Emma Bunch first NMSU women’s golfer at nationals since 2002

New Mexico State has a national championship contender.

Emma Bunch punched her ticket to the NCAA Women's Golf Championship during the NCAA Stanford Regional from May 11-13 at the Stanford Golf Course in California. She finished tied for sixth overall, the highest out of any golfer from a non-qualifying team.

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Bunch held the lead through the first two rounds. She tallied the lowest 18-hole score of her career at -7 in the first round and took the lead by four strokes. Bunch hit eight birdies in the first round. She then recorded a -3 second round that included two birdies and left her lead at one stroke.

A +3 third round dropped Bunch to sixth place alongside Arizona State's Patience Rhodes, but it was still enough to send her to the national championship. She was the lone automatic individual qualifier in the field of 77.

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Bunch will compete for a national championship from May 22-27 at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, CA. She will be one of six individual qualifiers at the event. Bunch is the third Aggie golfer in history to earn a spot in the national championship and the first since Alena Sharp in 2002.

Bunch now has another accolade to add to her collection, with another notable one being her winning Conference USA Golfer of the Year earlier this month.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: NMSU's Emma Bunch punches ticket to women's golf national championship