Golf

UCF Knights and Memphis’ Fletcher Advance to NCAA Women’s Golf Championships

CLE ELUM REGIONAL RESULTS
NORMAN RERIONAL RESULTS
AUBURN REGIONAL RESULTS

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The American Athletic Conference will be well-represented at the 2019 NCAA Women's Golf Championships on May 17-22 in Fayetteville, Ark. The UCF Knights rallied on the final day of the Cle Elum Regional to grab finish sixth overall and grab the final advancing team spot. Memphis' Michaela Fletcher fired a third round 71 to tie for third overall at the Norman Regional and also advances to the Championships.

Three teams and three individuals from The American were in action at 2019 NCAA Women's Golf Regionals. The 2019 American champions Houston, along with UCF and ECU competed as teams. Fletcher, SMU's Brigitte Dunne and Tulsa's Lorena Tseng were in action as individuals.

For the first time since the 1995-96 season, UCF is headed to the NCAA National Championship. UCF shot a 2-under, 286 on the final day and finished sixth to secure their spot in Fayetteville and a 10-over 874 for the Regional.

Ana Laura Collado stayed in the top two for the entirety of the tournament with the best 54-hole scores of her collegiate career to finish tied for second overall. She tallied 16 birdies for a 10-under, 206 over the three rounds after shooting 4-under, 68 to finish the event. Collado posted the second-best 54-hole score over all four regions and the second best in program history. Her 10-under score is the best of her collegiate career.

American Freshman of the Year Elizabeth Moon shot her best round of the tournament with a 2-under, 70 on the day for a three-round total of 6-over, 222. Moon finished with nine birdies and will head back to her home state of Arkansas to compete for a National Championship.

Battling for one of three individual spots in a field of 96 players, Memphis' Fletcher carded a third round 73 to earn her way to the NCAA Women's Golf Championships . Fletcher finished tied for third overall at 211 (68-70-73) in the NCAA Norman Regional, earning her second appearance at the championships.

ECU carded a final round score of 7-over, 295 at the Auburn Regional to finish eighth, missing the NCAA Championship cutline by five strokes. It was the highest NCAA Regional finish in Pirate program history besting their ninth-place finish in 2009. The three-day score of 881 is the lowest the team has shot in their 13 regional appearances.

Houston posted a score of 299 in Wednesday's Final Round of the Auburn Regional to finish 11th with a three-day total of 898.Senior All-American and two-time American Athletic Conference Player of the Year Leonie Harm led the Cougars with an even-par, 72 to cap her career. The Gerlingen, Germany, native finished the day with five birdies, including back-to-back efforts on holes one and two, and tied for 33rd with a score of 222.

SMU's Dunne concluded her career as a Mustang at the NCAA Regional on Wednesday afternoon. She went into the day at 3-over and carded three birdies on the round for a 2-over finish and a share of 27th place. Dunne wraps up her career on the Hilltop as the all-time leader with 359 career birdies. She also had the third best season scoring average of 73.03 in the last 26 years at SMU.

Tulsa's Tseng closed out her inaugural collegiate season on Wednesday with a 46th-place finish at NCAA Women's Golf Championship Norman Regional. She turned in a final round score of 2-under, 70 to finish with a 54-hole total of 223 at the par-72 Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club. Tseng completed her rookie season with a 72.1 stroke average and had seven top-10 performances in 11 tournaments.

The 2019 NCAA National Championships are from May 17-22 at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The event features four rounds of stroke play for individuals, then two days of match play for team entries.