NORMAN, Okla. — After a prolonged wait Tuesday night, Baylor women's golf officially punched its ticket to a fifth-straight NCAA Championship Wednesday morning at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club.
 
Baylor held down the fifth and final advancing spot on Tuesday night when play was suspended for darkness. Thirteen shots in front of Oregon State, the Beavers needed to make those shots up on the 11 remaining total holes but could not do so, punching Baylor's ticket back to the NCAA Championship.
 
Struggling for the better part of two months, The Bears were dealt a significant blow when Sera Hasegawa — Ranked No. 2 in program history in career stroke average — could not make the trip with an injury. With the deck stacked against them, head coach Jay Goble's lineup all made significant contributions to get them back to the NCAA Championship.
 
"There are a lot of things going on in their daily lives right now that take them away from golf," he said. "You would never know that our schedule was all jammed up and crazy because they just came out and took care of business. We were dealing with adversity and grinding as hard as we could on every shot. I don't know what it is about my teams and the way they play at the end of the year, but I'm happy they pick those times to play their best golf. Our teams always seem to find their games when it means the most, and that's what this group definitely did this week."
 
Entering this week, just 17% of No. 7 seeds have advanced to the NCAA Championship since going to a six-regional format in 2022, with Baylor able to do so now in back-to-back seasons. BaiMai Seema and Ashleen Kaur, who were instrumental in last year's finish in Vegas, were able to draw on that experience to earn another trip to Carlsbad.
 
"I went up to Ashleen and BaiMai, and they both looked at me — very calmly — and said they had a feeling we were going to play well," Goble said. "They knew we were going to make it and had confidence we were going to do well. I wish we had some more of that confidence during the regular season, but I love having it this time of year. They backed it up knowing what they had to do on a tough day, and they did it two years in a row."
 
By the end of Wednesday, BU is expected to be one of just seven teams to make seven of the last eight NCAA Championships, and one of nine teams to advance to five-straight NCAA championships.
 
The Bears are one of just two Big 12 teams that have advanced to the NCAAs in five consecutive seasons and the only Big 12 team to make seven of the last eight.
 
The Bears will tee it up at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa beginning Friday, May 16, in Carlsbad, Calif.
 
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