GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The No. 10-ranked Georgia women’s golf team shot 292 in Tuesday’s final round of the Florida Gators Invitational at UF’s Mark Bostick Golf Course, putting the Bulldogs in sixth place on the team leaderboard.
Georgia played much of the day near par as a team before struggling late. The Bulldogs turned at 3-over but played the final nine holes at 9-over.
“A sub-par number was out there for us today,” head coach Josh Brewer said. “Overall, each person made a few mistakes that didn’t allow us to shoot that or get to the top (of the leaderboard). We were headed in that direction for a good bit of the day but didn’t get there. I’m getting sort of tired of saying ‘We’re close.’ We know we’re eventually going to grind it out and make that next step of learning what it takes to win.”
Caroline Craig’s 1-under 69 led the Bulldogs, who also counted at 73 from Jo Hua Hung, a 74 from Jenny Bae and a 76 from Caterina Don.
“Caroline had a very good round today to lead us on the final day,” Brewer said. “Hat’s off to her.”
Craig teed off from No. 10 with Tuesday’s shotgun start and played the backside of the layout first. She turned at 3-under after recording birdies at No. 11, No. 17, and No. 18, but then gave two of those strokes back with front-side bogeys at No. 4 and No. 6.
Overall, Don tied for 20th at 218; Bae, Craig, and Céleste Dao, who shot 78 on Tuesday, all tied for 29th at 220; and Hung tied for 44th at 223.
No. 4 Ole Miss and No. 16 Florida tied for the team title at 856. Rounding out the top-10 teams were No. 20 Alabama and Maryland both at 863; No. 15 Miami at 866; the Bulldogs at 872; No. 14 UCF at 875; No. 24 Tennessee at 878; Ohio State at 881; and Kentucky at 882.
The Bulldogs will return to action quickly, playing in the Gamecock Intercollegiate next Monday-Wednesday at the Columbia Country Club in Columbia, S.C.
“We just have to go to work and figure out why we’re not playing as well as we know we should,” Brewer said. “It happens sometimes in golf. Justin Thomas goes out and almost finishes last week, and he’s obviously one of the top golfers in the world. We just need to go back and look for the things all of us have to work on to get better. We have to take that approach if we want to win a tournament.”