Woad Continues Roll, Leads NCAA Women's Tournament; McCauley Is

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Lottie Woad didn't exactly get off to a slow start in college golf. She was an All-American as a freshman at Florida State last year, and this year she's even better. The Seminole sophomore from Farnham, England, won the Augusta National Women's Amateur in April. Her next tournament would have been the ACC Championships, but her victory at Augusta earned her an invitation to the Chevron Championship, which is an LPGA Tour major. She made the cut in that one and tied for 23rd against the best professionals in the world with a 72-hole score of 1-under-par 287. She then finished third in the Women's NCAA Regional at Las Vegas, as she and Florida State cruised into the NCAA Championships.

She is currently No. 3 in the national college rankings, and on Friday she blitzed the La Costa Champions Course, shooting a 7-under 65. That has her in first place after the opening round in the 2024 Women's NCAA Championships. Isabella Rawl, a Clemson sophomore, is the only player within three strokes of Woad. She shot 66.

Starting on the 10th tee, Rawl birdied five of her first eight holes, inlcuding three in a row (15, 16, 17). She followed that with consecutive bogeys at the par-5 18th and the par-4 first, but she made another three birdies on her way to the clubhouse.

There is a five-way tie for third at 68, and Rawl's Clemson teammate Anna Pancake is part of it, which helps to explain why the Tigers lead the teams standings, but by only a single stroke, 280 to 281 over Texas A&M. The Aggies are the only other team with two players in the top 10 -- Adela Cernousek and the player with the longest name in the field, Cayetana Fernández García-Poggio. They are both in the five-way tie for third.

Stanford, Auburn and Northwestern are tied for third in the team competion, five behind Clemson at 285. But there are another nine teams within three of them, at 288 or better.

Woad, like Rawl, started at No. 10, a 521-yard par 5. She made a birdie there and birdied the other par 5 on the back nine, the 497-yard 18th. She also birdied the par-4 13th. After making the turn in 3 under, Woad rattled off five birdies on the first eight holes on the front nine, including four in a five-hole stretch from the fourth through the eighth. She made her only bogey of the day in the middle of that run, at the 513-yard, par-5 sixth.

No one else on the Florda State team is in the top 35 individually, but thanks mainly to Woad, the Seminoles are in a three-way tie for ninth as a team at 287.

Bella McCauley, the sophomore from Minnesota who claimed the only spot available to an individual at the Auburn Regional last week, started her round with a bogey at the first hole, but she was even par after nine. She made five pars to start the back nine, then bogeyed the par-4 15th and par-3 16th, and signed for a 74. So she's sitting in a tie for 75th place, but it's a tightly bunched leaderboard, and she's only three shots from a tie for 18th.

All 156 players in the field -- 150 of them on the 30 teams that qualified through the six regionals, and six individuals -- will play three rounds. After that, 15 teams will advance to the fourth -- and final -- round of stroke play, and so will the top nine individuals not on a team that's advancing. The individual winner will be crowned at the end of 72 holes of stroke play, and the top eight teams will move on to the quarterfinals of match play.

NCAA Women's Championships

At La Costa Champions Course

Par 72, 6,297 yards

Carlsbad, Calif.

First-round results (the top 9 individuals not on teams that make the cut, and the top 15 teams will make the 54-hole cut)

1. Lotte Woad, Florida State 65 (-7)

2. Isaella Rawl, Clemson 66

T3. M. Hinson-Tolchard, Okla. State 68

T3. Louisa Carlbom, San Jose State 68

T3. Adela Cernousek, Texasd A&M 68

T3. Sophie Linder, Ole Miss 68

T3. C. fermamdez Garcia, Texas A&M 68

T8. Anna Davis, Auburn 69

T8. Louise Rydqvist, So. Carolina 69

T8. Annabelle Pancake, Clemson 69

T8. Phiebe Brinker, UCLA 69

T8. Caroline Canales, UCLA 68

T75. Bella McCauley, Minnesota 74

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

1. Clemson 280 (-8)

2. Texas A&M 281

T3. Stanford 285

T3. Auburn 285

T3. Northwestern 285

T6. Arizona State 286

T6. San Jose State 286

T6 . Duke 286

T9. Florida State 287

T9. Mississippi State 287

T9. Oklahoma State 287

T12. Michigan State 288

T12. Arkansas 288

14. LSU 289

T15. UCLA 291

T15. Pepperdine 291