, Florida, Northwestern, Iowa State, Denver, TCU, Pepperdine, San José State, New Mexico State, Cal Poly, Sacramento State and Navy. The field also includes six individuals who will compete for the right to advance to the NCAA Championships.
The NCAA Stanford Regional will be contested with 18 holes each of the three days following a practice round on Sunday, May 9. The top six squads and three lowest individuals not on those teams from each regional will advance to Scottsdale, Ariz.
San Diego State will tee off with Denver and TCU for Monday's opening round, which is set to get underway at 8:50 a.m. PT on hole No. 10, while pairings for Tuesday and Wednesday will be based on team scores.
Live hole-by-hole results courtesy of Golfstat will be available for all three rounds on GoAztecs.com.
Aztec head coach Leslie Spalding will accompany five golfers to Stanford, led by 2021 Mountain West Women's Golfer of the Year Sara Kjellker, along with Andrea Gomez, Bernice Olivarez Ilas, April Ranches and Anna Lina Otten.
Kjellker, who also garnered all-MW first-team honors, is the lone Aztecs to have played in a NCAA Regional, taking 14th in Cle Elum, Wash., in 2019 and 55th in San Francisco in 2018.
Kjellker, who has one win (MW Championship on April 21) and two runner-up finishes on the year, leads SDSU in scoring average (73.44), rounds in the 60s (2) and rounds below par (6), while ranking in a tie for first in even-par rounds (2). She has led San Diego State in five of the six tournaments this season.
Gomez and Ilas, meanwhile, are a close second and third on the team in stroke average at 75.78 and 75.89, respectively. Ranches (79.50) and Otten (79.83) are fourth and fifth on the team.
The Aztecs' other bids to the NCAA regionals came in 1999 (19th), 2001 (15th), 2004 (15th), 2010 (T-15th), 2011 (17th), 2012 (T-20th), 2014 (T-21st), 2015 (11th), 2016 (12th), 2017 (11th), 2018 (T-7th) and 2019 (12th). Last year's postseason was canceled due to the COVID pandemic. The program was also represented by individual golfers in 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2013.
This week marks the ninth time SDSU is participating in a western-based regional as a team, following the 1999, 2004, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019 squads. San Diego State has visited Stanford for regional play on two previous occasions, finishing tied for 15th in 2004 and 12th in 2016. The Aztecs have played in 14 different cities and 10 different states in their NCAA regional history.
Heather MacRae boasts the Aztecs' best individual regional finish when she tied for 11th place at Stanford in 2004; Malin Enarsson and Mila Chaves registered 12th-place performances in 2010 and 2018, respectively; Kjellker was 14th in 2019; Sirene Blair sits in fifth with an 17th-place effort in 2016, while Chaves ranks sixth after tying for 18th in 2016.
SDSU is one of 13 teams in the Stanford Regional ranked among the top 50 in the latest Golfstat rankings released May 4. Of those squads, eight reside in the top 30, including Wake Forest (3), Oklahoma State (6), USC (10), Virginia Tech (14), Stanford (20), Arizona (22), Florida (27) and Northwestern (29). The other top-50 teams are Iowa State (35), Denver (40), TCU (43), San Diego State (47) and Pepperdine (50).
The Aztecs own an 8-11 record in head-to-head results against 11 of their 17 regional foes during the 2020-21 campaign, maintaining the upper hand against Cal Poly (2-0), Sacramento State (1-0) and San José State (2-1), while splitting three encounters with Iowa State (1-1), Pepperdine (1-1) and TCU (1-1).
The par-71, 6,269-yard Stanford Golf Course is Located in the foothills above the Stanford University Campus and is consistently rated one of the finest courses in the world. One of approximately 30 college courses in the country, Stanford Golf Course opened in 1930 and was designed by famed architects George C. Thomas and Billy Bell Jr. It underwent a renovation by John Harbottle in 2008. In 2018, all bunkers were rebuilt and several holes were modified. Located on campus below the scenic foothills, the sprawling, championship layout is flanked by majestic oak trees and meandering San Francisquito Creek, the latter coming into play on nearly half the course. Each hole offers stunning views of the surrounding mountains, and San Francisco, about 30 miles north, can be seen from the elevated 18th tee. Throughout the years, Stanford has hosted many intercollegiate and non-collegiate events, including U.S. Open Qualifying, Women's NCAA Championships, NCAA Regionals, Pac-12 Championships and the USGA Junior Amateur Qualifying.
SDSU Women’s Golf Set for NCAA Regionals
