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Bears End NCAA Regional In 7th Place

by calbears.com
May 8, 2024

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – Playing through windy conditions on the final day of the Las Vegas Regional, the California women's golf team moved up the leaderboard for the second straight round, ending in seventh place with a pair of top-20 individual finishes.

Senior Rina Tatematsu (73-74-71 – 218) made the Golden Bears' biggest climb of the day, jumping up 12 spots to earn a team-best 13th-place finish. She was one of just three golfers to shoot under par on Wednesday at Spanish Trail Country Club, tying for the round's second-lowest score with a 1-under-par 71. Tatematsu had a team-best five birdies on the day, while her 2-under tournament total on par 3s led the entire field.

Constance Fouillet (76-68-76 – 220) finished 4-over both for the day and the tournament, ending her first NCAA Regional in 18th place. She caps her stellar debut season with a 72.7 scoring average, breaking the program's previous freshman scoring record of 73.6 set by Katherine Zhu in 2018-19.

Fouillet's 72.7 also goes down as the second-lowest scoring average in program history, behind sophomore Adora Liu who ends the year averaging an all-time best 72.4 strokes per round. After missing the first round due to illness, Liu (70-73) bounced back to post the team's second-lowest score in two straight rounds. Her 1-over 73 in round three was good for the seventh-best individual score.

Senior Cristina Ochoa (75-77-75 – 227) closed out her final regional in 41st place with a 3-over 75 and sophomore Olivia Lee (80-76-77 – 233) carded a 5-over 77.

Despite starting the day 11 strokes out of fifth place, the Bears remained confident knowing that they had saved their best score for the last round in seven of their previous eight tournaments. They finished six strokes shy of matching fifth-place Florida State (+14), which advanced to the NCAA Championships alongside UCLA (+12), Baylor (+8), Purdue (+4) and first-place Arkansas (E).

This was also the 23rd and final regional for Nancy McDaniel, who has served as Cal's founding head coach for the past 29 seasons. McDaniel – who recently announced that she will be retiring following the season – leaves behind an immense legacy that includes two Pac-10/12 and West Regional Coach of the Year awards, two Pac-10 championships, five top-five showings at NCAA Regionals, one NCAA Regional win, and three top-five finishes at the NCAA Championships.

"It's a unique day. You don't ever get this day until today, so you can't practice it," McDaniel said. "When you're in regionals, you're just thinking about regionals. But when you have former players texting you, and you see some really special alums show up in person, you understand the relationships that you've created together and the impact they've had on you. That's what it's all about."

In McDaniel's final season at the helm, the Bears tied or broke six program records, most of which were achieved during a blistering stretch in the fall when they won three straight competitions for the first time ever.

"I'm competitive. Cal is competitive. This is another step in the direction that we're striving towards," McDaniel said. "We know where we want to be. I'm going to support, help, and be in the background to see Cal golf go to that next level. I want them to have that."

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