Photo Credit – Terrell Lloyd, San José State Athletics
Onto nationals is the cry for San José State sophomore women’s golfer Kajsa Arwefjäll after she shot a four-under 67 in the final round of the NCAA Stanford Regional Wednesday afternoon. She finished tied for fifth at three-under 210 on the leaderboard and earned one of the three individual spots to the 2021 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships May 21-26, at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Arwefjäll tied the lowest round shot by a Spartan at a regional with her 67, tying Madeleine Ziegert who also shot a 67 at Stanford during the 2010 regional. Arwefjäll also tied for the lowest round in relation to par at four-under, tying Ziegert and Rebecka Heinmert who shot a four-under at the 2000 West Regional on the Karsten Golf Course.
Arwefjäll is the third individual Spartan to qualify for the NCAA Championships (Ashley Gomes, 2004; Erica Moston, 2008). The Spartans have participated as a team in 21 national championships.
Tied for 20th after two rounds, Arwefjäll wasted no time getting to business Wednesday. Starting the round on the 10th hole, she went par-par before making an eagle on the par-5 #12. Her only bogey of the day came on her next hole, sending her back to one-under par through four holes. She then made two pars before finishing birdie-par-birdie, shooting a three-under for her first nine holes (10-18).
Her final nine holes (#1-9) were very clean on her card as she made eight pars and mixed in a birdie on the par-five #7 to go to four-under par for the day and finish with her 67, tie for fifth place at three-under 210, and claim one of the three individual spots to advance to the NCAA Championships next week. Arwefjäll advances from the Stanford Regional along with fellow Mountain West player Brigitte Thibault of Fresno State and Anna Zanusso of Denver. They both finished at two-under 211.
The Spartans also made a charge up the leaderboard during the final round, making the biggest jump of the day as the team moved up four spots to finish in ninth place. The team shot a three-over 287 and finished at 875, three shots behind eighth-place Pepperdine. SJSU finished higher than five other teams ranked in the top-50 of Golfstat.
Antonia Malate shot a one-over 72 and finished tied for 18th at two-over 215. After making a bogey on her first hole of the day, she rebounded with a birdie on #12 to go back to even par. Another bogey on #14 followed by a birdie on #16 left her at even par through nine holes. Malate finished the round with eight pars, but a bogey on #6 put her back to one-over par to finish the day.
Jordyn Parr finished the regional tied for 57th at 11-over par as she finished the regional with a 77.
Louisa Carlbom recorded her best round of the regional with an even-par 71, to finish tied for 67th. She started the round strong, making two birdies and seven pars over her first nine holes. On her final nine holes, she made pars on seven of the nine holes with only back-to-back bogeys on 5 & 6 to leave her at even par for the day.
Jadan Gonzalez rounded out the Spartan scoring with a 77 in the final round and tied for 88th at 237. She made birdies on the par-five #12 and par-three #3.
The Spartans best hole of the day was the par-five #12 where the team shot six-under with four birdies and Arwefjäll’s eagle.
Stanford won the regional by 30 shots, shooting 28-under par for the three rounds. Other teams advancing included Wake Forest, Oklahoma State, Virginia Tech, Arizona and Southern California.
Play at the 2021 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships begins on Friday, May 21, at the Grayhawk Golf Club. Teams and individuals will play three rounds on May 21-23. The top 15 teams and nine individuals not on and advancing team compete on May 24 to determine the match-play teams and 72-hole stroke play individual champion. Coverage of the final round and match play will be shown on the GOLF Channel.