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Gophers women’s golf: Isabella McCauley does it again, shooting 65 on final day of regionals to reach NCAA Championships

jace frederick, pioneer press
·4 min read

Never, ever count Isabella McCauley out of a golf tournament.

Advancing through NCAA Regionals is a tall task, particularly for an individual player on her own. The best five teams out of 12 in the field — and each individual on those teams — at each regional advances to the NCAA Championships. And, for everyone else, there’s one remaining spot up for grabs.

“It’s got to be one of the hardest things to do of any sport across the nation,” Gophers coach Rhyll Brinsmead said.

You have to beat roughly 40 people for one spot.

For the second straight year, McCauley beat them all for that spot.

The Gophers sophomore fired a 7-under-par 65 in the third and final round Thursday at Auburn University Club in Alabama to finish in a three-way tie for second for the regional at 2-under overall. The tournament winner — Auburn’s Anna Davis, who finished at 5-under — and the two other golfers with whom McCauley tied for second were all on teams that advanced through to the NCAA Finals.

McCauley was the top remaining individual and will join them all there. The NCAA Championships are set for May 17-22 in Carlsbad, Calif. This marks McCauley’s second straight appearance at that final stage in her second collegiate season.

Her round of 65 was four shots better than anything anyone else shot all week.

“(The score) wasn’t out there,” Brinsmead said with a laugh. “She somehow found it though. It’s unbelievable. Un-be-lieve-able.”

It’s Isabella McCauley.

When the runway depletes and it’s time to put up or shut up, she’s going to perform.

“I think she turns it up a notch. When everybody is at zero, it’s kind of like, ‘Who knows what’s going to happen in three days?'” Brinsmead said. “But I think when she looks at the scores, I think she’s like, ‘All right.’ … Early on, she keeps it very calm and casual. But she’s got a different gear, and it’s unreal when you get to see it live. It’s just something special.”

For the second straight year, McCauley stumbled out of the gates at regionals.

Last year, she was six back of the qualifying position after Round 1 and closed with rounds of 67-68 to get to the NCAA Championships.

This time, she shot a 5-over 77 and again was six shots back of qualifying after Round 1.

“I did not think I was going to make it after the first round,” McCauley said. “Anything can happen, but that certainly was not something in the back of my mind really until after Day 2. And even then, yesterday, I knew it was going to take a really good score.”

And, yet again, she delivered another final-round masterpiece. She birdied seven holes to no bogeys. The last birdie came on No. 18. McCauley knew the stakes. A birdie and she was on to the NCAA Championships. A par and she was headed to a playoff.

She faced a roughly 25-foot, downhill, left-to-right breaking putt. And she buried it.

“That might’ve been the only point throughout the round that I was a little bit nervous. It still wasn’t too bad. But the crowd was watching and I had a downhill, left-to-righter, and sometimes you just see it. You see it well. The hole looked big,” McCauley said. “Somehow, it went in. I knew with about six feet left that it was going in. The whole crowd went crazy. It was so fun. … That’s very enjoyable. That’s why we play golf, that’s why we do sports is to put ourselves in those kinds of positions.”

That’s McCauley’s M.O. these days. She’s a big-moment shot maker. Just a few weeks ago, the Simley High School grad shot a final-round 64 to rally from six shots back to claim a share of the Big Ten tournament title.

Perhaps she should convince herself on Day 1 that it’s actually the final round to get herself kick-started.

“You know … I started thinking, ‘I really seem to do well when the pressure is on and you need to play well the last day.’ I don’t know, I’m going to think about if I need to do anything different,” McCauley said. “Honestly, probably not.”

Why mess with a good thing?

McCauley missed the cut at last year’s NCAA Championships. But she’ll enter this year’s final tournament armed with the confidence that comes with knowing that — on any given day — she can be head and shoulders above the competition, often when it matters most. That’s something she’s proven on the final day of consecutive tournaments.

“It does take something special to pull out a round like that,” McCauley said. “There’s just another level to those kinds of rounds of golf.”

And she’s more than capable of reaching it.

“It’s just fun to watch,” Brinsmead said. “Yeah, we’re just fortunate she’s a Gopher.”

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