Stanford Wins Annual Event On First Extra Hole
WOODSIDE – California won the final two matches of the day to force a playoff but Stanford’s Megha Ganne sunk a 60-foot putt on the first playoff hole and the Golden Bears fell to the Cardinal 4-3-1 in the sixth edition of the Big Match on Thursday at Menlo Country Club.
The Cardinal won two of the first three matches and then forced a tie when Jay Leng also made a 60-foot putt on the same 18th green to level the match with Cal’s Michelle Woo and Ziqin Zhou. But trailing 3-1-1, the Bears registered wins from their No. 5 pair of Camila Zignaigo-Saldarriaga and Trevor Cox and No. 6 pair of Jasmine Kahler and Daniel Heo to push the showdown to extra holes.
On the first playoff hole between the teams’ No. 7 pairs, Cal sophomore Marie-Agnes Fischer nailed a jaw-dropping approach shot from a fairway bunker from 165 yards out to the green. Ganne’s putt forced Fischer to make her putt from 35 feet away, but it just slid past the cup and Stanford earned the victory.
Cal also got a win from its No. 1 pair of Adora Liu and Sihao Cong, who beat Stanford’s Kelly Xu and T.K. Chantananuwat, 2&1.
It marked the second time ever the Big Match went to a playoff and the first since 2019. The all-time series is now tied, 3-3.
Cal’s women have a quick turnaround before taking part in the Molly Collegiate Invitational next week in Corvallis, Oregon. The Bears’ men’s team is off until they join the women’s team at the St. Andrews Links Collegiate in Scotland next month.
