WILMETTE, Illinois — Led by a fourth-place individual finish from sophomore Harang Lee, the Georgia women’s golf team placed seventh in the Windy City Collegiate Championship on Tuesday, October 7th, 2014. Lee shot 2-under 70 in the final round to pace the Bulldogs en route to a 302 team tally.
After turning at 5-over in the first round, Lee played the final 45 holes of the tournament 5-under. Her finish and even-par (216) score also represented career-best efforts, topping a tie for 13th with a 3-over (219) at last spring’s Lady Puerto Rico Classic.
“It was a very good finish for Harang, especially after her start yesterday,” head coach Josh Brewer said. “To play as well as she did and to tie for fourth in a very good field ought to give her a boost of confidence.”
On Tuesday, Lee turned at even after mixing seven pars with a bogey at No. 6 and a birdie at No. 8. She reached red numbers with a birdie at No. 11 and moved to 2-under with another birdie at No. 14 before wrapping up her day with a quartet of pars.
Georgia’s other three counting scores were a 75 from Manuela Carbajo Ré, a 77 from Isabella Skinner and an 80, the loop recorded by both Amira Alexander and Rocio Sanchez Lobato.
University of Southern California captured the team title after finishing at 876. Rounding out the top-10 teams were Northwestern University at 879, Iowa State at 888, University of Arizona at 891, Oklahoma State at 893, Ohio State at 894, the Bulldogs at 895, Tulane at 897, Purdue at 899 and University of Minnesota at 904.
Georgia was in position for a better finish before a late slide.
“I think we lost seven shots on the last seven holes,” Brewer said. “If we par 18, we finish fifth. But this is the first time this group, this nucleus has seen the leaders in the final round. With seven holes to go, we were right there and could’ve finished third. That’s a positive we can build on.”
USC’s Annie Park closed with a 3-under 69 to secure medalist honors at 5-under 511. For Georgia, Lee tied for fourth, Carbajo Ré tied for 13th at 221 and Alexander and Skinner both tied for 49th at 230. Sanchez Lobato, who withdrew from Tuesday’s second round due to neck stiffness, finished her 36 holes at 11-over.
“Manuela played well for us,” Brewer said. “Two years ago, she was an All-American as a freshman. To finish in the top-10 or top-15 is what we know she’s capable of and what we expect from her. She did that here against a solid field of competition.”
Georgia will wrap up its fall campaign next weekend when the Bulldogs compete in the Stanford Intercollegiate on October 17-19, 2014.
“Like with any sport, you work hard to get better,” Brewer said. “We have a few things to concentrate on in the next week and then we’ll go to Stanford and try to improve on those things and finish the fall on a positive note.”