BUIES CREEK, N.C. – For the 26th time in 32 seasons, Campbell University is heading to post-season play in women's golf. The Camels received an at-large berth to play May 5-7 in the NCAA Lubbock Regional at The Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas.
Ranked No. 49, the Camels are one of 72 teams nationally to earn a post-season bid and are seeded eighth in the 12-team Lubbock Regional. Campbell was one of 49 programs to receive an at-large berth. The top five teams (and top individual from non-qualifying teams) from each of six regional sites will advance to the NCAA Championship May 16-21 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa Champions Course in Carlsbad, Calif.
The post-season berth is the 12th in 13 seasons for Coach
John Crooks' team. The Camels won the Golfweek Fall Challenge last September and have finished as runner-up in four other events this season including the Tiger Classic, The Southern, Mercedes Benz Intercollegiate and City of Oaks Collegiate. Campbell's last two regular season events – the City of Oaks Collegiate (Lonnie Poole GC) and the Chattanooga Classic (The Honors Course) – were held at sites that have hosted either NCAA regional or national championships.
Campbell finished third in the Coastal Athletic Association Championship, but earned its at-large spot by virtue of its top-50 national ranking, six top-three finishes and a 109-26-2 head-to-head record.
"In this day and age where there's so much uncertainty in Division I athletics, it is indeed an honor to receive an at-large bid and to be recognized for excellence throughout the year, said
John Crooks, who is in his 35th season in charge of the men's team and 34th as head coach of the Campbell women. "This team played in three tournaments hosted by power conference schools and our record was two wins, no losses and one tie against those schools. To be able to go to a Power 4 home course and beat them, that really speaks to how a team can handle difficult situations. We look forward to competing at the highest level."
Crooks and assistant coach Val Patino will start a lineup that includes junior
Isabella Hahne, sophomores
Mira Berglund,
Alicia Olsson and
Jade Potter, and freshman
Fanni Gronlund. Redshirt junior
Taylah Ellems will also travel as an alternate/substitute. Hahne and Ellems have previous postseason experience after competing in the 2023 NCAA Raleigh Regional.
Campbell is quite familiar with the Rawls Course after competing in the Red Raider Invitational in each of the last two seasons. Four of the players in Campbell's regional lineup – Berglund, Gronlund, Hahne and Olsson, played in the event last fall when the Camels finished seventh at Texas Tech's home event. Hahne, Olsson and Ellems helped Campbell finish third in the 2023 tournament.
Opened in 2003, the Rawls Course is a West Texas masterpiece designed by renowned architect Tom Doak. The course was created for Texas Tech University and was designed by taking a flat cotton field on the high plains of the West Texas panhandle and creating an entire landscape from scratch. Doak moved 1.3 million cubic yards of topsoil and shaped the earth to mimic the land east and south of Lubbock where the great plain suddenly starts falling into the valleys and canyons that lead to the Caprock region.
"The Rawls Course is a wind-swept golf course," said Crooks. "If we're lucky enough to see a wind that we have seen before, we will have some course knowledge. There are several tee shots that are blind where you have to be able to pick out a spot and trust it. We are going to know some things that other teams don't know. This is a big-time golf course. It's hosted many major championships."
Crooks has been named league coach of the year 23 times in his tenure. His teams have combined to earn 38 NCAA post-season trips, including 16 consecutive team and individual invitations. His teams have won 162 tournaments and with 100 career tournament titles, Crooks trails only Dan Brooks of Duke (143) on the all-time coaching victories list among Division I women's coaches. Inducted into the Campbell Athletics Hall of Fame on Jan. 18, no other coach on the Division I level has won more combined men's and women's tournaments than Crooks. He has guided his teams to 27 league titles, including 19 on the women's side and eight in men's competition.
Other 2025 regional sites include Charlottesville, Va. (Birdwood GC), Columbus, Ohio (OSU GC), Gold Canyon, Ariz. (Superstition Mountain Golf & CC) and Lexington, Ky. (Keene Trace GC).
NCAA Lubbock Regional
Lubbock, Texas | The Rawls Course
May 5-7, 2025 | Par 72, 6562 yards
Participating Teams (Automatic Qualifiers/NCAA Ranking): 1. Texas (6), 2. Wake Forest (7), 3. Arizona (Big 12/8), 4. Texas A&M (19), 5. Iowa State (30), 6. Tennessee (31), 7. Purdue (43),
8. Campbell (49), 9. UC Davis (57), 10. Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun/73), 11. Tarleton State (WAC/118), 12. Texas A&M Corpus Christi (Southland/227).
Individuals: 1. Ryann Honea, Abilene Christian, 2. Chantal El Chaib, Georgia, 3. Klara Hurtova, Texas Tech, 4. Kara Kaneshiro, Colorado State, 5. Yvonne Chamness, Texas State, 6. Julia McLaughlin, High Point (Big South).
