University of Georgia Athletics
Kelly Froelich Wins French Girls Amateur
July 28, 2003 | Women's Golf
July 28, 2003
Athens, Ga. -- Georgia rising sophomore Kelly Froelich captured the French Girls Amateur title last week, defeating Caroline Afonso in 20 holes in the championship match.
Froelich, who is a native of Paris and earned second-team All-SEC honors last spring, survived an up and down title match.
"I am very, very happy," Froelich said. "I fought well. It was a very amusing match, full of bounces."
Froelich lost two of the first three holes. After winning No. 5, she lost No. 7 to remain at 2-down. Froelich then won four of five holes between No. 9-13 to move to 2-up before losing the next three holes to fall back to 1-down. She captured No. 17 to push the match to all square and then clinched the title on the second playoff hole.
"When I was down by two after three holes, I knew I had to approach it one step at a time to equalize the match," Froelich said. "I won a couple of holes but then lost three in a row to go from 2-up to 1-down. I won 17 because Caroline hit into the tall grass."
Froelich finished tied for medallist honors after shooting 78-68=146 in stroke play and was the No. 2 seed entering the 32-player match play competition.
Froelich was dominant throughout her march to the final. She defeated Erika Negelle, 5 and 4, in the first round; Fanny Richelme, 3-and-2, in the second round; Nomie Leloup, 3-and-1 in the quarterfinals; and Charlotte Schmidlin, 3-and-1 in the semifinals.
Froelich led the Lady Bulldogs in stroke average during the 2002-03 season at 75.24 and posted team highs of four top-10 and six top-20 individual finishes. She tied for 19th individually at the NCAA Championships, becoming the first Georgia freshman to notch a top-20 national finish since 1997.
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