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Yunxuan ZHang 2023 NCAA Championship

Mustangs Cap Incredible Season With 11th Place Finish At NCAA Championship

May 22

RESULTS
 
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (SMU) - Capping off an incredible season, SMU women's golf finished 11th at the NCAA Championship, the program's best finish since 1986.
 
Participating in their first NCAA Championship since 1992, the Mustangs successfully qualified for Monday by earning a top-15 spot after three rounds of golf. On Monday, the Mustangs began in 15th place looking for a spot in the top eight to continue their season.
 
The Mustangs shot their best round of the tournament on Monday with a five-under 283. They quickly moved out of 15th place and into contention for a quarterfinal spot. By midround, the Mustangs were sitting alone in 13th place before they put together a charge up the leaderboard. SMU came to within one spot of a qualifying spot by the end of their round. After the last few teams finished up, the Mustangs would end play in 11th place, four shots back of a quarterfinal spot in the top eight.
 
This season marked the Mustangs sixth top-15 finish at the NCAA Championship, with all the previous occasions coming from 1982-1992.
 
Yunxuan (Michelle) Zhang registered the best NCAA finish by a Mustangs since 1986 (Martha Foyer- T5th). Zhang finished in a tie for fifth while shooting a 70 on the final day. The freshman shot par or better in each of the four rounds. She finished her season with 27 rounds of par or better, a new Mustangs single-season record. After bogeying her first hole, Zhang played bogey-free the rest of the way as she moved into the top-five, three shots off the NCAA Champion, Rose Zhang of Stanford.
 
Lauren Miller was one of two players on the course to play bogey-free on Monday. The graduate senior ended her collegiate career with one of her best rounds. She shot a 67 to move up 23 spots on the leaderboard into a tie for 41st. She finished in the top half in each of her last five events helping to fuel the recent tear the Mustangs accomplished.
 
Ellie Szeryk shot one-under for the day to move up the leaderboard. The junior finished in a tie for 52nd bookending her tournament with rounds of 71. She shot a 33 on the back nine with three birdies.
 
Mackenzie Lee carded a four-over 76 on the final day. She finished the tournament in a tie for 65th at 13-over par. Ashley Chow rebounded after a tough start to play two-under par for the final 17 holes. Chow finished tied for 76th after closing out her season with a 75.
 
In their ground-breaking season, the Mustangs won six tournament titles including five in a row. This included a large margin victory at the AAC Championship, their first since 1992, and co-victory at the NCAA Regional, their best even regional finish. Under the leadership of second-year head coach, Lauren Mason, SMU broke 39 program records across the season, including lowest scoring average, lowest single round and lowest 54-hole team score. The Mustangs rewrote the record book in their historic 2022-23 campaign.
 
 
 
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