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NBC Sports
25-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Connor Williams-led Arizona State goes from 'broken' to NCAA lead
CARLSBAD, Calif. – Too much winning is often the worst thing for somebody. Those were the words of Arizona State head coach Matt Thurmond after the Sun Devils failed to qualify for the NCAA Championship as the top seed in the 2024 NCAA Ranch Santa Fe Regional and winners of three of their past four events, including the final Pac-12 Championship. 'There's just a certain psychology that comes after you've been broken,' Thurmond explained at the time, 'and it's different than the psychology that you have after you win.' The healing process for Arizona State this season has included three wins, spaced evenly throughout the season, along with five runner-up finishes, including the Sun Devils' inaugural Big 12 Championship and the NCAA Bremerton Regional, where Arizona State cruised by 26 shots over Utah, which finished sixth as the first team out. If last year the Sun Devils were 'numb to the reality of what it takes' to succeed in the postseason, then this time Thurmond's team is fully aware. They entered this week's NCAA Championship relatively under the radar and as newbies having never seen Omni La Costa. Sophomore Connor Williams is San Diego area native, though none of his 100-plus rounds here prior to this week came after Gil Hanse's re-do. 'I was a little worried after missing last year that we would be behind as far as course knowledge,' Thurmond said. 'We had never seen it until the practice round, and I didn't watch one minute of coverage last year.' And yet through 36 holes, Arizona State paces the field at 13 under, three shots better than Oklahoma and 20 clear of Illinois, which sits in ninth and is currently the first team out of match play. The Sun Devils threw out Michael Mjaaseth's 1-under 71 in Saturday's second round and boast two players in the top 5 individually in Josele Ballester (T-5) and Williams, who is tied with Ole Miss' Michael La Sasso at 9 under, four shots better than third place. Thurmond was especially pleased with just six bogeys and no doubles from his counting scorers in Round 2. 'It's nice to get that out of mind,' Thurmond added, 'that we can play this course just like anybody else.' Nobody is playing it better than Williams right now. Williams, who is from nearby Escondido, wasn't the most decorated junior player when former Arizona State player Luke Potter, who now plays for Texas, told Thurmond shortly after committing to the Sun Devils in ninth grade that he should next look at Williams. 'He's not that good yet,' Potter said, according to Thurmond, 'but he does everything right, works super hard, is an awesome guy and we want him at ASU.' 'We started watching him,' Thurmond added, 'and he committed shortly thereafter.' With Ballester and Preston Summerhays soaking up much of the attention and expectations, Williams has sneakily developed into one of the best players in the country. He's ranked 35th in the country and tallied three top-8s in the fall. But he started the spring by finishing outside the top 60 in Hawaii and T-50 at Pauma Valley, missing the Sun Devils' win at the Cabo Collegiate in between to play in the Puerto Rico Open, where he missed the cut. He struggled for the next few events until Thurmond decided to throw him into a two-man, 54-hole qualifier for Big 12s with freshman Peer Wernicke. Williams won that qualifier, then finished runner-up at Southern Hills. He followed with a T-5 at regionals. 'That was big to get through that qualifier,' Williams said, 'and then have a good week at Big 12s and gain that confidence back.' Added Thurmond: 'People have no idea how good this guy is. He wins over and over and over again in drills we do every day in practice. … He hadn't been in a qualifier like that for a long time, but he deserved it. He had to prove to himself that he was the guy that should be there, and he did.'
NBC Sports
18-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Little-used junior steps up in relief to keep Oregon women firmly inside NCAA top 8
Oregon head coach Derek Radley was beaming. Ducks junior Anika Varma stepped on the 10th tee Saturday morning at Omni La Costa with just six tournament rounds under her belt, three as part of Oregon's starting lineup. She'd won a qualifier to earn the right to travel to Carlsbad as the Ducks' sixth woman, and with freshman Tong An waking up too sore to compete after an opening 74, Varma was thrust into action in the second round of the NCAA Championship. Varma responded with an even-par 72, tied for the team's low round of the day. She even had it to 2 under at one point on her second nine. 'To throw her in second round of a national championship and for her to go out and do that, just awesome,' said Radley, whose Oregon team sits third at 1 over, six shots back of Stanford and just a stroke shy of Northwestern. 'She really, truly is a mentally tough kid. She's worked her freaking tail off, and I'm so proud of her for continuing to be engaged through this whole time and continuing to work hard in case we needed her, and I commended her on that.' It was because of that dedication that Varma, who graduated this spring, was afforded the opportunity to play Darae Chung in an 18-hole qualifier last week at Emerald Valley, the team's home course. Chung was coming off a second-round 85 at the NCAA Gold Canyon Regional before being subbed out for Karen Tsuru, who missed a few starts this spring with a back injury. Varma hadn't performed much better in limited duty, tying for 43rd as an individual at the Windy City Collegiate last fall and then sharing 44th at the Silverado Showdown, where she took a resting Kiara Romero's spot. In three years at Oregon, Varma has posted three top-20s in 12 career events, all three coming as a freshman, when she went T-11 and T-15 before tying for ninth at the Pac-12 Championship. Yet, Radley went with his gut and gave the relentless worker a shot; Varma responded by making nine birdies to easily defeat Chung, and she followed that up with an impressive week of practice. 'She looked the best she's looked in her time at Oregon,' said Radley, who also felt that La Costa, at just over 6,200 yards but extremely penal if off target, set up perfect for the short-but-accurate Varma. 'If there was ever a golf course that would fit her, it's this one,' Radley added. Varma took advantage of soft, morning conditions, carding just three bogeys and equaling her best round not just of this season, where she was a combined 22 over entering Saturday, but of the past two seasons. 'I'm out here having a blast,' Varma told Radley after her round. 'It's my last go round, so let's go get it.' Suvichaya Vinijchaitham and Tiffany Huang added 72s for Oregon, which advanced to the semifinals last year at La Costa. Romero was the throw-out score with a 74. Most of the morning wave, comprised of the better ranked teams, climbed the leaderboard as well, including the top-ranked Cardinal, who shot 10 under after an opening 5-over round. USC and Florida State are tied for fourth at 3 over while Mississippi State is sixth at 4 over and Texas is tied for seventh with Oklahoma State, the only team in the top 12 that played in the afternoon, at 5 over. The top eight teams after 72 holes qualify for match play, which begins Tuesday. First-round leader Vanderbilt plummeted to T-13 at 12 over after an 18-over day. LSU (14 over), Ohio State (16 over), Wake Forest (+26) and Ole Miss (28 over) were the morning-wave teams who are outside the top 15 and will get bumped to the tougher afternoon wave on Sunday. Mississippi State's Avery Weed leads South Carolina's Eila Galitsky by two shots at 7 under in the individual race. Florida State's Mirabel Ting, the favorite to win the Annika Award, is tied for sixth at 3 under, two shots clear of her teammate Lottie Woad, thought to be her biggest challenger along with Romero.
NBC Sports
17-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Unlike regionals, Vanderbilt women start strong to take NCAA Championship lead
Vanderbilt opened its NCAA regional a couple weeks ago in 13 over. The Commodores got off to a much better start Friday, shooting 6 under to take a two-shot lead after the first round of the NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championship at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, California. Oklahoma State sits second at 4 under as the Cowboys, like Vanderbilt, teed off in the morning wave, which consisted of the lower-ranked squads in the 30-team field. Florida also played early and shot even par, where it is tied with top-10 programs Oregon, Texas and Arizona State. 'I thought the girls did a nice job of bringing the momentum that we had the last two rounds in Lexington with us,' said Vanderbilt head coach Greg Allen, whose Commodores set a new program low at nationals thanks in large part to 3-under 69s from Ava Merrill and Tillie Claggett. 'It's really nice to take advantage of the morning tee time and get off to a good start. … It's still super early, so we understand there's a lot of golf left, and we just need to embrace the leaderboard and where we're at.' Vanderbilt's five players also combined for just one double bogey or worse. Further down the leaderboard, top-ranked Stanford is tied for 11th at 5 over. The Cardinal, which haven't lost a stroke-play competition since prior to last year's Pac-12 Championship, threw out a 77 from Annika Award finalist Meja Ortengren. No. 4 Florida State, which boasts the top two amateurs in the world in Mirabel Ting and Lottie Woad, shares 16th at 7 over. Ting and Woad shot 2-under 70 and even-par 72, respectively. No. 2 Arkansas and No. 3 South Carolina each opened in 9 over, good only for T-21, while No. 7 Wake Forest is beating just three teams at 16 over. Gamecocks senior Hannah Darling, who was subbed out after an opening 84 at last year's NCAA Championship but bounced back this season to be ranked 12th nationally, shot 82 on Friday and is ahead of just three players. Tennessee's Bailey Davis carded just one bogey while shooting 5-under 67. She leads Texas' Lauren Kim, USC's Catherine Park and LSU's Elsa Svensson.
USA Today
08-05-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Kiara Romero, Oregon Ducks golf clinches NCAA championship appearance with regional win
The Oregon Ducks women's golf team is heading back to the NCAA Championships, which has become the expectation each year for one of the top golf programs in the nation. On Wednesday, the Ducks clinched their spot in the championships with a win at the NCAA Canyon Regional, taking the tournament by nine strokes. It was sophomore phenom Kiara Romero who led the way, winning the individual championship at the regional with a -16 for the week. Her second round was a UO record 62 (-10), which put the Ducks well out in front of the rest of the pack. Oregon shot a seven-under 281 on Wednesday to secure the tournament. Romero had a four-under 68, while Suvichaya Vinijchaitham was three-under, and Ting-Hsuan Huang was two-under. Behind the Ducks was Arizona State (-3), Oklahoma State (+2), No. 20 Mississippi State (+11) and Cal State Fullerton (+23). "Super proud of our team for not only punching their ticket to the NCAA Championships, but for coming out here and getting a win against a really good field," head coach Derek Radley said, via the Oregon Athletic Department. "They didn't come here with the mindset of just finishing in the top five; they wanted to make a statement. Really pleased with the way our whole lineup performed today. It's not easy to get to the NCAA Championships, and these ladies have earned it. We're excited to get back to Carlsbad and see what we can do next week." They always say that peaking at the right time of the season is among the most important things you can do, and the Ducks appear to be doing that right now. This is their third tournament win of the year, and their second in a row after running away with the victory in the Big Ten Championship a week ago. The last Oregon team to do this was in 2021-22, when the Ducks won the Pac-12 Championship, the Albuquerque Regional, and then finished as runner-ups in the NCAA Championship. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle The 2025 NCAA Championships begin on Friday, May 16, at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. There will be three rounds of stroke play before the field is cut to the top 15 teams for a final round of stroke play on Monday, May 19, with the top eight teams then advancing to match play. The match play quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on Tuesday, May 20, with the championship match on Wednesday, May 21. Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.
USA Today
21-03-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Rachel Heck heads back to Augusta National after graduating from military training school
Rachel Heck heads back to Augusta National after graduating from military training school Rachel Heck graduated from the military's Defense Information School on Thursday at the top of her class. A public affairs officer in the Air Force Reserve, the Stanford grad took a 10-week break from her full-time job as an analyst for KKR in San Francisco to take the course at Fort Meade in Maryland. She also spent a little time at the Pentagon. "It's just nice to know I'm in the right place, and I'm not totally lost," Heck said of being a distinguished honors graduate. And now, the second lieutenant heads back to California, where she'll report to the office Monday and begin to cram for her fourth August National Women's Amateur appearance. The event, which begins April 2, will mark her first time competing since last May, when she helped Stanford clinch its second NCAA title in three years. Heck first qualified for the U.S. Women's Open at age 15 and, as a hotshot junior, suffered a back injury that left her sidelined from the game. Without golf, she felt lost, and during a period of darkness, decided that she wanted to pursue the Air Force ROTC to find something more. Heck's parents told her she was crazy, but she persisted. As a freshman at Stanford, with dreams of playing on the LPGA and serving in the Air Force on full throttle, Heck set an NCAA scoring record (69.72) en route to sweeping the postseason. She won six times in nine starts at Stanford in 2021, including her last five events. Heck became the third player in NCAA history to sweep the postseason, winning the Pac-12 Championship, NCAA regionals and nationals. She posted 15 of 25 rounds in the 60s, including 12 consecutive. But, as her college career progressed, more injuries followed. She eventually decided that chasing U.S. Women's Open trophies and the LPGA Hall of Fame was no longer a dream, and passed on LPGA Q-School for a job in private equity. She does still, however, plan to keep competing as an amateur, taking full advantage of her 2025 exemption into the U.S. Women's Amateur at Bandon Dunes this summer. "I love that she's chosen her own way," said Heck's mom, Stacy, "whether we all saw the vision that she saw right away or not. She's taken us on this incredible journey." Golfweek caught up with Heck after her most recent graduation to talk about life after Stanford, Augusta National and future plans. What follows are excerpts from that conversation: Right now I'm in the process of trying to figure out where I'll actually be stationed, but for the time being, I'm going to be at the entertainment liaison office in Los Angeles, which advises on movie sets. So you see like 'Iron Man' and 'Captain Marvel,' the entertainment liaison office had a hand in that to make sure everything in the military is depicted accurately. But I actually won't be there for super long. I'm still trying to navigate, but my position's a little bit weird since I'm in IMA, which is Individual Mobilization Augmentee. It's kind of like its reserves, but even more flexible. I had big ambitions for practice (in Maryland). I have my clubs in the closet. I probably ended up practicing, I think three times, so not a lot, but that's OK. The way I see it, I have like a week. I go back to work on Monday to my analyst job, so I'm going to try to get out a little bit early or just find find a driving range there to get some last-minute cram sessions. I've gone into tournaments with no practice and played great. I've practiced every day and played horrible. So golf is a weird game in that you just don't know what's going to happen. I've definitely played tournaments without a lot of practice beforehand, but I think this is definitely the most extreme case because I like really haven't played golf since nationals. So I definitely have a new perspective coming into this because other times when I haven't played in a long time, I get to play again. I'm starting my road back to playing more tournaments, back to competing all the time. But this just feels a lot different to me because, I don't know, it really just feels like something I get to do. Like I've worked super hard learning a new industry, learning, you know, how to be an officer in the Air Force. And now I get to go take a week and play Augusta National. It's just a totally new perspective. I have very low expectations for how I'm going to play. And this is, frankly, the first of my life where I truly don't care about my performance, which is awesome. It's a really good feeling. Like I'm just excited to get back the next week and tell my co-workers all about Augusta. I honestly was very confident in my decision, but it's hard to tell how you're going to feel once, you know, my peers do go pro. Seeing them do that and seeing them compete, frankly, there has not been a moment where I have second-guessed my decision at all. I absolutely loved cheering them on, seeing my friends like, you know, Sadie (Englemann) and Lauren Miller working their way up on the mini tours, all the way to Karl (Vilips) and Michael (Thorbjornsen) and the PGA. Like, I'm just their biggest fan ever, but seeing them do that, I just realize l absolutely love where I am, and there's truly not a part of me that that wishes I was out there on tour, which is, you know, it's hard to make those decisions. It was hard to make that initial decision, but I feel just more confident than I ever have in it. The (NCAA) trophies are in Tennessee right now. My dad loves to have his beer after work and look at them, but they will reside with me when I have a more permanent home. I've kind of been all over the past year. I was home for a few weeks in Memphis, and then I was in New York for a couple months, and then I was in San Francisco for a couple months, and then I've been here for a couple months. So I haven't had a good place to keep them. I will have to pry them out of his hands when the time comes. But, I mean, thinking back on that week, I think about it every day, honestly. I just don't know how I got so fortunate because it truly does just feel like a fairy-tale, and there's, you know, there's so many times in golf, there's a lot of highs and lows and I've spent many years not getting to, not really riding the highs, like moving on to the next one, being proud of myself and moving on. But I get to ride this high literally the rest of my life because that was it for me. That was that was the end of my golf career as I knew it, and to be able to to go out like that and run into my teammate's arms. I mean, that's that is the moment that you dream about. During a commissioning ceremony in the military, you always get loved ones or people of been super impactful in your life to pin on your lieutenant bars. And so it was just so special to have my mom and Dr. (Condoleezza) Rice pin those on. She played, I mean, she's such a wonderful mentor to me. She played such a big role in my Air Force career. I remember I met her when I was 15 on my very first visit to Stanford, and I was so nervous. We sat down for 30 minutes and my parents were freaking out. I was freaking out and she was telling me her story of how she grew up knowing that she was going to be a concert pianist, and that's what she was absolutely positive that she wanted to do, no doubt about it. And then one day she stepped into an international relations class and fell in love with it. And I was like, that is such a cool story, but I know I'm going to be a golfer. So we see how that turned out.
