The SMU Mustangs women’s golf team will compete in the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship beginning May 22, with play running through the match play final on May 27. This marks the third time in four seasons that SMU has qualified for the national championship.
The tournament will take place at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, California, and features three days of stroke play among 30 teams. After 54 holes, the field is cut to 15 teams. The top eight teams after 72 holes will advance to match play quarterfinals.
SMU’s appearance this year is its ninth overall at the NCAA Championship. The program’s best finish came in fourth place in 1983, and it previously won a national title at the AIAW Championship in 1979. In recent years, current Mustangs have posted some of the best scoring averages in school history, with Mackenzie Lee holding a career mark of 71.48 and Emily Odwin ranking second all-time at SMU with a career average of 72.11.
The Mustangs secured their spot by winning their first event of the season at an NCAA Regional, where all five players finished within the top thirteen individually. This was their second regional title after also winning at San Antonio last year.
Several individual honors were noted ahead of nationals: Mackenzie Lee was named to both All-ACC and All-American lists last season and holds thirteen SMU records; she also earned selection to represent Team USA at this summer’s Arnold Palmer Cup in Ireland—the first Mustang woman to do so—and received an ACC Excellence Award recognizing outstanding student-athletes from conference schools. Emily Odwin made history as Barbados Female Athlete of the Year and became her country’s first golfer to qualify for a US Women’s Open.
Looking forward, Lee is one of just twenty-five golfers on this year’s ANNIKA Award Watch List for top collegiate female golfer nationwide. The Mustangs are currently ranked No.16 nationally by Scoreboard as they aim for another strong showing on college golf’s biggest stage.
