ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia women’s golf team opens postseason competition this week at the Southeastern Conference Championship, which begins on Monday and continues through Friday at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla.
The SEC Championship consists of 54 holes of stroke play from Monday-Wednesday followed by two days of match play among the top eight teams in the field. The tournament begins at 8 a.m. on Monday, with the Bulldogs teeing off on hole 10 between 9 a.m. and 9:50 a.m. in 10-minute increments.
“This is what you work all year towards, and they are hungry to perform at a high level,” head coach Erika Brennan said. “We’ve been building towards this all spring, and they continue to improve in each event, so we are encouraged and ready to build on the momentum. Pelican is a wonderful test of golf, and we’ll need to be dialed with our short games, which continues to be the emphasis in practices. I’m proud of the fight in this team, and we’re amped to tee it up this week.”
Georgia will join the other 15 SEC teams at Pelican Golf Club to compete for the conference title over five days of golf. 10 of the conference’s 16 teams are ranked in the most recent edition of the Clippd rankings, including No. 2 Arkansas, No. 4 South Carolina, No. 6 Texas, No. 11 LSU, No. 14 Auburn, No. 16 Texas A&M, No. 18 Ole Miss, No. 20 Mississippi State, No. 21 Vanderbilt, and No. 24 Florida. Other teams joining Georgia in Belleair include Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
Georgia wrapped up its regular season just four days ago, hosting the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic at the UGA Golf Course. The Bulldogs finished second as a team with a 54-hole score of 890 (295-289-306) led by Celine Brovold Sanne‘s individual runner-up finish. The sophomore carded the best 54-hole relation-to-par score of her career with a 1-over 217 to tie for second, her best-career tournament result. Senior Kate Song and graduate student Chantal El Chaib also posted top-20 finishes in their final home tournaments as Song shot 7-over to tie for 11th and El Chaib finished 15th at 8-over.
El Chaib will lead off the Bulldogs’ lineup at the SEC Championship while sophomore Morgan Smith will occupy the second spot. Song and Brovold Sanne fill follow in the third and fourth positions while sophomore Grace Frei rounds out Georgia’s lineup for the tournament. Freshman Zixin “Candice” Lou will serve as a substitute for the duration of the tournament.
Georgia advanced to the SEC Championship semifinals in 2024, sitting in seventh place after three days of stroke play before upsetting No. 10 Auburn, 3.5-1.5 in the quarterfinals. The 23rd-ranked Bulldogs then fell to No. 16 Texas A&M, 3-2, in a semifinal contest that came down to the final hole.
Georgia will be paired with golfers from Alabama, Kentucky, and Missouri, with Frei teeing off for the Bulldogs first from hole 10 at 9 a.m. Live scoring will be available at https://gado.gs/d0m.