The final match was just as exciting as the previous matches this week at the NCAA DI Women’s Golf Championship. No. 1 Stanford – the defending champions – went up against No. 11 Northwestern, who was looking for their first national title. Northwestern carried the momentum from yesterday into today and from the previous day and became the 2025 National Champions. Northwestern won 3-2.
Today’s first pairing showcased Northwestern’s Ashley Yun vs. Stanford’s Megha Ganne. Ganne also continued her winning streak from yesterday’s match against Florida State’s Lottie Woad and quickly went three-up through four holes. She ultimately beat Yun 5&4 with a birdie on the 14th hole.
The second match paired Northwestern’s Lauryn Nguyen against Stanford’s Paula Martin Sampedro. This match was a slow burner. After a tie on the first hole, Sampedro went one-up on the next hole. Despite this lead, Nguyen quickly answered with a birdie on the fourth hole to bring the match back to all square. Nguyen pulled away on hole 5 and maintained this lead all the way up to hole 17 where Sampedro birdied, bringing the match back to even. However, even with this clutch hole, Nguyen answered with a birdie on hole 18, winning the match one-up.
The third pairing was a battle between Northwestern’s Hsin Tai Lin vs. Stanford’s Meja Örtengren. Örtengren with a birdie to go one-up, but Lin answered with a birdie on her own on the second hole and proceeded to go one-up on the third. Örtengren fought back but ultimately lost 3&2.
The fourth pairing was between Stanford’s Kelly Xu vs. Northwestern’s Elise Lee. While Xu was one-up periodically throughout the round, a bogey on hole 10 led to a dry spell of being all square. E. Lee took advantage of yet another bogey by Xu on hole 15 to go one-up. Xu responded with a spectacular birdie on hole 16, a par 3 with a narrow green and proceeded to win her match one-up.
The last pairing was poetic – the final group decided the fate of the title on the final hole with the final putt. Northwestern’s Dianna Lee went up against Stanford’s Andrea Revuelta. While Revuelta was never able to go up on D. Lee, she did chip away at her lead, ultimately taking D. Lee to the 18th hole to attempt to go all square and force extra holes. D. Lee hit a firm birdie putt on 18 that went 5 feet past the hole, but she was able to make the par putt and win the Wildcat’s first national title.
D. Lee commented on the putt afterwards saying, “Obviously I was so nervous. I was shaking, my hands were shaking. Like who wouldn’t be nervous? It’s not like I have nerves of steel or anything, but sometimes, you know, you just gotta let muscle memory do its job and that’s what I think I did.”
D. Lee is a San Diego native and attributed her ability to win not only this match but yesterday’s nailbiter to her work with her team’s sports psychologist at Northwestern. She said, “He told me out there nothing is going to go perfect out there. Winning isn’t going to look perfect and if I make a mistake, just take a step back, count to three, take some deep breaths and that’s what I did.”
Tears were flowing as the team celebrated. Northwestern Head Coach Emily Fletcher summed up the victory in one word – “surreal.”
