Williams Advances to NCAA Medal Championship Round

Sunday, May 20

Stillwater, Okla.

All Day

University of Tennessee

NCAA Championship

May 20, 2018 | Women's Golf

RD 3 Results RD 4 Pairings

By: Rachel Gunia

STILLWATER, Okla. – Tennessee's Micheala Williams carded 72 in the third round of the NCAA Championship in Stillwater, Oklahoma, on Sunday and will advance to the final round of stroke play with a 54-hole score of 219. Williams enters the round tied for 17^th place at 3-over.

"Micheala had a much steadier round today than yesterday," head coach Judi Pavon said. "She was good off the tee again and took advantage of the par 5's today which is where she struggled yesterday. She made a couple of good par-saving putts and took advantage of her birdie opportunities."

Starting on the back nine, Williams parred her first three holes before bogeying No. 13. She fought back on the par-5 14^th hole, shooting four to remain even in the round. The sophomore then bogeyed Hole 15. She shot a clean back nine the rest of way, tallying two pars and a birdie on 18 to make the turn with an even 36.

The Athens, Alabama, native birdied her first hole of the front nine before struggling on her second. She bogeyed the par 4 hole to move back to even par. Williams then carded seven straight birdies to finish the round with a score of 72, duplicating her first-round total.

"I had a few good up and downs in the beginning and on my 14^th hole and I hit a few close to make three birdies, which were all on the par 5's," Williams said.

At 3-over par for the tournament, Williams advances to the final round of stroke play as one of nine individuals not on the 15 advancing teams. The fourth round of stroke play will determine the NCAA individual champion.

"It's hard to come to NCAA's as an individual, but Micheala had taken advantage of the opportunity and the help from her coaches to play her best golf of the season. Tomorrow will be a fun day for her with the smaller field and having Golf Channel out on the course," Pavon said.

Williams will tee off Monday's fourth round from Hole 1 at 1:40 p.m. ET. She is paired with Oklahoma State's Emma Broze and Oklahoma's Julienne Soo.

"I'm pretty confident heading into tomorrow. I'm excited to play this course one more time and there are a lot of birdies out there," Williams added.

In the team standings, No. 1 Alabama carded 4-under in the round to move into first place with a score of 862 (-2). No. 3 UCLA dropped to second after shooting a 9-over 297 on Sunday (870, +6) while No. 9 Arizona moved up one spot into third with an even-par 288. Individually, two players are tied for first at 7-under (209).