Stanford made NCAA history at Omni La Costa — and it meant nothing. That's a problem
Stanford made NCAA history at Omni La Costa — and it meant nothing. That's a problem
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Drone flyover video of Omni La Costa North Course par-3 16th hole
Omni La Costa is hosting the NCAA mens and womens golf championships for a second year in a row. The North Course's 16th hole is the final par-3.
CARLSBAD, Calif. — Stanford just completed one of the greatest performances in NCAA Women's Golf Championship history, and in another 12 hours, it won't mean a thing. That's a problem.
The Cardinal shot 27-under 1,125 for 72 holes of stroke play at the 2025 NCAA Women's Golf Championship at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa's North Course, putting the finishing touches Monday on an NCAA record. Stanford's 27-under mark is the lowest 72-hole score in NCAA Women's Golf Championship history. USC held the previous record of 19 under, set in 2013.
On Sunday in the third round, Stanford shot 18-under 270, besting the previous low single round at the NCAA Championship by three shots. The previous record was Stanford's second round from 2023 when the Cardinal got in the house at 15 under.
Even more impressive, this Stanford team just completed an undefeated season in stroke play. in nine stroke-play events, not a single team beat the Cardinal, making Stanford the second team to go undefeated in a single season in stroke-play events after Arizona State accomplished the feat in the 1994-95 season. Stanford does have one blemish on its resume, though, after losing to Wake Forest in the semifinals of ACC Championship match play. Stanford beat Wake Forest by 28 shots in three rounds leading into the bracket.
Ultimately, a dominant performance at the NCAA Championship in stroke play — rewriting the record books and running away from the field — doesn't matter because no trophy is awarded after stroke play. That happens Wednesday after match play.
The national-championship format was altered to include match play at the 2009 NCAA Championship and 2015 NCAA Women's Championship in an effort to make the championships more interesting for television. Now, in addition to 72 holes of stroke play, the top-eight teams advance to match play, where they battle it out to determine a champion.
Former Oklahoma State men's coach Mike Holder was among the catalysts behind the movement, which began in the mid-2000s. Not everyone was in favor of the switch then, and after Stanford's dominance in 2025, its fifth consecutive year finishing on top of the leaderboard after 72 holes of stroke play, it begs the question: is match play truly the best way to determine the NCAA champion?
College golf is the only NCAA sport that changes its regular-season format to determine a national champion. Some conferences have started using match play in tournaments, and some teams build match-play events into their regular-season schedules, but stroke play is used for more than 90 percent of of the season. When the biggest title of the year is on the line, the format switches to match play.
More: Maria Jose Marin follows in footsteps of Arkansas legends to win NCAA individual title
Why? A big reason is television. One argument for switching from stroke play to match play was the latter is more compelling on TV, and it could be hard to make a stroke-play blowout interesting to viewers. However, blowouts still happen in match play, like last year when Stanford won 3-2 but none of the matches were competitive, and that argument goes out the window.
Stroke play brought its share of snoozefests, including in 2013 when USC won the national title in Athens, Georgia. A Stanford blowout this year might could have joined the club.
It was also easier for TV commentators to explain head-to-head match play to audiences as opposed to the 5-count-4 scoring system college golf uses most of the year. College golf coaches wanted the sport to get more exposure on television, and 20 years ago, match play was considered the best way to do that.
Ironically, Oklahoma State's men have finished first in national championship stroke play four times since the switch to match play. Only once, in 2018, has the team gone on to win – becoming the only men's team to do so as the top seed. On the women's side, Stanford got over the hump in 2022 and then again last year. Otherwise, top seeds have struggled to transition their success to match play.
On Tuesday, Stanford will head to the first tee as the No. 1 seed in match play, and nothing the team did the four days prior means anything. The other seven teams didn't stand a chance against the Cardinal in stroke play but effectively get a reset in match play, where anything can happen.
"No matter what happens the next two days, you know, match play, there's some trickery to it," Stanford coach Anne Walker said, "and so no matter what happens, we're not going to lose sight of all these stroke-play events this year that we came out on top. I think that speaks volumes to the quality of the team."
Mistakes are glorified in match play, with a couple of bad shots or unlucky bounces being the difference between winning and losing a match. Four days of dominance, as Stanford has just put together, might end up meaning nothing by Wednesday night.
And that's a problem. Perhaps it's time to revisit whether match play is truly the best way to determine a champion, not just what's best for television.
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