CARLSBAD, Calif. — After 36 holes of stroke play at the 2024 NCAA Championship, played at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, top-ranked Stanford women's golf is in a great spot to make the first cut. After shooting three-strokes under par on Friday, the Cardinal matched that number on Saturday in the second round, with another 285 as a team. This put Stanford in second, trailing only Texas A&M through two rounds.
The second round of the NCAA Championship followed a very similar path for the Cardinal as the first round did. Stanford was three strokes over par as a team early in the round, but once the team made the turn to the back nine, scores started improving. While not all teams had taken the course yet, Stanford did briefly take the lead before settling into third when its round was completed.
The best Stanford round on Saturday came courtesy of Megha Ganne, who overcame a few early bogeys to impress down the stretch. Ganne was two strokes over par through her first eight rounds, but then birdied on four of her next six holes, rocketing up the leaderboard. It was at this time that Stanford began to catch fire as a team, going from over par to under par on the round. Ganne concluded the round with a 2-under 70, which moved her up about 20 spots on the leaderboard from her positioning after Friday.
Sadie Englemann also got on the right side of par during the second round, with all her damage coming on the back nine. There was no red on her scorecard until the 12th green, which she birdied, and that opened up a run of three birdies over a four-hole span. Englemann finished the round with a 1-under 71, a two-stroke improvement from her first round of the tournament. It continues a recent trend of Englemann where her first round is over par, but her second round is under par. She is now even through two rounds of stroke play.
Paula Martin Sampedro joins Ganne at two strokes under par for the tournament and did so by shooting an even-72 on Saturday. The middle holes were kind to the freshman, as she birdied on nine and 11 to get herself better than par for a brief stint. Needing to birdie a par-5 18th hole to secure par for the round, Martin Sampedro did just that, knocking down her birdie putt to put a bow on the 72.
It was also an even-72 kind of day for Rachel Heck, who did not have a lot of color on her scorecard. She recorded two birdies and two bogeys during the second round, with birdies coming on five and seven, which were the first birdies of the round for any Stanford golfer. Saturday's score was the tenth-straight round at par or better for Heck, going back to the PING/ASU Invitational in March.
Despite recording three birdies during the round, Kelly Xu finished with a 5-over 77. A couple of tough breaks on six and ten undid her round, but she was able to finish strong, with two birdies over her final four holes.
By virtue of holding a top-three spot, Stanford will once again tee off at 6:40 am on Sunday morning, the final day of all 30 teams competing. Following 54 holes of stroke play, the top-15 will advance to Monday's additional stroke play round, with the top eight teams advancing to match play on Tuesday.
NCAA Championship (Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, par 72)
| Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2. Stanford | 285 (-3) | 285 (-3) | -- | 570 (-6) |
| T14. Paula Martín Sampedro | 70 (-2) | 72 (E) | -- | 142 (-2) |
| T14. Megha Ganne | 72 (E) | 70 (-2) | -- | 142 (-2) |
| T23. Rachel Heck | 71 (-1) | 72 (E) | -- | 143 (-1) |
| T29. Sadie Englemann | 73 (+1) | 71 (-1) | -- | 144 (E) |
| T72. Kelly Xu | 72 (E) | 77 (+5) | -- | 149 (+5) |