Cernousek, Aggies Move to the Front in Women's NCAA; McCauley Could Use Another 65

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Adela Cernousek has saved her best for her second nine at the La Costa Champions Course in each of the first two rounds of the 2024 NCAA Women's Championships. The Texas A&M junior from France made one birdie on the front nine Saturday and bogeyed the 10th, but she proceeded to make four birdies in a five-hole stretch from the 13th through 17th holes and shot a 4-under-par 68 for the second day in a row. The resulting 36-hole total of 136 has her in first place, with a two-stroke lead, and she's also the primary reason for the Aggies being at the top of the team standings.

Of course, it helps that A&M has three more players at 145 or better -- Cayetana Fernandez Garcia-Poggia (T7 - 141), Zoe Slaughter (T23 - 143) and Blanca Fernandez-Poggio (T38 - 145).

Cernousek, who is No. 12 in the Women's NCAA Division I Rankings, started on the back nine in Friday's first round, and was even par when she made the turn. She then proceeded to birdie the first hole, and made three birdies in a row at Nos. 3, 4 and 5 for the first of her two 68s.

A&M's Cayetana Garcia-Poggio is the younger of the two Spanish sisters (the Garcia-Poggios are from Madrid), and she opened with a 68, then followed it with a 73, and is tied for seventh at 141. Her older sister Blanca, a grad student, followed a 73 with a 72 and is tied for 38th in a field of 156 players.

So the Aggies, having posted a first-day total of 281, followed it with an even-par 284 on Saturday, and took over first place from Clemson with a two-day aggregate of 565. But there are four teams within 10 strokes of them. Stanford is the closest, five back in second place at 570. Clemson, the first-day leader, got a second consecutive 69 from Annabelle Pancake, a senior from Zionsville, Ind., who finished second in the British Women's Amateur last year. She's second in the individual standings with a 138, but the Tigers' next-best score on Day 2 was a 73, and they slipped back into third in the team standings at 573, one ahead of fourth-place UCLA at 574.

It isn't just football where the SEC tends to dominate college sports. In addition to Texas A&M, the conference has two more teams in the top five at the La Costa Champions Course. Auburn and LSU are tied for fifth, only 10 behind the Aggies at 575.

The first-day leader was Lottie Woad, a Florida State sophomore who introduced herself to the national golf audience by making three birdies over the final four holes at Augusta in early April to win the Augusta National Women's Amateur. She opened the NCAA Championships with a 65, but slipped back with a 74 on Saturday. Nevertheless, she's still only three behind and in third place at 139, with two rounds remaining.

There is a three-way tie for fouth at 140 -- Arkansas's Maria Jose Marin (72-68), Mississippi State's Julia Lopez Ramirez (71-69) and Auburn's Casey Weidenfeld (70-70).

At the conclusion of Sunday's third round, the field will be cut to the top 15 teams (out of 30 that started the tournament), and nine individuals who are not on an advancing team. There were only six players in the field at the start of the tournament who were labeled as "individuals only." After Monday's fourth round, the individual champion will be crowned, and the top eight teams will be awarded places in the match-play portion of the tournament. That will begin Tuesdy morning with the quarterfinal round.

A lot of players are going to need a good -- or maybe great -- third round Sunday to keep playing Monday in the fourth (and last) of the stroke-play rounds, and Minnesota's Bella McCauley is one of them. The sophomore from Inver Grove Heights has made two spectacular comebacks this spring. The first was a final-round 64 to gain a share (one-third) of the Big Ten individual championship, and the second came at the NCAA Women's Regional in Auburn, where McCauley closed with 7-under 65 to get the region's one available spot for "individuals only" -- with one stroke to spare -- at the NCAA Championships.

She's going to need something like that again on Sunday in Carlsbad to make the 54-hole cut, after shooting a 78 on Saturday, which put her at 152. That has her tied for 101st place, and at 8 over par, she's seven shots north of where she needs to be to make the cut. As of Saturday night, there were four players tied for eighth place at 145 among those who were not on teams in the top 15 of the standings after 36 holes.


NCAA Women's Championships

At La Costa Champions Course

Par 72, 6,297 yards

Carlsbad, Calif.

Second-round results (the top15 teams will make the 54-hole cut, plus the top 9 individuals not on teams that make the cut)

1. Adela Cernousek, Texasd A&M 68-68--136 (-8)

2. Louise Rydqvist, So. Carolina 69-69--138

3. Lotte Woad, Florida State 65-74--139

T4. Maria Jose Marin, Arkansas 72-68--140

T4. Julia Lopez Ramirez, Miss. State 71-69--140

T4. Casey Weidenfeld, Auburn 70-70--140

T7. C.F. Poggio, Texas A&M 68-73--141

T7. Caroline Canales, UCLA 69-72--141

T7. Anna Davis. Auburn 69-72--141

T7. Kiara Romero, Oregon 75-66--141

T7. Ashley Yun, Northwestern 71-70--141

T7. Aine Donegan, LSU 74-67--141

T7. Sophie Linder, Ole Miss 68-73--141

T101. Bella McCauley, Minnesota 74-78--152

Teams (the top eight teams at the end of 72 holes of stroke play will go to the quarterfinals of match play.)


1. Texas A&M 281-284--565 (-3)

2. Stanford 285-285--570

3. Clemson 280-293--573

4. UCLA 291-283--574

T5. Auburn 285-290--575

T5. LSU 289-286--575

7. Oregon 294-283--577

T8. Northwestern 285-293--578

T8. Arkansas 288-290--578

10 . Duke 286-293--579

11. USC 299-283--582

12. Mississippi State 287-297--584

13. Texas 299-286--585

T14. Arizona State 286-301--587

T14. Wake Forest 295-292--587