They did it. They really did it.
The Arizona women’s golf team completed its magical postseason run Wednesday by downing No. 2 seed Alabama 3-2 in the national championship match in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Haley Moore sank a birdie putt in an extra hole to secure the trophy.
Haley Moore for the win! @ArizonaWGolf are national champions! pic.twitter.com/MuqSy7x41T
— Ryan Kelapire (@RKelapire) May 24, 2018
It’s Arizona women’s golf’s third ever title, with the last two coming in 2000 and 1996. It’s Arizona’s first national championship as a whole since the 2012 College World Series.
The Wildcats become the first No. 8 seed to ever win the title.
Arizona freshman Yu-Sang Hou handily beat Alabama’s Lauren Stephenson, a three-time first-team All-American, 4&3.
Alabama’s Kristen Gillman, ranked 14th in the world, beat Arizona’s Gigi Stoll 4&3.
Arizona’s Bianca Pagdanganan led by one through nine holes, but lost three holes in a row and wound up losing to Cheyenne Knight 4&2.
Arizona’s Sandra Nordaas led Angelica Moresco the entire day, but Moresco sank a birdie putt on 17 to shrink the deficit to one heading into the final hole.
Nordaas sank a par putt to hold off Moresco on 18, leaving the match up to Arizona junior Haley Moore who was all-square with Alabama’s Lakareber Abe through 16 holes.
Abe shanked her drive on 17 into the weeds and couldn’t find her ball, eventually opting for a drop. Moore parred the hole, which was enough to win it and take a one-hole lead with one to play.
Abe opened 18 with an incredible drive that bounced through the rough onto the green, and she was able to two-putt for a birdie to extend the match.
Abe and Moore replayed 18, and Abe nearly chipped in for birdie to walk it off. Moore matched it with her own well-placed chip, setting up both players for nearly equidistant birdie putts.
Abe missed hers. Moore didn’t.
“It means so much,” Moore said on the Golf Channel afterward. “It’s actually like a dream.”
That Arizona was even in the national championship match was improbable. Bianca Pagdanganan sank a difficult eagle putt to propel the Wildcats into a playoff vs. Baylor, which they’d win to earn the No. 8 seed in the quarterfinals.
Arizona then upset No. 1-seed UCLA and No. 5-seed Stanford on Tuesday to set the stage with Alabama, whose big three of Stephenson, Gillman, and Knight — all ranked in the top-14 nationally — were 6-0 in match-play entering the championship match.
But as they say, anything can happen in match-play, and the Wildcats saved their best golf for last.
And they’re not done — all five golfers that competed for Arizona in the NCAA Tournament are underclassmen. So they can do this all over again next spring.
Golf. School.