ATHENS, Ga. — The No. 25-ranked Georgia women’s golf team returns to the course for the third time in two weeks on Friday when the Bulldogs open competition at the Florida State Match Up. The 54-hole event will be contested at the par-72, 6250-yard Seminole Legacy Golf Club in Tallahassee, Fla.
Georgia is one of four top-25 teams in the field of 15 competing schools. No. 19 Duke is followed by No. 20 Florida State, No. 23 SMU and the Bulldogs. Rounding out the competing teams are Alabama, Baylor, Campbell, Coastal Carolina, Daytona State, Delaware, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska and Ohio State.
“With the field and as well as we’ve played, we expect to be near the top of the leaderboard and get into contention where we hopefully get that first win of the year,” head coach Josh Brewer said.
Georgia’s playing five will consist of LoraLie Cowart, Caterina Don, Natachanok “Drive” Tunwannarux, Napat “Jenny” Lertsadwattana and Bernice Olivarez Ilas.
Cowart has enjoyed a stellar junior season. After posting three par-or-better scores in 42 rounds as a freshman and sophomore, she has posted 12 such tallies in 25 rounds this season. Cowart entered this year with a career stroke average of 75.60 but has trimmed more than three shots per round with a 72.52 average in 2023-24.
She attributes to work on wedges and an improved mental approach.
“I would say my wedges are better,” Cowart said. “A lot of that has to do with how much (coach) Josh (Brewer) and our program puts an emphasis on that and how much work we do with wedges. When I say wedges, I’m talking about from about 50-115 yards. We do a lot of work with that because those are your scoring clubs. I think my freshman and sophomore year, and I’m just going to be blunt, I didn’t buy into it. I’ve bought into it. That that’s really what makes a golfer elite in terms of going from junior to college golf.”
“I seriously mean it when I say my mental game is much better,” Cowart continued. “Before, I would stand over the golf ball and I wasn’t able to mentally pull the trigger. Now, I stand over the golf ball, and I’m like ‘This is going to go where I want it to and if not who cares? I’ll just go play the next shot.’ I was almost halted by the thought of things not working out like I wanted them to.”
Georgia will be in action for the third time in two weeks. The Bulldogs finished sixth at both the Darius Rucker Collegiate and the Valspar Augusta Invitational last week.
“I really like being able to get out and go compete,” Cowart said. “There’s one side of it that obviously like ‘Oh my God. It’s a lot of golf.’ You’re going to be tired. You’re going to be this. You’re going to be that. Your body’s going to hurt. But there’s also the flip side of like the more you compete and the more you get at it, I like to think the better your golf becomes because golf isn’t as much technique as you have to go play the golf course. Your swing hits the shot, but you really are playing that golf course and just being able to go week-to-week and day-to-day playing in a tournament makes it that much easier to stay in that mindset and stay focused.”
The Match Up holds sentimental value for Brewer. Led by medalist Rocio Sanchez Lobato, Georgia won its first team tile during Brewer’s tenure in Tallahassee in 2013. That was his first season as the Bulldogs’ head coach. Brewer is now in his 12th campaign in Athens and has led Georgia to 35 victories – 16 team and 19 individual titles.
“That’s a great memory but unfortunately we’re not playing the same golf course this weekend,” Brewer said.
Georgia will be paired with Delaware and Daytona State for the opening round. The tournament will feature a 9:00 am shotgun start with the hope of playing 36 holes on Friday. Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament at www.golfstat.com.