SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- In just the ninth year of the program's existence, the Wayne State University women's golf team is going to the NCAA Championships. The Warriors needed to finish among the top six teams at the East Regional and did so with a fourth-place showing. Individually,
Beca Vestman (Madrid, Spain / Colegio Base) tied for first through 54 holes before coming up short in the first playoff hole.
Second-year head coach
Larry Hamilton had this to say about his team and Vestman's performance the past three days: "This was truly a full team team effort. I'm so proud of how each one of them showed up when we needed all week. Rebeca Vestman's performance was outstanding. To be -2 after 54 holes on that golf course is just another confirmation that she is one of the best players in our region and in the country."
Vestman shot a 214 (-2, 70-71-73) and has paced Wayne State in each of the last three NCAA East Regionals including an 11th place in 2022 and 19th place in 2021. This time around, Vestman was joined in the top 20 by
Sabel Imesch (Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich. / Grosse Pointe South) in a tie for 17th with a 226 (+10, 70-78-78).
Rounding out the scoring for the Warriors were
Maisarah Hezri (Sungai Petani, Kedah, Malaysia) in a tie for 28th with a 230 (+14, 75-77-78) and
Avery Howard (Muskegon, Mich. / Reeths-Puffer) in a tie for 32nd with a 232 (+16, 78-75-79).
Orianna Bylsma (Montague, Mich. / Montague) finished in a tie for 65th with a 246 (+30, 78-83-85).
The NCAA Championships, hosted by the University of Missouri-St. Louis, will be played at Fox Run Golf Club in Eureka, Mo. on May 16-20 with a practice round the day before on May 15.
The event will consist of both team and individual competition conducted concurrently. Eighteen (18) teams and eight (8) individuals (not on one of those teams) will compete for team and individual championships over 54 holes and championship head-to-head medal play format. Following 54 holes of stroke play, an individual champion will be declared along with finishers 2-10.
Ties to determine the top eight teams and NCAA individual champion will be broken by a sudden-victory playoff or, if necessary, by the established non-sudden-death tiebreaking procedures. Ties for teams must be determined prior to ties for individual medalist.
The top eight teams after 54 holes of play will be placed into a bracket and seeded based on 54-hole scores. The pairings for the quarterfinals will be seed #1 versus seed #8, seed #2 versus seed #7, seed #3 versus seed #6, and seed #4 versus seed #5 competing in head-to-head medal play (stroke play over 18 holes and low score wins).
