The regional tournament will be played May 11-13 at Ridgewood Country Club (par 72, 6,094 yards), with Baylor serving as the host institution. Ridgewood has been one of Central Texas's premier golf destinations since 1947, featuring a scenic course overlooking Lake Waco with rolling hills, elevated bentgrass greens and challenging bermuda grass fairways.
Freshman Lydia Lin will be the first Lumberjack to tee off at regionals at 7:00 a.m. MST. Junior Amy Hodgkins (7:10 a.m. MST), junior Frankie Dezis (7:20 a.m. MST) and senior Lizzie Neale (7:30 a.m. MST) will follow. NAU, paired with Tarleton State and Prairie View A&M, will tee off on hole No. 10 as part of the final group on the back nine.
NAU enters the regional as the No. 10 seed in the 12-team field. Fourth-ranked Texas A&M is the top seed, followed by No. 8 Oregon, No. 17 Tennessee, No. 21 SMU and No. 26 Baylor. The remainder of the field includes No. 36 LSU, No. 42 TCU, No. 49 Tulsa, No. 51 Colorado, No. 151 Tarleton State and No. 244 Prairie View A&M. The Lumberjacks head into the NCAA Regional ranked No. 77 in the national Scoreboard rankings.
NAU last competed in the NCAA Regionals in 2022 following its conference championship, placing 12th with a 54-hole score of 66-over par 930 (309-305-316) in its first regional appearance since 2015. The Lumberjacks' best regional finish before that was a 15th-place showing in 1997, which marked the program's first regional appearance.
Neale competed as an individual at the 2024 NCAA Regionals at Spanish Trail Country Club after capturing the Big Sky individual title. The Nelson, New Zealand, native won the conference championship at The Wigwam Golf Club with a program and conference record score of 203 (-10), highlighted by a final-round 64 (-7) that included eight birdies. She later finished 49th overall at regionals with a 54-hole score of 230 (+14).
Neale followed that performance by repeating as conference champion at this year's Big Sky Championship, again held at The Wigwam Golf Club. Entering the final round tied for seventh at 1-over, she fired a 6-under round with eight birdies to finish tied for medalist honors at 5-under before falling in a playoff to Montana State's Nora Seidl. Recently named Big Sky Player of the Year, Neale currently ranks No. 170 nationally and leads the Lumberjacks with a 71.46 scoring average.
Dezis finished tied for third at the Big Sky Championship with a 2-under final score, marking the best conference finish of her career and earning All-Tournament Team honors. She was also named to the Big Sky All-Conference First Team and carries a 73.15 scoring average this season.
Hodgkins, another All-Big Sky First Team selection, tied for 12th at the conference championship after rounds of 72-75-71 (+5). Earlier this season, the Australian tied for medalist honors at NAU's home tournament after opening with a career-low 65 (-7) and finishing at 6-under 210. She owns the team's second-lowest scoring average at 72.77.
Lin, who joined the team this spring, enters the regional with a 75.07 scoring average. She has recorded four even-par rounds this season, with her best finish coming at the Red Rocks Invitational, where she shot 72-72-74 to place tied for 11th.
The top five teams from each of the six regional sites will advance to the NCAA Championships, scheduled for May 22-27 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif.
Live scoring for the tournament will be available on Scoreboard powered by Clippd.
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