BERKELEY -- California women's golf will head to the NCAA Regionals for the 20th straight season. The Golf Channel announced on their live show Wednesday afternoon that the Bears will head to the Auburn Regional at Saugahatchee Country Club in Opelika, Alabama on May 6-8 as they look to earn a berth at the NCAA Championship.
 
The top six teams and three individuals not from those teams at each NCAA regional will advance to the NCAA Championship at Blessings Golf Club, in Fayetteville, Arkansas on May 17-22. The other NCAA Regionals will be at Tumble Creek Golf Club in Cle Elum, Washington; Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Oklahoma; and Forest Akers West Golf Course in East Lansing, Michigan.  
 
Cal first appeared at the NCAA Regionals in the year 2000 and have qualified every year since, marking 20 straight years. Cal has had representation at the NCAA Championship each of the last five years. Cal qualified as a team in 2014, 2015 and 2017. Marianne Li qualified as an individual in 2016 and Marthe Wold went as an individual last season.     
 
"20 straight years at NCAA Regionals is a really great accomplishment," head coach Nancy McDaniel said. "It really backs up what we have been doing as a program. We play in the best conference in women's golf and we have been able to sustain that throughout the last 20 years."
 
This season, the Bears have tallied four top-two finishes including a run of three straight tournaments this spring. The Pac-12 Preview was the site of the Bears first top-two finish as they closed the fall by finishing one stroke off the title while playing against some of the top teams in the country. Three Bears finished in the top-10.
 
Cal upped that mark when four Bears finished in the top-10 at the Gunrock Classic as the Bears tallied another second-place finish at the beginning of March. Seniors Cindy Oh and Li placed in the top-10 at the Juli Inkster Invitational at Meadow Club. The Bears transitioned to match play at the Lamkin Invitational as they survived three rounds to advance to the Championship before falling to no. 6 Vanderbilt. In their most recent tournament, Cal took ninth at the Pac-12 Championship.  
 
"This is our favorite time of year because you get to start anew," McDaniel said. "This team hasn't played its best yet, so we are all really hungry to go to Alabama and see what we can accomplish. It is tough to travel across the country, but you just need one spot. It's a great test of consistency. You don't have to be great, you just have to go and play within yourself and I'm confident that we can do that."
 
This has been a breakout campaign for Oh. She has played two of the 10 best rounds in school history and tied for the school record for shots under par as she shot a 6-under 67 at the Pac-12 Preview. Oh recorded three top-five finishes and five top-20 finishes. That was on the back of 12 rounds at par or under during the season. Oh also provided the Bears with one of their signature wins of the year as she sunk the match-winning putt on the second tiebreaker hole at the inaugural Big Match this fall, leading the Bears to a match-play victory over Stanford.
 
Freshman Katherine Zhu has also been instrumental during her first year on campus. The San Jose native has played in every tournament and currently holds the lowest scoring average by a freshman in school history at 73.5. Zhu has 10 rounds at par or under as she has tallied five top-10 finishes and eight top-25 finishes.
 
Li will look to return to the NCAA Championship after competing there as a freshman and sophomore. Li won the Shoal Creek Regional to qualify for the NCAA Championship as a freshman. She then qualified as part of the team during the 2017 season.
 
Maria Herraez Galvez is the other Bears with NCAA Championship experience as she competed with the team during her freshman season. She notched a 24th-place finish and notched two rounds at par in the NCAA Regionals to help the Bears qualify as a team.