NORFOLK, Va. – Old Dominion women's golfer Leah Onosato is headed back to Florida for the fourth time this season as she received an at-large bid to the NCAA's Palm Beach Gardens Regional on Wednesday afternoon.
The Palm Beach Gardens Regional will be held at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach on May 8-10 and will be co-hosted by Florida Atlantic and the Palm Beach County Sports Commission. Each regional site will consist of 12 teams and six individuals, with the top five teams (30 total) and the low individual not on an advancing team moving on to the NCAA Championships, to be played at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 19-24. The final three days of the NCAA Championship will be streamed live on the Golf Channel. The other regional sites include: Pullman, Washington; Westfield, Indiana; Raleigh, North Carolina; Athens, Georgia; and San Antonio, Texas.
The 12 teams that will compete in the Regional, in order of seeding, are LSU, Texas, Northwestern, UCF, Duke, Michigan State, California, Arkansas, Alabama, South Florida, Penn and Quinnipiac. Other at-large individuals include North Florida's Christin Eisenbeiss, Miami's (Fla.) Sara Byrne, Princeton's Yanjun Liu, FIU's Karissa Kilby, and Creighton's Katherine Lemke.
"The Palm Beach Gardens Regional is the only course in this year's rotation where Leah has competitive experience," said head coach Mallory Kane. "We competed in the Conference USA Championship at PGA National last spring. The course is known to be challenging and is most famous for hosting a PGA Tour event each February. It's definitely an advantage to have played the course because it is so tough and the wind can be tricky. We know what to expect and have no fear for what is to come."
Onosato became the first women's golfer in program history to win a conference championship individual title last week. The graduate student from Kumamoto, Japan led the tournament from start to finish and ended up with a two-under par 214. The Sun Belt Championship was held at the LPGA International Hills Course in Daytona Beach on April 16-18, an Onosato started off with a four-under 68 for her first 18 holes played. She followed with a pair of 73s and won by two strokes.
This will be Onosato's second time competing in an NCAA Regional. After tying for fourth at the 2021 Conference USA Championship, she received an at-large bid and was the top-seeded individual at the Columbus Regional. She opened with a two-under par 70 before finishing tied for 55th.
"Our preparations are centered around keeping Leah present and focused," continued Kane. "We are fine-tuning the basics of her setup and playing a lot to be as competitive as possible. She has as much experience as anyone competing next week and she can draw on all those past memories to help her play her best."
Palm Beach Gardens Regional Field
Teams
1. LSU
2. Texas
3. Northwestern
4. UCF
5. Duke
6. Michigan State
7. California
8. Arkansas
9. Alabama
10. South Florida
11. Penn
12. Quinnipiac
Individuals
1. Christin Eisenbeiss, North Florida
2. Sara Byrne, Miami (Fla.)
3. Yanjun Liu, Princeton
4. Karissa Kilby, FIU
5. Leah Onosato, Old Dominion
6. Katherine Lemke, Creighton
Onosato Receives At-Large Bid to Palm Beach Gardens Regional
