BERKELEY – The California women's golf team earned a berth in the 2023 NCAA Championships and will head to Florida for the Palm Beach Gardens Regional from May 8-10.

The No. 7-seeded Golden Bears will be one of 12 teams competing at the PGA National Resort. The regional is co-hosted by Florida Atlantic and the Palm Beach County Sports Commission.

"This group wants to finish its work. This is the next step towards that," Cal head coach Nancy McDaniel said. "We've had a plan in place and we've checked the boxes weekly with hard work, innovation and collaboration. Their hard work has paid off being seeded seventh, so we're on point and we're at the place we need to be on our road to the NCAAs."

The top five teams from each regional will advance to the largest NCAA Championship field in women's golf history; the event expands from 27 to 30 teams this year.

"That is a huge deal for women's golf," McDaniel said. "The work that the WGCA (Women's Golf Coaches Association), the women and the coaches did on that over the last year is phenomenal and it just makes sense. To have 30 teams, this is exactly what you want when women's golf is getting more and more competitive every day. On a bigger picture and platform, I'm just really proud of the women and our organization, my colleagues in the WGCA who pushed and pushed to get something done on this and to get it right."

The Bears have qualified for regionals every year since 2000 except for 2021. Cal will be making its 22nd NCAA regional appearance and look to advance to the NCAA Championships for the fifth time in 10 years.

Cal has been led this year by junior Cristina Ochoa and graduate student Annika Borrelli, who enter regionals with the team's best scoring averages of 73.8 and 74.0, respectively. Ochoa began the year with a third-place finish at the USF Intercollegiate and later tied a program record with an opening-round score of -6 at the Pac-12 Preview. She recorded the Bears' lowest scores through 18 (-6) and 54 (-6) holes this season.

Borrelli has been the Bears' top performer during the spring, leading the team with two top-10 finishes and six rounds at par or better. She is coming off a stellar Pac-12 Championship showing which saw her shoot par or better in all three rounds, finishing in a tie for seventh place individually.

Ochoa, junior Mika Jin, and senior Tzu-Yi Chang all have NCAA experience from competing at last year's Stillwater Regional.

"We want to capitalize on this year and capitalize on the opportunity that's been presented for these young women on our team," McDaniel said. "Regionals are always challenging, but the main message is that we've got another tournament and it is what you make of it. If you believe you can do it, then you can, and that's something that's been growing in us. We're getting ready for something that we know we can attain."

No. 1 seed LSU will be one of four top-20 teams competing at the Palm Beach Gardens Regional. 

NCAA STILLWATER REGIONAL
1. LSU
2. Texas
3. Northwestern
4. UCF
5. Duke
6. Michigan State
7. California
8. Arkansas
9. Alabama
10. South Florida
11. Penn
12. Quinnipiac

 

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