SMU Women’s Golf Survives NCAA Cut

SMU women’s golf is still breathing at the NCAA Championship.

The Mustangs didn’t have their sharpest round Sunday at Omni La Costa Resort, but they did enough to survive the cut and advance to Monday’s fourth round. That’s the only thing that matters right now.

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SMU finished the third round tied for 13th, three shots clear of elimination, after posting a 9-over team score.

The Mustangs entered the day tied for sixth and had to stay inside the top 15 to keep their national championship run alive. They took some punches, slid down the leaderboard, but didn’t fall out of the fight.

Now comes the real climb.

Only eight teams will advance to match play after Monday’s final stroke-play round, meaning SMU has work to do if it wants a spot in the quarterfinals.

But the Mustangs have already shown they can hang around in a loaded field, opening the tournament with rounds of even par and 1-over before Sunday’s tougher test.

Freshman Kirra St-Laurent continues to lead the SMU charge. She shot even par in the third round and sits tied for 28th individually at even par for the championship.

In a pressure cooker like the NCAA Championship, that’s a grown-up performance from a first-year player.

Mackenzie Lee is right behind her at 1-over for the tournament after a third-round 75.

Her second-round 70 remains SMU’s best individual round of the week and could be the type of number the Mustangs need more of on Monday.

Celine Chen also carded a 75 and sits at 4-over, while Grace Jin matched that 75 after a strong 34 on her opening nine.

Emily Odwin posted a 77 and remains part of an SMU group trying to grind out every possible shot.

Sunday wasn’t pretty. It didn’t need to be.

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SMU came to La Costa trying to stay alive long enough to make a move. The Mustangs got that chance.

Now they’ve got 18 holes to turn survival into a match-play statement.