ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Old Dominion senior golfer Jana Melichova became the first ODU women's golfer in program history to advance to the NCAA Championships as she fired a 1-under 70 on Wednesday to finish at even par and tied for third at the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional.
"It's been an amazing week and amazing four years and the goal was to make it to nationals and that's what we did, and I'm so excited," Melichova said. "I knew I had to finish strong and make some birdies and I was doing really and then I made some bogeys so it was a little stressful at the end. I tried to stay focused and go shot-by-shot and stay in my bubble."
Melichova started the day at 1-over and tied for fourth and began the final round with four pars before back-to-back birdie pushed her to 2-under through six holes. A bogey on the seventh knocked her to 1-under but she finished the front nine with a pair of pars and remain 1-under.
Melichova was on fire to begin the back nine with birdies on three of the first five holes before bogies on the 15th and 16th pushed her to 2-under on the day. She made par on the 17th and bogied the final hole to cap the day at 1-under and even for the tournament.
"We're so proud of J, this is so incredibly hard to get this far to the NCAA Finals as an individual is an incredible accomplishment," ODU head coach Mallory Kane said. "This is the equivalent to basketball going to the Final Four, the baseball team advancing to the College World Series or football playing in a New Year's Six Bowl game. That's how big of a deal this is, and she played so well to get there."
The top four teams at the six regional sites advanced to the NCAA Championships and the top two individuals from non-advancing teams also moved on. Melichova finished three shots ahead of her closest competitor to advance to the NCAA Championships May 20-25 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.
