Orlando, Fl. — The Georgia women’s golf team posted an even-par 288 in Tuesday’s final round (September 27th, 2016) of the ANNIKA Intercollegiate Presented by 3M. The Bulldogs finished play at 19-under, a school record performance by five strokes, and finished fourth in the elite field.
Rinko Mitsunaga and Mary Ellen Shuman posted 1-under 71s to lead Georgia on Tuesday, which also counted an even-par 72 from Jillian Hollis and Bailey Tardy’s 74. Gabriela Coello shot 78.
The Bulldogs, who were playing in the final groups with UCLA and Arkansas on Reunion Resort’s Watson Course, started quickly and played the first four holes at 5-under to surge atop the team leaderboard. However, Georgia went from 4-under on the day through No. 7 to 1-under at the turn and then played the back side at 1-over as a team.
“I knew we started well because I saw Mary Ellen, Gaby and Rinko were off to good starts,” Brewer said. “All we wanted was a chance when we got to the back nine and we had it. It was there for us. When you’re competing against schools who have won national championships, you have to keep pushing. We took a couple of steps back late, but it was still a great week. We had 11 individual rounds that were par-or-better. The golf course was yielding birdies, but you still had to go out there and make the shots and putts to earn them.”
Georgia’s 19-under effort broke the previous school record of 14-under at the 2009 Cougar Classic.
Overall, Tardy, the second-round leader, finished tied for third at 9-under 207, while Mitsunaga tied for 17th at 4-under 212, Hollis tied for 21st at 3-under 213, Shuman tied for 37th at 219 and Coello tied for 47th at 222.
Shuman, who posted one par-or-better score in 43 rounds played in her first three seasons at Georgia, notched back-to-back such efforts in the second and third rounds in Orlando.
“What a great round by Mary Ellen to shoot 1-under when we needed in the final round,” Brewer said. “She’s learned a lot in her first three years and for her to play like she did this week gives us that much more confidence as a team going forward.”
Maria Fassi of Arkansas claimed the individual title after finishing at 11-under 205.
Southern Cal captured the team championship after completing play at 24-under 840. Rounding out the team field was Arkansas at 842, UCLA at 844, the Bulldogs at 845, Florida at 848, South Carolina at 849, Duke at 857, UCF at 859, Arizona State at 865, Oklahoma State at 866, Virginia at 869 and Arizona at 872.