CARLSBAD – The top 15 individual finishers at the NCAA women’s golf championships were introduced Monday evening on the patio above the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa’s North Course. One tall, strong golfer after another walked up to receive her trophy.
Then the winner was announced.
The crowd parted, and a tiny woman with a big smile emerged.
How tall is Colombia’s Maria José Marin?
“I’m around 5 feet,” the Arkansas sophomore said, cracking that innocent smile. “Or 4-11.”
But that’s your NCAA champion over four rounds on a brutally hard course, finishing 12-under-par to win by two strokes over No. 1-ranked Mirabel Ting of Florida State and four over Stanford’s Kelly Xu. Marin added an exclamation point by birdieing the par-5 18th to complete a final-round 69.
“I think I’ve been overlooked my whole life because of my height, especially when I was younger,” she said. “When I was 12, my friends would be 5-5 and used to hit it far, like really far. They would judge me and say, ‘Oh, you’re little.’ I’d be, ‘Yeah.’ I didn’t really say anything and just let the ball speak for me and for my game.
“Not being tall, a lot of people see it as a bad thing. If you’re not tall, you’re not supposed to hit it far, you’re not supposed to do be able to do this and this and this. I just accepted that I was not going to be tall and that I had to work with what I had.”
She improved her distance by learning how to hit through the ball to maximize clubhead speed. She also compensates with uncanny accuracy off the tee and with her irons, a hot putter and a steeled competitiveness. Drive more than a driver.
Don’t let the smile fool you.
“She can get on a heater and get going,” Arkansas coach Shauna Taylor said. “If she can hit it where she’s looking and get a couple putts to drop, she gets excited and ready to make more. She’s not afraid to go low, and I think that’s something that’s unique about her.”
Razorbacks coach Mike Adams put it like this: “When she’s in contention, she’s not going to spit the bit.”
Marin finished tied for fourth here as a freshman. She’s an ing major known for her meticulous nature and charted a detailed plan for her return engagement at the par-72 course that was redesigned by noted designer Gil Hanse with the stated goal of becoming the permanent home of the NCAA championships for both men and women.
There aren’t many birdies out there – only 18 of the 160-plus golfers finished under par despite perfect scoring conditions – but Jose Marin found them, particularly in Sunday’s third round, particularly at the dreaded par-4 13th hole.
The 396-yard, dogleg right around a marsh was statistically the toughest hole on the course, with a stroke average of 4.43 and only 24 birdies (and 41 double bogeys or worse) in 552 total rounds. The pin Sunday was in the largely inaccessible front right portion of the green.
“I would not have let anybody else on our team go for that pin,” Taylor said. “Maria hits it to about 10 feet and makes the putt. That’s what makes her great, the ability to go at some flagsticks that not everybody can.”
That was her sixth birdie of the day. She added another on the par-4 17th for a 7-under 65, equaling the lowest round of the tournament.
Her 12-under total matched that of 2024 champion Adela Cernousek of Texas A&M via . The NCAA champ receives an automatic berth in the U.S. Women’s Open next week at Erin Hills in Wisconsin.
Marin is the third Arkansas golfer to claim the Division I women’s individual title. Stacy Lewis won in 2007, and Mexico’s Maria Fassi in 2019.
The Razorbacks, thanks in large part to Marin’s 12-under score, were among the eight qualifiers as the event switches to match play to determine a team champion. Quarterfinals and semis are Tuesday, and the final is Wednesday afternoon.
Defending champion Stanford claimed the No. 1 seed for a fifth straight year and faces No. 8 Virginia in the early morning quarterfinals. The winner gets Florida State or USC in the semis.
The other side of the bracket features No. 2 Oregon against Texas and No. 3 Northwestern against Arkansas.
Arizona State, which entered the tournament ranked eighth nationally, was one shot short. Third-ranked South Carolina and Mississippi State missed it by two strokes. UCLA, last year’s runner-up, was four back.
