IRVING, Texas – The American Athletic Conference will be represented in both the men’s and women’s competition at the upcoming 2021 NCAA Division I Golf Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. Karen Fredgaard of Houston will compete unattached in the NCAA Women’s Championship on May 21-26 while SMU qualified as a team for the NCAA Men’s Championship set for May 28-June 2.
Fredgaard was one of three individuals to advance from the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional after the tournament was canceled due to inclement weather. She enters the NCAA national tournament ranked fifth in the latest GolfStat player rankings that were released on May 18, fashioning a combined 44-2 record against counterparts ranked in the top 100 during the season. Fredgaard was a unanimous selection as the American Women’s Golf Player of the Year and as an all-conference first-team player during a 2020-21 campaign that was highlighted by a solo third-place showing at the American Women’s Golf Championship at Pinehurst No. 6 in April.
Fredgaard will be the third different women’s player from The American to compete as an unattached individual at the NCAA Championship, joining Memphis’ Michaela Fletcher in 2015 (tie for 66th place) and Houston’s Leonie Harm in 2016 (tie for 81st place) and 2018 (tie for 42nd place). Tulane’s Silvia Garces qualified to play the fourth round of stroke play at the 2015 national championship tournament as an individual after the Green Wave finished out of a team qualifying position after 54 holes.
SMU earned the 22nd bid into NCAA nationals in program history following a third-place showing at this past week’s NCAA Stillwater Regional in Oklahoma. The Mustangs have reached the championship round three times as an American member, advancing through NCAA Regionals in 2014, 2015 and 2019. SMU has enjoyed nine top-10 national finishes all-time entering the 2021 NCAA Championship, headlined by a team national championship in 1953. Bryson DeChambeau was the individual medalist at the 2015 NCAA tournament in Bradenton, Florida.
Noah Goodwin shined for SMU during the NCAA Stillwater Regional, closing the tournament as the only player to shoot in the 60s in all three rounds as part of a 15-under-par score of 201 (66-67-68) to win the individual title by six strokes. Goodwin’s performance helped lift the Mustangs to a two-day team score of 864 (293-277-294, E) to make the regional cut by 15 shots. SMU heads to the finals of the NCAA tournament ranked 18th nationally according to GolfStat.