It is funny how time works. In 2018, while attending the University of Arizona, if you had asked Haley Moore and Gigi Stoll if they thought they would be playing in a professional golf tournament in Tucson in the future, they probably would have looked at you sideways. That's because, in 2018, there were no women's professional events in the Tucson area. The only tournament close was the Cognizant Founders Cup on the LPGA Tour, which was played in Phoenix, over 120 miles away.
They also probably would have looked at you sideways because they had something more important on their mind, bringing a national championship back to Tucson for the first time since 2012. The University of Arizona Women's Golf team calls Sewailo Golf Club home when they are in season, and the 2018 season was a special one for the program. They qualified for the NCAA National Championships in Stillwater, Oklahoma, making it to the match-play portion after narrowly beating out Baylor University for the 8th and final spot. The Wildcats would beat the No. 1 seed UCLA Bruins 3-2 in the quarterfinals, then the No. 5 seed Stanford University fell to the Wildcats in the semifinals, setting up an Arizona vs Alabama national championship.
The Wildcats and Crimson Tide battled back and forth, with extra holes needed to decide the national champion. In steps, Haley Moore rolled in a birdie on her 19th hole of the day to secure the Wildcats' national championship.
"It means so much," Moore told the Golf Channel in 2018. "It is actually like a dream. I never would have thought that it would be like this. I'm just so happy right now and for my team, and I did this for them."
Fast-forward six years, Moore and Stoll are back at Sewailo Golf Club, not as teammates, but as professional golfers on the Epson Tour competing against each other at the Casino Del Sol Golf Classic.
"It's exciting to be back. It's always fun to come back to Tucson. Sometimes I go and see the national championship trophy, and it's just there's a lot of good vibes here," said Stoll. "It's nice to be back and play a golf course that I know extremely well. And just to have a good week would be awesome."
The good vibes regarding Stoll's career don't end with the national championship trophy. The now 27-year-old won the 2023 Casino Del Sol Golf Classic to capture her first professional victory and is back to defend her title in 2024. In her three starts this season, Stoll has made two cuts and finished inside the top 25 in both of them.
Last week, during the final round of the IOA Championship presented by Morongo Casino Resort & Spa, Stoll put together her best round of the season, turning in a 6-under 66 to finish the event T19 after making the cut on the number. Stoll is not just here for the vibes, though. She is determined to win again and make her way to the LPGA Tour for the 2025 season after falling just short in last year's Race for the Card.
"I mean obviously I'm here to win. I'm excited to be defending a title," said Stoll. "I feel like after a really solid round last week, I'm excited to, you know, try and put something together for three days out here. And I think it's something that I could definitely do. But I am not putting a lot of pressure on the win, but really just playing my game."
Stoll will tee off at 12:23 PM MST with Jiaze Sun and Ashley Lau, while Moore is off at 7:11 AM MST with Maddie McCrary and Julie Aime-Feyaerts.
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