Wang, Cantlay Lift Cal Poly to 3rd-Place Fresno State Classic Finish

Tuesday, April 13

Fresno, CA

8 a.m.

Fresno State Classic

Caroline Cantlay and Vanessa Wang watch their drives.

Caroline Cantlay (left) carded a final-round 66 and Vanessa Wang (right) added a 67 for top-20 finishes in the Fresno State Classic on Tuesday.

Wang, Cantlay Lift Cal Poly to 3rd-Place Fresno State Classic Finish

4/13/2021 3:09:00 PM | Women's Golf

FRESNO, Calif. -- Caroline Cantlay carded a 66, one stroke shy of her career best, and Vanessa Wang added a career-best 67 as the Cal Poly women's golf team jumped into third place in the final round of the Fresno State Classic on Tuesday at the Copper River Country Club.

Cantlay made six birdies in a bogey-free round to climb 33 spots on the final leaderboard, finishing in a tie for 16th place with two other golfers with three-over-par 219 totals. It is Cantlay's third top-20 finish of the season and 15th in her Mustang career.

"We made a great comeback," said Cantlay. " There were a lot of birdies out there for everybody."

Wang carded five birdies in a bogey-free round as well, jumping 10 spots into a tie for fifth place with Holland Shourds of Long Beach State, both with three-under-par 213 totals on the 6,122-yard, par-72 course. For Wang, she recorded her third top-10 finish of the year and ninth of her collegiate career.

"I was hitting the ball close to the pin today, throwing darts and making good putts," said Wang.

The performances of Cantlay and Wang enabled the Mustangs to leap over Long Beach State and Sacramento State into the No. 3 spot on the final team leaderboard.

"We had a solid event at Fresno, starting off strong and finishing strong with a bit of a stumble in the middle," said sixth-year Mustang head coach Sofie Aagaard. "Today's two rounds from Caroline and Vanessa of minus-6 and minus-5 was really great to see!

"Our adjusted strategy to play more aggressively for sure paid off and we can see it in the birdie count for the week," Aagaard added.

Cal Poly posted a four-person 284 total Tuesday, the fifth-best score in program history, and finished 54 holes with a 14-over-par 878 aggregate, No. 4 on the school's all-time list.

Stanford carded a final-round 278 for a tournament record 18-under-par 846 total and the team title, 29 strokes ahead of runner-up Fresno State. The Bulldogs finished three shots ahead of Cal Poly.

Rachel Heck of Stanford was the runaway individual winner with a blistering 63, carding seven birdies and an eagle to finish with a record 16-under-par 200 total. Briana Navarrosa of USC was second, six shots back, and Harriet Lynch of Fresno State was another three shots back in third.

In addition to Cantlay and Wang, Cal Poly's other three scoring golfers were Elizabeth Scholtes with a final-round 77 for a 224 total and 31st place, Nicole Neale with a 75 for a 225 total and 35th place, and Madi Daniel with a 76 for a 227 total and 45th place.

Wang made eight birdies in her three rounds while Neale, Scholtes and Daniel added seven birdies and Cantlay five for a team total of 34.

Cantlay was tied for fourth in par-3 scoring at one under par. Wang was fifth in par-4 scoring at one under par while Neale and Wang shared 10th place in par-5 scoring at three under par.

Wang and Cantlay both carded 41 pars over 54 holes, tied for No. 3, and Wang also was 16th in birdies with eight.

The Big West Conference Championships will be held April 19-21 at the Yorba Linda Country Club in Yorba Linda, Calif.

"Up next is our conference championship at Yorba Linda and we are ready for the competition," said Aagaard. "It is going to be a great fight as usual with strong teams that can shoot low scores any round and any day."