Losing is one thing, but losing because of an external factor is something that is not acceptable for the golfers. Well, sometimes the hard pill is a lesson for a lifetime. With the ongoing 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship, the expectation for qualifying was crushed for the Florida’s team. But it wasn’t solely because of the team’s performance.

Here is what happened. Paula Francisco, a sophomore from Florida, was the best player of the season. She finished her practice on Saturday and hopped onto the shuttle for her tee time. The shuttle drops the players from the practice range to the 10th tee. She boarded and reached the shuttle just in time. As per the rule, if the player is boarded on the shuttle 20 minutes before, there will be no penalty even if the shuttle is delayed.

However, when playing against Gators, she had to reach the first tee, which was a couple of hundred meters away from the 10th. The confusion between the tee led to a delay. Even though she reached the 10th tee in time, but despite using the cart, she was late to reach the first on the scheduled tee time. Luckily, she was in the 5-minute window, which saved her from disqualification, but added a 2 stroke penalty to her scorecard.

The delay added two strokes penalty, while her first shot also added two, concluding the round with the final score of 77. The effect of high scores resulted in crushing the dreams of Florida with three strokes and handing over the victory to the Gators as they make the cut after a long drought. The Gators qualified for the nationals last time in 2019.

Apart from the two teams: one making their way back home, while the other qualifying after a long break, there is another team that is setting standards with their performance. That is none other than the defending champion Stanford.

NCAA Women’s Golf Championship: Stanford’s performance

Away from the disheartening news, team Stanford was making a move to create history. In the third round of stroke play at the NCAA Championship, the defending champion recorded a bounce-back after two rounds. The team recorded an 18-under 270 at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa. Stanford for the fifth year consecutively has entered the match play as the top seed.

For the record, the team carded 29 birdies and just 9 bogeys to set the record. In the history of the NCAA Championship previous record was -15, which was accomplished by Stanford. Now, setting the record, this year, three strokes have been added to it. Even for the all-time record, Stanford is four strokes better at -23, the record stands at -19 by USC in 2013.

With one team struggling with an external cause shattering their dream, another is making history with the performance. The NCAA Championship after the disheartening news is moving towards the final stages of adrenaline filled rounds.