STANFORD, Calif. – For the first time in the past five seasons, Vanderbilt women’s golf ended its season shy of the NCAA Championship round, as the Commodores faded down the stretch to finish sixth at the Stanford Regional.
Vanderbilt hit the turn in prime position, sitting 2-over for the weekend through 10 holes, but it was all trouble from there as the Dores played the final eight holes at 14-over par. The black and gold holed just one birdie down the stretch.
The Commodores finished 15-over in Wednesday’s final round and 16-over for the week, eight shots back of advancing,
“This one stings and it’s going to sting for a while,” said head coach Greg Allen. “We literally had it in our hands with 3-5 holes to play. We made bogies and Missouri made birdies. Credit to them, they were clutch down the stretch and we were not.
“We will use today as a learning opportunity to make sure we don’t let this happen next year when we host. We’ve got to be better at doing the little things. We made too many mistakes on and around the greens. Although we are disappointed, I do think we did a lot of good things this year and have so much to build on for next year.”
Ava Merrill, Sara Im and Lynn Lim all carded rounds of 74, 3-over par on the day. Kathryn Ha came home at 4-over 75 while Angelina Tolentino finished at 79.
Vanderbilt held a 4-shot lead on Missouri midway through its back nine, but the Tigers closed at 5-under over the final three holes while the Dores went four over in that stretch.
Stanford claimed the regional crown at 42-under par while Pepperdine finished second at 4-under. Oregon State, Arizona State and Missouri claimed the remaining three spots at Omni La Costa.
The sixth-place finish marks the end of the season for the Commodores, who were ranked No. 13 in the final poll heading into regionals. The finish also marks the end of senior Lynn Lim’s Vanderbilt career. Lim was the 2023 SEC Freshman of the Year and the 2026 SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
“I hate it for our girls and especially Lynn who has done so much for our program and Vanderbilt University the last four years,” Allen said. “She’s leaving campus and our golf program better than she found it. Our world sure needs more people like Lynn Lim. I can’t wait to see what she does in Washington, D.C. this summer and beyond.”
Vanderbilt’s season concludes after reaching match play at the SEC Championship for the first time since 2023 and earning a regional bid for the eighth consecutive season.
