TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The No. 13 Florida State Seminoles are now two-time back-to-back Regional Champions and are headed to the NCAA Championship for the second year in a row after its win Wednesday.
The Seminoles took full advantage of their home course, Seminole Legacy Golf Club, and were the only team to shoot under par for the tournament, totaling a 4-under par 860. In the past 15 years, only eight teams and six schools have won back-to-back regionals.
One of the Seminoles’ own, Beatrice Wallin, took away the individual champion title after shooting a lights out 6-under par.
Alice Hodge had a remarkable finish for the Seminoles, breaking the course record with a 7-under par 65 for the final round.
Wallin celebrated with a win for her final home tournament, making not only her team proud, but also her parents who flew in from Sweden to see her play for the first time in her college career.
She started off her front-nine on fire after shooting a 5 under-par 31, capturing 6 birdies on the first 9 holes. After making the turn, Wallin continued her spectacular play with a birdie on No. 11, finishing the round with a 4-under par 68.
Wallin had a total of 16 birdies for the tournament which led the 65 player field. Wallin is the most recent Seminole to win a regional championship since Matilda Castren tied for 1st place in 2016 at the Shoal Creek Regional Championship.
“I’m proud of Bea,” said Head Coach Amy Bond. “It was a really tough decision for her to come back and I know she said it, that she’s extremely happy she came back. I’m extremely happy that she came back, because it meant so much for her to graduate and finish her career with her teammates. For her to put an exclamation point on her career by winning the regional, I just can’t express the words and how proud I am of her for going out there and putting together three really good rounds.”
Hodge had her best performance in the final round of the tournament, shooting a 7-under par 65, beating her career best of a 66 at the Jim West Classic back in fall 2021. On top of beating her own personal record, she beat Seminole Legacy’s course record as well. Along with these two records, Hodge was the lowest scoring Seminole in a regional single round.
Along with her seven birdies in the final round, Hodge captured two eagles on the back-nine, bringing her career eagle total to 3. She led the player stats on par 4’s, averaging a 3.87, -4 score. Hodge joined her teammate Wallin near the top of the leaderboard for birdies, totaling 14 for the tournament, helping her place T3.
“It’s unreal,” said Bond on Hodge’s record breaking performance. “Alice got hot on the back-nine and I was really just trying to stay out of her way. I got in her way on 15 and she can blame that double on me, but the rest of the day she started the back-nine with 5 straight threes. It’s pretty impressive, but to do what she did today, we really needed it. Hopefully for her, that’s a big confidence boost heading into the national championship.”
Cecilie Finne-Ipsen and Amelia Williamson continued their steady play, each shooting a total of 3-over for the tournament, both placing T9. Finne-Ipsen shot her highest round of the tournament in Wednesday’s play, but ultimately captured 4 birdies on the back-nine to shoot a 2-over par 74 in her final round.
Williamson had a great front-nine after birdying No. 8 and shooting a 1-under par 35 on her first nine. She started off her back-nine with her only triple-bogey of the tournament, and came back with two birdies, with one on No. 18 to close out her round with a 1-over par 73. She was at the top of the leaderboard for pars, totaling 38 pars for the tournament and leading her Seminole teammates.
Charlotte Heath finished her final round with a 2-over par 74, birdying hole No. 9 to shoot an even-par front-nine. She placed T21.
Florida State led the 12 team field on par 3’s, averaging a 3.08 (+5 score), and on par 4’s, averaging a 4.06 (+9 score). Wallin and Hodge helped the Seminoles lead the field in birdies, with the team totaling 51 birdies for the three day tournament. Hodge and Wallins’ two eagles, along with Heath’s one eagle led the field as well.
“I’m extremely proud of this team,” said Bond. “They came out today, kind of a little bit on a mission, and they set out to win it, and they went and won it. Any time you can shoot an under par score out here is a big deal and a big round, so I’m super proud of the way they handled themselves today. The putts finally fell.”
The Tallahassee Regional Champions will head to the NCAA Championship in Scottsdale, Arizona at Grayhawk Golf Club beginning on May 20th and running through the 25th.
“I think the big thing is this should give us a lot of confidence and springboard us into the national championship,” said Bond. “The national championship is a long week of golf, so we just really have to do what we have done all season and take one shot at a time, one hole at a time, and one day at a time. I think if we do that, good things are going to happen.”
