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WILMINGTON, N.C. (theACC.com) – Stanford junior Paula Martín Sampedro captured medalist honors at the 2026 ACC Women’s Golf Championship, finishing 14-under (202) to become the second consecutive Cardinal player to win the conference’s individual title Friday at Porters Neck Country Club.
Led by Martín Sampedro, Stanford secured the No. 1 seed and a bye into the match play semifinals, set to begin on Saturday, April 18, at 1:30 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra. The Cardinal finished 33-under (831), breaking the tournament 54-hole team record by six shots, previously set by Virginia in 2015 and Stanford last season. Stanford finished 11 strokes ahead of second-place SMU, with both teams earning byes into the match play semifinals.
Wake Forest (850, -14) finished third and will face North Carolina (856, -8), which claimed the final match play spot by edging Clemson by a stroke. The Demon Deacons were led by Chloe Kovelesky, who finished third in the final individual standings at 9-under (207).
Duke (851, -13) finished fourth, followed by NC State (852, -12) in fifth to round out the match play field. Duke’s Rianne Malixi earned runner-up honors at 11-under. Paced by Marie Madsen’s sixth-place finish, the Wolfpack will make their first-ever appearance in the match play portion of the championship since it was introduced in 2021.
SMU will face the winner of Wake Forest and North Carolina in the semifinals, marking the Mustangs’ first match play appearance. Leading SMU was Mackenzie Lee (208, -8) with a fourth-place finish, capped off by a 5-under third round, tying for the lowest score of the day. The winner of the Duke-NC State matchup will take on top-seeded Stanford.
Match play first-round action from Porters Neck begins at 7:30 a.m. ET with both matches playing simultaneously. Semifinal action will tee off at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET on ACCNX, with the match play final is scheduled for 9 a.m. ET on Sunday also on ACCNX.
