Over the weekend, the No. 14 Stanford women’s golf team proved all of its doubters wrong by proving it too could compete and win against the cream of the crop. All it took was the right moment, and perhaps the right mindset.

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Alvin Chow

Senior Jennifer Tangtiphaiboontana fired a two-under-par 69 in the opening round of the West Regional. Her 10th place finish overall helped Stanford lock up its berth in the 24-team field at the NCAA Championships.

After three grueling days of competition, the Stanford women finished the 2007 NCAA West Regional with a share of the team title. With the tie for first place, the Cardinal advances to the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships held May 22-25 at the LPGA International Legends Course in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Stanford will be among the 24 teams advancing, including six individual participants. As a testament to the depth of the Pacific-10 Conference, an incredible five teams — a full half of the Pac-10 — have qualified for the Championships.

In the West Regional, Stanford took first while top-ranked Arizona State came in third. In the Central Regional, No. 8 Southern California came out on top, while No. 16 Arizona took fifth. Finally, in the East Regional, No. 9 UCLA came in second behind the defending national champion, No. 2 Duke.

The path to victory was not easy for Stanford. In fact, it required a tremendous final day to catch up to No. 11 Oklahoma State.

Entering the second round at the par-71, 6,234-yard Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club in St. George, Utah, the Card found itself six strokes behind the surging Cowgirls.

But with a three-under 287 final round, Stanford had done what it hadn’t in a while: won the big one against some of the nation’s top teams. The Cardinal women’s three-round total of 874 (287-300-287) gave them a two-stroke victory over third-place finisher Arizona State (294-296-286—876).

From the regional competitions, the top-eight teams and top-two individuals advance to the championships. Rounding off the top eight from the West are No. 20 Denver, No. 15 Brigham Young, UC-Irvine, No. 4 Pepperdine and No. 18 New Mexico. A notable omission from the advancing teams is No. 7 Florida, which fell two strokes shy of the mark.

Once again, Stanford was led by sophomore Mari Chun, whose one-over 214 (73-72-69) tied her for third individually. Though quiet for the first two rounds, Chun exploded in the final round, helping Stanford tie up Oklahoma State.

Coming in 10th behind Chun were senior Jennifer Tangtiphaiboontana (69-79-72) and freshman Catherina Wang (73-73-74), who both finished with a final tally of 220 (seven over par). Fellow teammate and senior Lauren Todd (72-76-77) ended in 24th with a 12-over 225, while freshman Angela King (79-79-72) tied for 48th with a 230.

What separated this tournament from any in the past was Stanford’s ability to finish strong. Prior to the West Regional, the Cardinal seemed to have fallen into a habit of jumping out to an early lead before faltering in the later rounds.

That wasn’t the case last weekend as a mighty team effort from all five golfers combined to set a different tone.

Emerging as a future team leader, Chun shot her best round on the final day with a two-under 69. Tangtiphaiboontana bounced back from a terrible second round to post a one-over 72. Even the freshman King contributed with a one-over 72 — notably better than her previous rounds of 79 each. Wang, another freshman, concluded on a strong note with a three-over 74 on the final day of play.

It seems that a different mindset fueled the Stanford charge as well. By going head-to-head against the course itself rather than head-to-head against the other teams, Stanford seemingly settled upon an effective approach to its game.

The only question remaining now is whether or not Stanford can bring the NCAA Championship back home to the Farm by repeating its recent, inspired effort in Daytona Beach.

With 10 days remaining before they head to Florida, the members of the Cardinal squad still have some polishing to do. The field of 24 at the championships will feature the top-ranked, tournament-tested teams in the nation. Additionally, the championships will feature four rounds of competition, demanding greater endurance and consistency than even Pac-10 competition.

Last year, Stanford finished tied for 13th overall at the 2006 NCAA Championships. The Cardinal was led by then-junior Tangtiphaiboontana, who tied for 16th individually with an eight-over 296.

Only time can tell how the Card will perform at Daytona Beach. But this past weekend indicates that Stanford’s hopes lie in very capable hands — those of veteran leaders Todd and Tangtiphaiboontana, future star Chun, and the promising pair, Wang and King.