HISTORY! Adela Cernousek becomes first Aggie to win NCAA individual crown

Press conference video courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics.

ALLEZ!

Texas A&M’s historic couple of days continues.

This time, the attention turned to the links.

On Monday evening, junior Adela Cernousek became the first Aggie to win the individual national championship when she finished 12-under par at the 2024 NCAA Women’s National Championship.

Not only is she the first A&M golfer to ascend to the mountain top, but it is her first collegiate victory.

“It’s a dream. It’s crazy,” Cernousek said. “It’s awesome. I had a couple of opportunities to win this year in the fall, and I was never able to finish it off.

“It’s really special and crazy that my first college win is a national championship. I think it’s really cool. It means a lot.”

With a four-round total of 276 at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California, the product of Antibes, France, carded scores of 68, 68, 68 and 72 to win the crown by three strokes over runner-up Lottie Woad of Florida State.

Further, the Frenchwoman’s superb play comfortably into the match-play portion of the NCAA Championship. As the No. 3 seed, Gerrod Chadwell’s Aggies will continue their hunt for the program’s first-ever team national title on Tuesday.

“This is more of a calling for me,” the A&M head coach said. “I don’t get wound up on the wins and the losses. I’m just thankful for her light to be able to shine. She’s now comfortable. She’s such a humble person. She always puts the team first.

“Now, to see her blossom, it wasn’t the same person I picked up her freshman year at the airport. I wish I had four more years with her. I’m thankful we have another one and what that impact is going to have on our team from her leadership.”

Entering Monday, Cernousek held a six-stroke lead, but after posting a 36 on the front nine, that advantage shrank to three as Woad made a push.

After making the turn, the Aggie would not be denied.

“This golf course, the greens are super hard. The greens are super firm, and the pin positions are really hard,” Cernousek explained. “All week, I pretty much just tried to go for the middle of the greens and just try to chip as little as possible.”

She birdied the par-4 11th.

After reassuming the four-stroke lead, Cernousek played even-par golf until the 18th to claim the coveted hardware.

“Elite. She’s one of the best,” Chadwell said. “She’s super proud of her university. You’ll probably hear it from some of the stuff that she said. She just loves representing A&M, and she represents everything about A&M.”

“The crazy thing is, her mind shifted to the team. She wants to win a national championship for the team and for the university. That’s just so refreshing. It’s refreshing in this day and age that somebody truly cares that way.”

A bogey on the sixth was her only front-nine misstep all week.

Further, she only carded seven bogeys in four rounds, which she balanced out with 19 birdies throughout the 72-hole charge.

That ever-consistent week has now landed her in rarefied air.

“When I finished the second round and the third round, I looked at the leaderboards,” Cernousek said. “I mean, there was a lot of golf left to play, so I was just trying to stick to my game plan and keep going.”

With that individual trophy on her mantle, Cernousek now turns her attention to match-play, where she’ll likely continue to be a force.

At the 2024 SEC Tournament, she defeated Arkansas’ Maria José Marin (5&4) and Georgia’s Caterina Don (2&1) before falling to Mississippi State Izzy Pellot (2&1) as A&M fell shy of the conference title, 3-2.

“It’s really cool,” the national champion said. “It’s really special, but we also have match-play tomorrow, so we have to focus on that. I think we’ll celebrate after.”

The third-seeded Aggies face No. 6 seed UCLA in Tuesday’s national quarterfinal.

A&M tees off at 8:50 a.m. CT.

Merci & Gig ‘Em, Adela!

Results: NCAA Championships - Stroke Play

Individual top five

• 1. Adela Cernousek (Texas A&M) - 13-under - 68, 68, 68, 72 (276)
• 2. Lottie Woad (Florida State) - 9-under - 65, 74, 71, 69 (279)
• 3. Paula Martin Sampedro (Stanford) - 6 -under - 70, 72, 70, 70 (282)
• 4. Aine Donegan (LSU) - 5-under - 74, 67, 71, 71 (283)
• 5. Maria José Marin (Arkansas) - 5-under - 744, 68, 71, 72 (283)

Top Eight Team Standings

• 1. Stanford (+2)
• 2. LSU (+2)
• 3. Texas A&M (+4)
• 4. Southern California (+13)
• 5. Clemson (+18)
• 6. UCLA (+19)
• 7. Oregon (+19)
• 8. Auburn (+20)

* - All ties resolved