A little more than 35 feet determined whether the MSU women’s golf team would end its season or earn a trip to the NCAA National Championship.
And luckily for the Spartans, the Big Ten Athlete of the Year, senior Emily Bastel, was lining up the hard-breaking putt.
With the team’s fate in her hands and the end of her four-year MSU career on the line, Bastel’s putt found its way into the cup, giving the Spartans a total score of 932 in the final round of the NCAA Central Regional on Saturday at Forest Akers West Golf Course.
“I can’t believe the putt went in, still - I’m in shock,” Bastel said. “I don’t normally make putts like that, no one does. It was truly amazing.”
After the Spartans finished their round, the team was forced to wait for other scores to come in before Bastel’s putt officially punched their ticket to the national championship. They were the eighth and final team to qualify from the Central Regional.
“We died together an hour ago,” redshirt sophomore Allison Fouch said. “Our hearts were broken because we thought we were out, then we thought we were tied, then we thought we were in, and then we though we were out - it was rough.
“To feel all of this excitement after feeling so low, it’s so great to come out on top.”
This will be the team’s third straight appearance in the national tournament. MSU finished tied for 12th in 2001 and tied for 20th in 2000.
Fouch led the Spartans with a round of 70 on Saturday, followed by Bastel’s 72, junior Jessica Till’s 76 and senior Stacy Snider’s 77. Sophomore Sarah Martin also shot a 77.
The Spartans’ score of 295 on Saturday put them one stroke ahead of Kent State, which started the day tied for first before shooting 312 in the final round.
“I think on the last few holes someone was with me,” Bastel said. “It was pretty surreal.”
Fouch rebounded from disappointing scores of 80 and 79 to shoot 2-under par in the third round, which tied for the lowest score posted on the course.
“I just really tried to stay in the mind-set where every shot counts,” Fouch said. “I played smart and I hit some good shots.
“I missed a lot of greens, but my short game was on.”
It took good scores from all of the Spartans on Saturday to dig themselves out of an early hole. MSU shot 310 and 327 on Thursday and Friday, respectively, and sat in 11th place before the final round.
MSU head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll said the come-from-behind nature of the win showed the team’s character.
“I told them that we needed a reality check for (Saturday),” she said. “And I told them that if we were going to advance, then we needed to shoot a really, really low number.
“They stepped up to the challenge and they did it.”
For the seniors, Bastel and Snider, the eighth-place finish was good enough to keep their MSU careers alive for one more tournament. The pair were Slobodnik-Stoll’s first recruits.
“I really didn’t want it to end any other way than it did today,” Bastel said. “To have us pull through like this, it’s pretty much a storybook ending for us.”
Still, Bastel said neither she or the team played their best golf in the regional tourney.
“We’ll be looking to redeem ourselves (at nationals) a little bit,” she said.
The Spartans will compete against the other 23 teams in the NCAA Championship on May 21-24 at Washington National Golf Course in Auburn, Wash. Despite the disappointments of the first two rounds of the regional tournament, and the potential close of their season, tears of joy and excitement welled in the eyes of the Spartan golfers, coaches and family.
“It’s never felt so good to finish eighth,” Snider said.
Dan Woike can be reached at woikedan@msu.edu.
