AUBURN, Ala. – No. 6 Women's golf will make its 21st appearance at the NCAA Championship on Friday at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa Champions Course in Carlsbad, California. The Tigers qualified for the field of 30 teams after winning the NCAA Auburn Regional on May 8.
"It's all about being disciplined, hitting fairways and hitting greens," said Auburn head coach Melissa Luellen. "I've been telling the team that we're the sixth ranked team in the country and that we just need to play the way we play. We don't have to be perfect and you're allowed to make mistakes, you just don't want to compound those mistakes."
The championship format will include 30 teams and six individuals completing 54 holes of stroke play on Friday-Sunday. Then the top 15 teams along with the top nine individuals not on an advancing team will compete in one additional day of stroke play on Monday to determine the top eight teams for match play competition and the 72-hole stroke play individual champion.
The top eight teams after 72 holes of play will be placed into a bracket with the No. 1 seed playing the No. 8 seed, the No. 2 seed playing the No. 7 seed, the No. 3 seed playing the No. 6 seed and the No. 4 seed playing the No. 5 seed in match play. Three rounds of match play will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday to decide the national champion.
"Once you get into match play, you're playing the golf course," continued Luellen. "That is something that I've seen our players not do all the time and end up playing their opponent. You have to pay attention to what they are doing, but if you play well during the week in stroke play, why change the plan? You want to have a game plan for the golf course and stick to it, then lay back or be more assertive when you need to."
Luellen and the Tigers have not been a stranger to success at the NCAA Championship in recent years, becoming quarterfinalists in 2021 and semifinalists in both 2019 and 2022.
Freshman Anna Davis, who has competed in all nine team events for the Tigers this spring, is heating up at the right time heading into the championship. Davis recorded a runner-up finish at the last regular season event at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic before capturing a top-5 finish at the SEC Championship and receiving low medalist honors at the Auburn Regional by three shots at 5-under (211).
The Auburn freshman, who was named All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman earlier this season, was placed on the Division I WGCA Freshman of the Year watch list on Thursday.
Fifth-year senior Megan Schofill will be making the final collegiate appearance of her historic Auburn career at the NCAA Championship this week. Schofill had an impressive runner-up finish at the regional after carding a 54-hole total of 214 (-2). Schofill holds the program record for career scoring average at 71.98 (minimum 60 rounds) as well as career rounds under par and career birdies.
Auburn will begin its opening round of the championship just after 2 p.m. CT on Friday paired with players from LSU and UCLA.
Live scoring for each round of the tournament will be available online at Golfstat.com and the GolfStat mobile app. Golf Channel will have live television coverage of the event from 5 p.m.- 9 p.m. CT on Monday-Wednesday.
Auburn lineup:
- Anna Davis- 3:06 p.m. CT
- Megan Schofill- 2:55 p.m. CT
- Casey Weidenfeld- 2:44 p.m. CT
- Anna Foster- 2:33 p.m. CT
- Katie Cranston- 2:22 p.m. CT