Furman freshman Olivia Hasselbach tied for 21st place in the final round of the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional at Finley Golf Club on May 13. Hasselbach led the Paladins with a score of six over par, marking the highest regional finish by a Furman freshman since Anna Morgan tied for 16th at the NCAA Simpsonville Regional in 2021.
Hasselbach, from Tampa, Florida, started her round on hole No. 10 and recorded birdies on holes No. 15 and No. 17. She turned at one under par and added another birdie on No. 8 to finish with three birdies in total.
Other Furman players included junior Audrey Ryu, who shot a final-round score of five over par to tie for 43rd place; sophomore Jenna Madden, who finished one stroke behind Ryu to tie for 48th; and sophomore Eva Ringwald, who placed 58th after shooting eight over par in the last round. Sophomore Andrea Marin Raga joined as a substitute during Tuesday’s play and carded two birdies in her final-round score of four over par.
The team competition saw fifth-ranked Texas win by eleven strokes ahead of host North Carolina. Oklahoma State finished third while Virginia and Michigan State claimed the last two qualifying spots after a playoff against N.C. State. Furman ended tenth out of twelve teams.
Individually, Thanana Kotchasanmanee from Princeton and Marta Silchenko from Oklahoma State shared medalist honors at six under par each. Kotchasanmanee received an individual bid to advance to the NCAA Championship alongside Silchenko’s Oklahoma State team.
Furman participated as part of a twelve-team field seeking qualification for the thirty-team NCAA Championship scheduled later this month in Carlsbad, California. The Paladins earned their spot by winning their conference championship last month and have now appeared in twenty-six regionals since first joining seventeen straight times beginning with the start of regional play in 1993.
