The Arizona Wildcats are one step closer to their fourth national championship in women’s golf.
Gile Bite Starkute took down Stanford’s Angelina Ye 1-up in extra holes Tuesday, nailing a putt from the edge of the green, and the UA stunned the top-seeded Cardinal 3-2 in match play to advance to Tuesday afternoon’s NCAA semifinals at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale. The Wildcats will take on Ole Miss in a match that's scheduled to start at 2 p.m., with the winner advancing to Wednesday's final.
Absolutely ELECTRIC ⚡️This clutch putt moves @ArizonaWGolf to the semifinals. #NCAAGolf pic.twitter.com/EDZK9MWBbR
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) May 25, 2021
Starkute told Golf Channel that she knew Arizona's season came down to her.
"More pressure," she said, "but not bad pressure."
Starkute and Ye were all-square on 18 when Starkute was forced to take an unplayable shot following a drive into vegetation. Yet the Wildcats’ surging star halved the hole after Ye three-putted, taking their showdown — and the quarterfinals themselves — to extra holes.
The two played Hole No. 10, and were both on the green in two shots. Ye put her third shot, a massively long putt, to within a few feet of the hole.
Starkute then one-upped her, delivering the shot of her college career. The Wildcats mobbed the Lithuanian sophomore before Starkute could pull her ball from the cup.
"That was needed," she Starkute told Golf Channel. "We all wanted to move on the next step. That was amazing."
Gile Bite Starkute pumps her fist after sinking the putt that beat top-seeded Stanford in the NCAA women’s golf quarterfinals in May 2021.
Seeded eighth out of eight teams as the NCAA Championships advanced from stroke play to match play, Arizona did more than just hang with the nation’s top-ranked team — they led for most of the morning round. Vivian Hou beat Sadie Englemann 2 and 1, and her sister, Yu-Sang, topped Aline Krauter 5 and 3. Arizona’s Ya Chun Chang and Therese Warner lost their matches 4 and 3 and 3 and 2, respectively.
The Wildcats are looking for their second women's golf championship in the last three years. Haley Moore and Co. helped the UA take down Alabama in 2018. Arizona was seeded eighth that year, and — like in 2021 — upset the top-ranked team in the quarterfinals to advance. The team it beat in the semis? Stanford.
