COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 13-ranked Georgia women’s golf shot 297 in the final round of the Gamecock Intercollegiate and wrapped up the 54-hole event in ninth place on Wednesday. The Bulldogs were among 11 top-25 teams in the tournament’s field, which featured four top-5 squads.
“This was definitely the toughest field we’ve faced this season,” head coach Josh Brewer said. “You have all of the top SEC teams, the top two teams from the ACC, and the No. 1 team in the country. The hard part about our sport is how hard it is to win. I want to be at the top of the leaderboard, but we have to realize we did beat seven, eight, nine good teams here. We got wins against some really good teams. A lot of times you focus on who you lost to and forget about those wins.
“This week was a good barometer of where we stand right now,” Brewer said. “We know we’re really close to putting things together as a team but at the same time, this keeps us hungry. We’re working hard. We want to be the team everyone is clapping for at the end of the tournament.”
The third-round play was suspended on Tuesday evening and the teams returned to the course at 11:30 to complete the final round. Georgia’s six golfers had 9-10 holes of play on Wednesday.
Caterina Don led the Bulldogs in the final round with a 1-under. Georgia also counted Candice Mahé’s 75 and a pair of 76s from Jenny Bae and Joe Hua Hung. Caroline Craig’s 77 was the Bulldogs’ drop score. In addition, Isabella Holpfer, who was competing individually, shot 74.
Don teed off from No. 15 with yesterday’s shotgun start and played 10 holes on Tuesday at every par. She birdied No. 15 and No. 3 to move to 2-under on the day but bogeyed No. 5 and No. 6 to fall back to even when play was suspended. On Wednesday, Don birdied No. 8 and bogeyed No. 9 before a final birdie at No. 12 pushed her back into red numbers.
Georgia will return to action in two and a half weeks when the Bulldogs host the 40th annual Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic at the University of Georgia Golf Course. The tournament will be held March 19-21, and the field will feature primarily SEC teams along with Southern Cal, Louisville, and College of Charleston.
“It’s just another week of an SEC Championship hosted by another SEC school,” Brewer quipped. “I think it speaks to not only Coach Murphey’s legacy and our program but also to the quality of our golf course and the city of Athens that the best teams in the country want to come here to compete every spring. Maybe playing at home will kickstart us on a special run through the end of the year.”