Edwards, Colo. — The Georgia women’s golf team posted a 10-over 298 in Monday’s first round of the Golfweek Conference Challenge at Red Sky Golf Club, putting the Bulldogs in eighth place on the team leaderboard.
“We made some good golf shots and some good decisions,” head coach Josh Brewer said. “We made 16 birdies. That’s a birdie out of about every six holes we played. Most days, that would be really good. Unfortunately, everyone had one or two bad swings that then turned into a big number. That hurt us.”
Rinko Mitsunaga and Kelsey Kurnett supplied Georgia’s low loop of the day, with both golfers signing for a 73. They are tied for 20th individually. Gabriela Coello shot 74 and is tied for 27th, Harmie Constantino fired a 75 and is tied for 35th, Bailey Tardy notched a 76 and is tied for 47th and Elisa Yang tallied a 77 and is tied for 54th.
Kurnett, a junior who joined the roster as a walk on this fall, is competing individually and did not count in the Bulldogs’ team score.
UCLA grabbed the early lead with an 11-under 277 which put the Bruins nine shots ahead of the field. A quartet of golfers are tied atop the individual leaderboard at 2-under 70.
“We played in wind and a bit of rain for the first time in a while,” Brewer said.
“We’ll have a chance to handle it better tomorrow and Wednesday. We need to attack a few holes differently, but we know we have the firepower to make a move and get ourselves into a good position for the final day.”
The Bulldogs will be paired with Virginia Tech and SMU for Tuesday’s second round, teeing off between noon-12:36 p.m. ET.