ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia’s Jillian Hollis and Bailey Tardy were named the SEC’s Golfer of the Week and Freshman of the Week, respectively, on Tuesday (March 22nd, 2016) by the league office in Birmingham, Alabama.
Hollis won medalist honors and Tardy finished third individually at the Mountain View Intercollegiate last weekend. Those performances led Georgia to the team title in Tucson as well.
Hollis, a 5-5, freshman from Rocky River, Ohio, came within a stroke of both Georgia’s single-round a tournament records. She opened with a 6-under 66 and finished the 54-hole event at 11-under 205. The best round in Georgia history is Vicki Goetze’s 7-under 65 in the final round of the 1992 NCAA Championships, while the best tournament score was Tardy’s 12-under effort to win the Windy City Collegiate Classic last fall.
Hollis followed her 66 with a 67 in the second round to build a nine-shot lead, and she carded an even-par 72 on Saturday, her 10th par-or-better loop of the season.
Tardy, a 5-8, freshman from Peachtree Corners, Ga., shot 3-under 213, the fifth time in eight tournaments this season she has finished in red numbers. Tardy posted par-or-better efforts in each round, upping her team-leading tally this season to 15 (in 22 rounds). The finish was Tardy’s fourth top-5, sixth top-10 and eighth top-20 individual finish in eight tournaments.
Hollis and Tardy led Georgia to a 5-under 859, the fifth-best team score in school history. The victory was Georgia’s fourth of the 2015-16 campaign, the Bulldogs’ most since their 1999 NCAA runner-up team captured seven.
Hollis became the third Georgia freshman to earn medalist honors this season, following Tardy and Rinko Mitsunaga, who won the Lady Bulldog Individual Championship last month. The last time three different UGA golfers won individual titles was during Georgia’s 2001 NCAA Championship campaign.
The Bulldogs will return to action next weekend when they host the 44th annual Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic at the UGA Golf Course from April 1-3. The nation’s top-seven teams – Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Duke, Northwestern, Southern Cal and UCLA – are included in the field. The tournament will feature 18 holes of stroke play on Friday. Those results will determine seeds for two days of match play competition on Saturday and Sunday.