Solid NCAA Finish For Smith To Cap UNC Career

Monday, May 20

Carlsbad, Calif. (Champions Course at the Omni LaCosta Resort & Spa)

All Day

North Carolina

NCAA Championship Day Four (Stroke Play)

Photo by: TIM COWIE

May 20, 2024 | Women's Golf

By: Steve Kirschner

NCAA Championship
Round 4
May 20, 2024

CARLSBAD, CALIF. – North Carolina's Kayla Smith shot 2-over-par 74 in the fourth and final round of stroke play in the 2024 NCAA Women's Golf Championship Monday at the North Course at the Omni La Costa Resort and Spa.

The fifth-year senior from Burlington, N.C., was playing in her 112^th and final collegiate round. She shot 71-72-77-74 for 6-over 294, the fifth-fewest strokes by a Tar Heel in the program's 17 NCAA Championship appearances.

Smith entered the final round tied for 34^th and improved six spots to tie for 28^th place in the 156-player field. Her 74 Monday was more than a stroke better than the course average.

She finishes her career, during which she earned All-ACC honors in 2022 and 2023 and was a two-time medalist, with a stroke average of 73.11, second-best in Tar Heel history.

Third-year UNC head coach Aimee Neff reflected on the Tar Heels' experience in the NCAA Championship, its first since 2017:

"The main thing is we continue taking steps forward as a program, knowing in order to contend and win national championships, you first have to qualify and get here. This was a big step for our program. Having four underclassmen play at a place that will host another two years, if not more, is important. The more reps we get here, the more we give ourselves a chance. The North Course is a good test. You have to know your yardages really well and you have to make a few more putts.

"I was really pleased for Kayla. She played super solid and just showed why she's an All-ACC player.

"We talked last night about how much work we need to do to improve. We didn't have our best stuff this week, but continued to fight and played really hard. I'm excited with the players we're returning and the players we're bringing in.

"This week was good for our players to see they have the same abilities as some of the best players in the country. Those players also make mistakes, but how do they respond and how do they bounce back? Playing this course also helps us know how we can better use our own training facility at Finley to practice a little bit differently. We can re-create the challenging shots and situations that maybe we didn't handle as well here. We can plan practices, sort of reverse engineering some of the shots that you have to hit here."