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Why Eastern Michigan’s NCAA Women’s Golf semifinal run should be celebrated

News RoomBy No Comments11 Mins Read
Why Eastern Michigan’s NCAA Women’s Golf semifinal run should be celebrated

CARLSBAD, Calif. — The Eastern Michigan women’s golf team has been the talk of the golf world the past 48 hours.

Yeah, the mid-major program in Ypsilanti isn’t like any other school in the MAC. It’s unlike any mid-major in the country. The Eagles have an NIL budget that rivals the biggest schools in the country, thanks to alums who own GameAbove, a privately held global investment company focused on sports, entertainment and giving. But not even Big 10 programs Michigan or Michigan State have accomplished what EMU did this week at Omni La Costa.

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In its first NCAA postseason appearance, EMU not only made it to the national championship, advancing out of NCAA Regionals, then the Eagles made it into match play, earning the fifth seed. Tuesday morning, they took down Texas and individual national champion Farah O’Keefe. A little more than an hour later, with no time to celebrate one of the biggest accomplishments in school history, coach Josh Brewer and Co. had to turn around and play Stanford, the bonafide No. 1 team in the country that is in the midst of the best women’s golf dynasty of all-time.

Ultimately, Stanford topped EMU 5-0, ending the Eagles’ chance at being Cinderella, but that shouldn’t take away from celebrating what Eastern Michigan accomplished this season and the last two years.

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Best photos from the 2026 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship at Omni La Costa

A general view of signage on the course during the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa on May 22, 2026 in Carlsbad, California.

(Luke Hales, Getty Images)

When Brewer took over EMU, the school was ranked 226th. At NCAAs, the Eagles were 27th and will go much higher when the rankings are final. Last year, the school had its first postseason appearance ever at the Women’s National Golf Invitational, placing second. This year, it got into regionals and then to Omni La Costa. Then it topped Texas, and people started talking.

Seas of fans clad in green roamed the fairways Tuesday trying to will the Eagles on to what would’ve been one of the biggest upsets in the history of college golf. Sure, the Eagles are the mid-major acting like a blue blood, but that doesn’t guarantee anything. The players have to hit the shots and come through when it matters most, and they did.

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EMU entered the final round of stroke play outside the cut line and shot 4 under as a team, the best score by three shots on Monday. Then in match play, its star transfers, twins Jasmine and Janae Leovao, came through with quarterfinal wins while Savannah de Bock, who followed Brewer from Georgia, also took care of business to knock off the Longhorns.

There was a good celebration, but on college golf’s longest day, the biggest achievement in school history was quickly swept under the rug. The No. 1 team awaited, and David* was then tasked with taking down Goliath.

Ultimately, Stanford proved too much, topping EMU and advancing to play No. 2 USC in Wednesday’s championship match. The magical season had come to an end. But it should be celebrated.

In a day and age when college golf programs are being cut left and right, a group of donors invested in golf at Eastern Michigan, and Tuesday was the result of college athletics in 2026. Want to win? Be prepared to invest in NIL. EMU did, thanks to its donors, and the result was history.

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No other women’s team from Michigan has made NCAA match play, but the Eagles have. Eastern Michigan became the 19th team to win a match at the national championship, and they’re the only mid-major on the list.

The bar has been raised at EMU, and the blueprint has been laid for programs looking to have similar success. If donors and athletic programs invest in golf, this can be the result. The players still have to come through, and for EMU, they did.

A women’s golf team from Ypsilanti, Michigan, was the talk of the golf world for 48 hours. That couldn’t have happened 5 years ago. Who knows what the sport will look like in 5 years, let alone 2.

But that’s all it took for Eastern Michigan to make history.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Why Eastern Michigan’s NCAA Golf semifinal run should be celebrated

Read the full article here

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