Scouting The Karsten Creek Regional

STILLWATER, Okla. ---- No. 1-seeded Oklahoma State women's golf is set to play host to the NCAA Stillwater Regional May 9-11 at Karsten Creek Golf Club. Spectators are welcome at the three-day event and there will be no admission charge. Parking is available along the road leading into the golf course.

In November, the NCAA had announced the move to a six-regional format effective with the spring championship. Each of the six regional sites will now feature 12 teams and six individuals, with the top four teams and top two individuals (not on an advancing team) qualifying for the championships, which will be held for the second-straight year at Grayhawk Golf Club (Raptor Course) in Scottsdale, Ariz., from May 20-25.

With the move to six regional sites from the previous four-site format, 72 teams will still qualify for regional play, with the number of individuals not on an advancing team increasing from 24 to 36.

As we get set for the regional, here's a better look at the 11 teams joining the Cowgirls at Karsten Creek:

ARIZONA STATE

Eight national championships.
29^th-consecutive NCAA regional.
The program has claimed or shared a total of five regional team championships, with the last coming during their National Championship run in 2017.
A season ago, the Sun Devils had an impressive showing at the Columbus Regional, finishing tied for second on their way to reaching NCAA Match Play.
Arizona State landed four individuals on the Pac-12 All-Conference teams this year, tied for the second most selections of any school.

BAYLOR

The Bears will be appearing in an NCAA Tournament for the ninth time out of ten possible tournaments during head coach John Goble's tenure. BU was a No. 3 seed in the Baton Rouge regional in 2021. This marks the 19^th NCAA Regional berth in program history, all since 2000.
Baylor has advanced through Regionals to the NCAA Championship in four of the last six tournaments, earning Championship berths in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2021, recording top-10 national finishes in '15, '17 and '18.
Baylor advanced to match play and finished as national runner-up in 2015 at The Concession; the Bears again advanced to match play and finished tied for fifth place in 2017 at Rich Harvest Farms; and BU fell in a playoff for the final match play berth on its way to a tie for eighth place in the 2018 NCAA Championship at Karsten Creek.
Baylor has faced nine teams in the Stillwater Regional during the 2021-22 season, going a combined 10-5-1 against those opponents – OSU (1-1-1), Arizona State (0-3), Auburn (2-1), Michigan State (1-0), Clemson (1-0), Furman (2-0), North Carolina State (1-0), California (1-0) and Tulane (1-0).
A tie for second at the Big 12 Championship marked BU's fourth-straight top-three finish at the tournament and the highest finish since a solo second in 2019.

AUBURN

Auburn, coming off a stroke play title at the SEC Championship, is ranked No. 19 nationally on Golfstat.
It was the first time Auburn has finished first in stroke play since 2012.
The Tigers have advanced through to NCAAs in each of their last three regional appearances, including last year when they finished tied for fourth at the NCAA Louisville Regional.
Head coach Melissa Luellen, a native of Oklahoma, took her Auburn team to Stillwater and Karsten Creek Golf Club for the 2018 NCAA Championships where the Tigers finished tied for 15th.
Only one current member of the team, Kaleigh Telfer, played in the regional last time Auburn came to Karsten Creek and as a freshman she led the team in scoring.

MICHIGAN STATE

Michigan State will be making its 22nd NCAA Regional appearance since 1999.
Michigan State is ranked No. 30 in the country in the latest Golfstat rankings and is coming off a second-place finish at the Big Ten Championships.
The Spartans were one of six schools from the Big Ten Conference to reach the NCAA Regionals.
Michigan State senior women's golfer Valery Plata was selected to the All-Big Ten First Team this season. This is the third-straight year Plata has earned All-Big Ten First Team honors.
It has been a busy year for Plata. She played in the 2022 Augusta National Women's Amateur (ANWA), held from March 30 to April 2, at the Island and Bluff nines at Champions Retreat Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. While she missed the cut at the ANWA, she was able to spend the weekend at historic Augusta National Golf Club, where the finals were held.

CLEMSON

Clemson's selection marks the seventh time in eight opportunities that the team has earned a regional selection.
The Tigers finished 10th of 18 teams in the Columbus Regional in Columbus, Ohio in 2021.
Clemson has finished in the top-10 in all of its spring events and has been led by freshman Melena Barrientos, who enters the postseason with a 73.63 stroke average.
Senior Callista Rice is the only Tiger to participate in all nine tournaments this season, with a stroke average of 75.15.
Clemson finished ACC Championship stroke play at +26 to finish fifth following three rounds of golf at the 6,212-yard, par-72 Reserve Golf Club of Pawleys Island.

CAMPBELL

For the 24th time in 29 seasons, Campbell University is heading to post-season play in women's golf. The Big South Conference champion received an automatic berth to play in the Stillwater Regional.
The post-season berth is the 10th-straight for head coach John Crooks.
While the Campbell women have not competed at Karsten Creek, Crooks has experience at the course from 2018, when he coached Pontus Nyholm as an individual qualifier in the NCAA Championship.
Campbell earned the Big South's automatic berth in the NCAA regionals on the strength of a 14-shot victory in the league stroke play championship followed by match play wins on Apr. 16 over UNC Asheville and USC Upstate to claim a sixth-straight title.
The victory was the sixth of the season for the Camels, who won the Golfweek Fall Challenge and White Sands Bahamas Invitational last semester. CU has won four times in the 2022 spring campaign, at the Sea Best Intercollegiate, Briar's Creek Invitational and Babs Steffens Invitational in addition to the Big South tourney.

FURMAN

Furman, which secured the Southern Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by capturing its 19th SoCon Championship last week at Barefoot Landing Resort's Dye Course in North Myrtle Beach, S.C., will make its 23rd NCAA Regional appearance.
The Paladins appeared in 17-straight regionals from 1993, when the regional format began, until 2010.
Furman finished ninth at the NCAA Auburn Regional in 2019 in Opelika, Ala., and last season three Paladins qualified as individuals for the NCAA Simpsonville Regional in Simpsonville, Ky. Anna Morgan turned in a 16th-place finish to lead Furman at the event.
The Paladins' lineup for the regional will include seniors Kyra Cox and Sarah-Eve Rhéaume, junior Anna Morgan, sophomore Sophia Burnett, and freshman Savannah Hylton.
Morgan notably was voted the Southern Conference Women's Golf Player of the Year, and the Paladins placed three players on the All-Southern Conference team.

NC STATE

The selection into the NCAA Tournament marks NC State's 10th-straight year being represented at a regional, and its 19th time in the last 20 seasons. Each of the Pack's tournament appearances have taken place under the direction of long-time head coach Page Marsh.
A potential NCAA Championship appearance would be the fifth in program's history, with 2015 serving as the most recent.
An impressive year from NC State was highlighted by a third-place finish at the Wolfpack Match Play, the final competition of the regular season, as well as the team's best performance at the ACC Championship since 2017.
NC State wrapped up the final round of the ACC Championship's stroke play finishing the week in a tie for seventh place alongside Virginia Tech.
Individually, the emergence of underclassmen Lauren Olivares Leon and Isabel Amezcua were a major storyline for the Pack, as well continued veteran leadership from Lea Klimentova, Natalie Armbruester and Inja Fric.

CALIFORNIA

This year marks Cal's 21^st NCAA regional appearance. The Bears have qualified for a regional every year since 2000 except for 2021.
Cal has advanced to the NCAA Finals in four of the past eight years.
The Bears have been hampered by injuries this season but look to be at full strength heading into regionals. Senior Katherine Zhu and sophomore Mika Jin are tied for the team lead with a 74.1 scoring average. Both have three top-20 finishes this season.
Zhu and fellow senior Elena Arias are the only two players on the roster with NCAA experience. They both competed at the Auburn Regional in 2019
Cal wrapped up the Pac-12 Championships in 11^th place at the Eugene Country Club.

TULANE

This year is the Wave's first NCAA Regional appearance since 2016.
Carla Bernat, Sandra Vazquez and Cleo Liu were named to the American Athletic Conference All-League team on Tuesday.
Head Coach Stew Burke was also named the AAC Coach of the Year.
This is the first time a member of the team has earned the honor since Jennifer Rosenberg in 2019.
This is the first time in Tulane women's golf program history that a coach has won the honor of coach of the year. In his third season at the helm of the program, Burke guided Tulane to its first league championship in women's golf as an American member and first NCAA Regional berth since 2016.

ILLINOIS STATE

This season was ISU's first MVC Championship since the 2013 season, and the eighth time in program history.
In 2013 the team competed at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Course in Norman, Okla., and ISU placed 22nd of 24 schools.
Illinois State's best finish at an NCAA Regional came in 2004 when the Redbirds placed ninth of 21 teams, as the three-day championship was hosted at the Illinois State University Golf Course.
It was a close battle down the stretch, but the Illinois State women's golf team picked up the program's first MVC Championship since the 2013 season with a one-stroke win over the field at the 2022 MVC Championships.
Junior Ali Schrock was named the MVC Golfer of the Year and placed second in the field, as head coach Breanne Hall was named the MVC Coach of the Year. Schrock, Kehler Koss, and Avalon Woodward were all named to the All-Conference squad.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

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