Azahara Muñoz, a Spaniard, has achieved, for the first time in the history of Spanish women's golf, the individual title of the American NCAA, the national university championship of the United States, a tournament that, in its team competition, has concluded with a victory for the University of Southern California, where the Spanish Belén Mozo also plays, who, fourth in the individual tournament, has contributed decisively to the victory of her team.

Azahara Muñoz was representing Arizona State University, where she is studying and where, interestingly, Alejandro Cañizares was at one time, who in 2003 also became the first Spanish golfer to win the NCAA individual title in its male aspect.

The Malaga native, very strong from the first day of competition, overcame all her qualified rivals in the competition held at the Albuquerque golf course in New Mexico, with special mention for the American Tiffany Joh, from UCLA, whom she beat in an exciting playoff tiebreaker after both finished with 287 strokes in the classification, 2 less than the American Garrett Phillips and 3 less than the Cadiz native Belén Mozo, fourth classified.

Indeed, the two Spanish players maintained an exciting duel at the top of the standings from the very beginning, alternating in the lead as the days went by before the American Tiffany Joh, always lurking in the previous rounds, caught up with Azahara Muñoz in the last round before losing in the playoff.

An outstanding round of 69 strokes followed by another very remarkable round of 72 – achieved in very adverse weather conditions – and two other rounds of 73 strokes made up Azahara Muñoz's performance, which constitutes a historic triumph.

Belén Mozo, for her part, also always in the leading positions, slipped slightly in the final classification thanks to 75 strokes in the last round, a result that nevertheless contributed decisively to the victory of her University, Southern California, in the team competition, being the best of a team also made up of the Dutch Dewi Claire Schreefeel, the Austrian Stefanie Endstrasser, the Colombian Paola Moreno and the American Lizette Salas.

Other Spanish players present at this NCAA Final Four also had notable performances. This was the case for María Hernández from Navarre, who was well-positioned in the first two rounds before dropping down the leaderboard with scores of 78 and 76. Finishing 41st, she overtook Carolina Andrade from Chipiona (54th) and Mariana Macías from Madrid (96th), who were also present at this prestigious tournament.

FINAL INDIVIDUAL CLASSIFICATION
1.- Azahara Muñoz (Arizona State) 287 (69+72+73+73) (wins in playoff)
2.- Tiffany Joh (UCLA) 287 (74+69+72+73)
3.- Garrett Phillips (Georgia) 289 (71+74+71+73)
4.- Belén Mozo (Southern California) 290 (69+71+75+75)
…
41.- María Hernández (Purdue) 301 (74+73+78+76)
54.- Carolina Andrade (Georgia) 304 (77+78+78+71)
96.- Mariana Macías (Auburn) 315 (76+82+80+77)

FINAL TEAM CLASSIFICATION
1.- Southern California 1168 (284+300+295+289)
2.- UCLA 1174 (289+295+298+292)
3.- Duke 1180 (299+300+300+281)
4.- Purdue 1188 (298+304+303+283)
5.- Arizona State 1189 (290+301+301+297)
…
10.- Georgia 1197 (297+303+303+294)
12.- Auburn 1215 (289+315+309+302)