Champions have long defined the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The list of Hall of Fame athletes who have competed in the annual contest is breathtaking. Heisman Trophy winners, future NFL Super Bowl champions and national championship coaches have made their mark in the annual game that brings in thousands of fans to New Orleans and millions of television viewers. But the list of Sugar Bowl champions extends well past the gridiron. There is a long list of distinguished individuals who have proven themselves to be champions in life as well – the Sugar Bowl has highlighted these lesser known success stories with a series of online stories.
We Believe in Champions
The University of Arizona has a proud athletic tradition – the Wildcats entered the spring of 2018 having captured 21 team national championships. However, since the baseball team won the College World Series in 2012, the school had been in a drought.
On a hot and humid afternoon in Stillwater, Okla., on May 30, 2018, the drought ended when Wildcat senior Haley Moore stood over a short putt on the first playoff hole of the 2018 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship. The California native calmly lined up the putt and buried it, setting off a wild celebration as the shot clinched the national title for Arizona.
“It means so much,” Moore told the Golf Channel’s Kay Cockerill. “It’s 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.”
Moore, the star of the first eighth-seeded team to win the NCAA women’s golf title, had tasted victory on the collegiate level for her first time in February of 2017. Playing in the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Golf Invitational at English Turn, Moore fired rounds of 70, 71 and 69 to top a star-studded field for the individual championship.
“I played very steady these past two days,” said Moore after her win in New Orleans. “Whenever I would make a bogey I would come back with a birdie. I remained calm during the 36-hole day, as there was a lot of golf to play as well as knowing that anything can happen. I have come close before to winning a tournament and to come back to win means a lot. I have been working very hard on every part of my game.”
That hard work paid off in a big way in May at the national championship. In the match-play format, Arizona was knotted at two apiece with the University of Alabama. When the Crimson Tide’s Lakareber Abe birdied the 18th hole to even her match with Moore, a sudden-death playoff for the national title was on the board. Replaying the 18th hole, both players had good chances at birdies, but after Abe’s putt just missed, Moore connected on the four-footer to set off the celebration, described by Golfweek as “a foursome of shrieking teammates threw their arms around Haley in a moment of sheer adulation. She was the hero.”
“I’m just shocked, amazed,” said Moore. “… very emotional just because I gave my team a national championship. It was all on the line for me.”
“The Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Golf Invitational has welcomed many sensational women’s golfers over the last eight years,” Allstate Sugar Bowl CEO Paul Hoolahan said. “And it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to see one of our tournament champions go on to even greater success on the national level.”
From its earliest years, the Sugar Bowl Committee has been honored to provide opportunities for young athletes from around the country, athletes like Haley Moore. That’s because, at the Allstate Sugar Bowl, We Believe in Champions.
Photo by Bruce Waterfield, Arizona Athletics
