05-23-2018, 06:34 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-23-2018, 06:41 PM by Viking_Guy.)
Arizona wins a thriller, with the last two matches being 1-up for Arizona, with Nordass hanging on at #4 after leading all day. Her opponent had birdied 17, one of the hardest birdies on the course, to pull within 1 down.
Final came down to Moore. All square going to 17, both shooting for the green, her opponent, Alabama's Abe, sprayed her second shot right into the thigh-high third cut of rough behind a tree. Moore, shooting after her, nearly put hers in the water to the left. Abe tried to hack out, then took relief from an unplayable lie, and chunked a shot to the edge of the green out of a part of that third cut that had been tramped down a bit by all of the looking at her previous lie (I actually found that a bit strange, but the rules official was right there). She then sent the ball past the cup by a good thirty feet, and conceded the hole.
Abe recovered from that by bombing a driver down the left side of 18, while Moore played a safe shot well off to the right, in the fairway but 40 yards short of Abe. Moore, shooting first, laid up about 70 yards short. Abe hammered a low screamer that hit the front fringe, bounced once or twice, then softly landed on the green and rolled to about 15 feet. Moore's chip in was fine, to about 18 feet, but she missed the birdie putt, and Abe's eagle attempt ended up about 8 inches past the hole. Conceded, all square.
Replaying 18, both players bombed away, Abe to almost the same spot, but on the fairway fringe, and Moore much more directly on line than her first shot. Both went for the green - Moore just left, on the slope down to the water, and Abe in the front bunker, a fairly easy up and down. Abe hit hers straight at the cup, but it rimmed out and ran by to about 7 feet, and Moore chipped just inside of her, a really good shot out of a very awkward upslope stance.
Abe hit it a little too soft, and her putt broke just right of the cup. Moore punched hers straight in. Go Pac 12.
Really fun ending to the championship.
VG
Final came down to Moore. All square going to 17, both shooting for the green, her opponent, Alabama's Abe, sprayed her second shot right into the thigh-high third cut of rough behind a tree. Moore, shooting after her, nearly put hers in the water to the left. Abe tried to hack out, then took relief from an unplayable lie, and chunked a shot to the edge of the green out of a part of that third cut that had been tramped down a bit by all of the looking at her previous lie (I actually found that a bit strange, but the rules official was right there). She then sent the ball past the cup by a good thirty feet, and conceded the hole.
Abe recovered from that by bombing a driver down the left side of 18, while Moore played a safe shot well off to the right, in the fairway but 40 yards short of Abe. Moore, shooting first, laid up about 70 yards short. Abe hammered a low screamer that hit the front fringe, bounced once or twice, then softly landed on the green and rolled to about 15 feet. Moore's chip in was fine, to about 18 feet, but she missed the birdie putt, and Abe's eagle attempt ended up about 8 inches past the hole. Conceded, all square.
Replaying 18, both players bombed away, Abe to almost the same spot, but on the fairway fringe, and Moore much more directly on line than her first shot. Both went for the green - Moore just left, on the slope down to the water, and Abe in the front bunker, a fairly easy up and down. Abe hit hers straight at the cup, but it rimmed out and ran by to about 7 feet, and Moore chipped just inside of her, a really good shot out of a very awkward upslope stance.
Abe hit it a little too soft, and her putt broke just right of the cup. Moore punched hers straight in. Go Pac 12.
Really fun ending to the championship.
VG