Women's Golf Returns To NCAA Championship

Fifth-year senior Kayla Smith and sophomore Megan Streicher, who hold the top-two career scoring averages in Carolina women's golf history, lead the University of North Carolina in the 2024 NCAA Championship, which begins Friday, May 17.

The newly-renovated Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif., is hosting the champion-ships for the first time. Thirty teams and six individuals qualified through NCAA regionals to compete in Carlsbad, including the Tar Heels, who finished third in the Auburn (Ala.) Regional.

Carolina is playing in the NCAA Championship for the 17th time and the first since 2017. Third-year head coach Aimee Neff's team is the No. 24 seed in the field. The Tar Heels have won three tournaments this season – the St Andrews Links Collegiate in Scotland, the UCF Challenge in Orlando, Fla., and the NC State Match Play – and advanced out of stroke play to the ACC semifinals.

Smith, a two-time All-ACC honoree, is Carolina's most experienced player. The NCAA Championship will be the Burlington, N.C., native's 39th start as a Tar Heel. She won at Texas A&M last season and at St Andrews in October. Smith has compiled three of the five-best single-season scoring averages in UNC history and the second-lowest career average at 73.09. She tied for fifth in the NCAA Auburn Regional.

Streicher, a sophomore from Cape Town, South Africa, is Carolina's all-time career average leader (72.38) and is on pace to set the single-season scoring record at 71.27. She was voted by the ACC coaches to the 2024 all-conference team and has posted the best UNC finish in seven of her 10 starts this season. She tied for seventh in the Auburn Regional.

Sophomore Inez Ng (Singapore), freshman Ing Iadpluem (Thailand) and senior Crista Izuzquiza (Madrid, Spain) join Smith and Streicher in the lineup for Friday's opening round. Freshman Reagan Southerland (Atlanta, Ga.) is the alternate.

The Tar Heels have seven top-10 finishes in NCAA Championship play – seventh in 2009 and 2011, eighth in 1989, 1992 and 1995, ninth in 2017 and 10th in 2012. Carolina is paired with SMU and San Jose State in Friday's first round, which will begin for the Tar Heels on the 10th tee at 7:35 a.m. Pacific Time.

"We had two main goals this year to 'move the bus forward every day,' and that was to qualify for match play at the ACC Championship, which we did, and advance to the national champion-ship," says Neff. "Ultimately, of course, we want to win ACCs and a national title, but first we wanted to put ourselves in position to be in contention. It's a good feeling to have advanced, but we are not satisfied. We know we have a lot more in us and we know we haven't played our best yet.

"It's a rewarding experience for our seniors, for Kayla and Crista, knowing where we came from a couple of years ago and know we came here to contend. We have the belief we are good enough stack up against the best teams in the country and get to match play."

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Crista Izuzquiza

Inez Ng

Kayla Smith

Reagan Southerland

Megan Streicher