Kajsa Arwefjäll (Photo by Max Bechtoldt)
By Max Bechtoldt (@CavsMax13) – Executive Editor
A roller coaster of a week came to an end Tuesday morning, as the No. 5 San Jose State University women’s golf team fell to Oregon in the national championship quarterfinal round.
The national championship started Friday at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. In the opening round, the Spartans shot a disappointing 307, which had them in a three-way tie for last place.
The Spartans fought back hard on Saturday and Sunday though, shooting 296 and 285 respectively. The -3 285 on Sunday was the second best team score of the day, behind only No. 1 Stanford. The blazing round was propelled by senior Natasha Andrea Oon and junior Kajsa Arwefjäll shooting -4 68. These strong rounds got the Spartans through the first cut, where the field was narrowed from 32 teams to 15.
On Monday, The Spartans got out to a strong start, led by senior Antonia Malate, freshman Lucia Lopez-Ortega and Oon all shooting under par opening nines. The second nine wasn’t so smooth sailing, and Oon found herself in a must par situation to advance to the semi-final round. She stepped up to the occasion though, nailing a clutch birdie putt to clinch a spot in the match play portion of the event.
Tuesday, the format flipped to head-to-head matchplay, where the No. 7 seed Spartans faced the No. 2 seed Oregon Ducks. The Spartans gave up the lead early and struggled to gain it back throughout the day. Oregon’s Ching Tzu-Chen defeated Malate 5&4. Minutes later, Oregon’s Briana Chacon defeated Lopez-Ortega 4&3.
The Spartans wouldn’t go down without a fight though, as Arwefjäll had clutch hole wins on 16 and 17. On 17 Arwefjäll hit an incredible putt from off the green to narrow the lead to only one stroke.
With Oon comfortably leading her match a hole behind, sophomore Louisa Carlbom held steady two down, but had a huge birdie win on 16 to pull within just one hole. It wasn’t enough though, as Oregon’s Hsin-Yu Lu birdied the difficult 17 to win the match for Oregon, 4-1.
Arwefjäll’s loss in particular was heartbreaking, as she shot a blazing -6 66, and rallied hard late.
In the individual portion of the event, Oon finished in second place at -3. Three strokes behind Stanford freshman, and No. 1 amateur women’s golfer in the world, Rose Zhang.
Though it was a disappointing result for the Spartans, they performed admirably throughout the week. Coming back from their weak round 1 and coming back late on Tuesday, the Spartans showed resiliency and proved throughout the week that they were amongst the elite teams in the country.