ATHENS, Ga. — The No. 28-ranked Georgia women’s golf team will return to the course on Friday when the Bulldogs begin play at the Valspar Augusta Invitational at Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta. The tournament was originally scheduled for Saturday and Sunday but was pushed up a day due to the weather forecast on Saturday.
The tourney continues the busiest week of a packed March for Georgia. The Bulldogs just wrapped up play in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate in Hilton Head Island, S.C., on Wednesday. Georgia also will travel to Tallahassee for the Florida State Match Up on March 15-17 before hosting the 52nd annual Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic on March 29-30 at the University of Georgia Golf Course.
Georgia tied for sixth with No. 4 LSU and No. 7 Texas at the Darius Rucker, which featured a field including six top-10 and 11 top-25 teams. Caterina Don led the Bulldogs for the sixth time in seven tournaments this season, tying for 16th individually.
Three different golfers provided Georgia with its low round during the Darius Rucker, with Don posted a 2-under 69 on Monday, Natachanok “Drive” Tunwannarux firing a career-low 5-under 66 on Tuesday and LoraLie Cowart shooting 1-under 70 on Wednesday.
The Bulldogs’ lineup in Augusta will feature Don, Tunwannarux, Savannah De Bock, Cowart and Napat “Jenny” Lertsadwattana.
Don and De Bock ascended to No. 22 and No. 25, respectively, in this week’s edition of the Spikemark national rankings. Georgia is one of only five schools with two top-25 golfers along with Florida State, Southern California, Stanford and Wake Forest.
No. 1 Wake Forest headlines field in Augusta, which features six top-25 teams including No. 5 South Carolina, No. 12 Auburn, No. 16 Clemson, No. 14 Ole Miss and No. 21 Florida State. Rounding out the competing schools are Alabama, Augusta, Coastal Carolina, Georgia, Louisville, Furman, Georgia Southern, Michigan, Oklahoma State, South Florida and Virginia Tech.
Georgia will be paired with Alabama and South Florida on Friday, with a 10:30 a.m. shotgun start on holes Nos. 7-9. Live scoring will be available via www.golfstat.com.