The Arizona Wildcats waited 18 years for a national championship in women's golf.
What was one extra hole?
Haley Moore sunk a birdie putt on the sudden-death 19th hole to beat Alabama's Lakareber Abe and give Arizona a 3-2 win over the Crimson Tide at Wednesday's national title match in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The Wildcats are national champions for the first time since 2000, and the fourth consecutive Pac-12 school to take home a national championship in the sport.
🏆 NATIONAL CHAMPIONS 🏆#BEARDOWN pic.twitter.com/7KnmG6tkbo
— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) May 24, 2018
Arizona's third upset in two days was perhaps its biggest yet. The eighth-ranked Wildcats stunned UCLA and Stanford on Tuesday, earning a spot in the national final against the third-ranked Crimson Tide.
Yu-Sang Hou put Arizona up 1-0 with a 4 and 3 win over Alabama's Lauren Stephenson. Alabama's Christian Gillman and Cheyenne Knight beat the UA's Gigi Stoll and Bianca Pagdanganan, respectively.
Arizona evened the match 2-2 when Sandra Nordaas nailed a putt on the 18th hole to beat Angelica Moresco. The match came down to Moore and Abe: The two were all-square for much of the back-nine. Moore took a 1-up lead on No. 17, and Abe evened it up on the 18th.
In sudden death, both Abe and Moore hit to nearly the same spot on the green. Abe missed a makable putt and Moore holed out, giving Arizona the title.
That WINNING feeling! @ArizonaWGolf are your 2018 National Champions! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/gfdHge1syt
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) May 24, 2018
Alabama was going for its second NCAA championship in six years, having won in 2012 by one shot when it was stroke play. The Tide defeated Kent State, 3-1, and then defeated USC 3-1-1. Alabama cruised through the first day of the tournament, trailing for just two collective holes out of the 99 it played.



