University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia Golfers Open NCAA Play At East Regional
May 06, 2009 | Women's Golf
Georgia Women's Golf
2009 NCAA East Regional
May 7-9 Mark Bostick Golf Course Gainesville, Fla.
Par 70; 6023 Yards
The Bulldog Lineup
Head Coach:
Kelley Hester (2nd season at Georgia)
Notes: Three-time All-SEC performer & two-time SEC team champion at UGA;
Head coach at UNLV (’01-02) & Arkansas (’02-07) before returning to Athens
Assistant Coach:
Vronique Drouin (4th season at Georgia); Notes: Standout collegiate golfer at Kent State
Team Rankings:
No. 14 Golf World; No. 14 Golfstat; No. 15 Golfweek
Player Rds. Avg. Low PoB
Marta Silva Zamora 24 73.49 67 12
(5-5; Fr.; Santiago del Compostelo, Spain)
Notes: SEC Freshman of the Year; team-best five top-10s, including wins at UNLV & SECs
Mallory Hetzel 24 73.71 68 6
(5-4; Sr.; Summerville, S.C.)
Notes: Team-best eight top-20 finishes, including tie for individual title at UNLV Spring Invitational
Carolina Andrade 24 74.67 70 4
(5-7; Jr.; Cadiz, Spain)
Notes: Career-best tie for seventh at Auburn Derby, also UGA’s top finisher at Bryan National
Tess Fordham 15 79.93 77 0
(5-5; Fr.; Metter, Ga.)
Notes: Has struggled lately...in 70s for five of her first six rounds...three of next four...in 70s for two of last three
Leigh Crosby 22 80.50 76 0
(5-4; Jr.; Athens, Ga.)
Notes: Posted 5.5 counters in last six loops before w/d in last two rounds at SECs with injury
Dogs trek to Gainesville for East Regional
The Georgia women’s golf team travels to Gainesville, Fla., this week looking to advance from the NCAA East Regional to the NCAA Championships. Doing so would be a slight upset, at least according to the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Committee.
The Bulldogs, who are No. 14 in both the Golf World coaches’ poll and the Golfstat rankings and are No. 15 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, are the No. 9 seed in the 21-team field. Only the top eight teams will compete in the NCAA Championships on May 19-22 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mill, Md.
The 54-hole East Regional will tee off at 7:40 on Thursday morning, with the Bulldogs paired with Vanderbilt and Tennessee for the first round at the University of Florida's Mark Bostick Golf Course.
Since the NCAA instituted Regional play in 1993, Georgia has advanced to 12 of the 16 NCAA Championships, including 10 of the last 11.
The Bulldogs’ approach this week isn’t simply survive and advance, however.
“If you look at the field, we’ve beaten just about everybody we’ll be competing against,” head coach Kelley Hester said. “We’re going in with the mindset to go out and try to win. I don’t think this tournament is any different than any other tournament we’ll play this season. It’s not unlike a golfer who turns pro and goes to qualifying school. You don’t just want to qualify, you want to play well and have a chance to win the tournament.”
By its lofty standards the Bulldogs have 20 top-10 finishes in the last 30 years Georgia has struggled of late.
The Dogs finished sixth at the rain-shortened Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, which was an 18-hole shootout following two days of torrential rains. Georgia then limped to a 14th place effort at the Bryan National before placing sixth at the SEC Championships.
“Hopefully, we’ve saved our best golf for last,” Hester said. “We still haven’t had that tournament this year where everyone played really solid. I think we have that in us. This would be a great week for that to be the case.”
The SEC finish is somewhat misleading, as the Bulldogs played the final two rounds with only four golfers after Leigh Crosby strained ligaments in her right hand after striking a tree root during a shot midway through the second day of play.
Georgia’s quartet of remaining players showed positive signs at SECs. Marta Silva Zamora captured medalist honors, while Mallory Hetzel finished third, five shots back. Carolina Andrade tied for 32nd but carded a 72 in the final round. Tess Fordham played the final six holes of the third round at even par.
“Obviously Marta and Mal are coming off really good performances at SECs,” Hester said. “Carolina had a great final round at SECs. Leigh is recovered from her injury and should be ready to go. Tess has been learning and growing every week. Her goal as a young golfer is to play her best golf in the spring and now is that time.”
The trip to Gainesville will be Georgia’s first appearance on the University of Florida’s Mark Bostick Golf Course since 2005.
“I feel like it’s a golf course where that may not be a disadvantage,” Hester said. “Quite a few teams in the field haven’t seen the course. I don’t see it as much of a factor one way or the other.
“I don’t know what kind of condition the course is in,” Hester added. “The scores at the tournament there several weeks ago were very high. Typically, when scores are high the whole field is in play. If the whole field is in play, it might as well be us that wins.”
UGA’s NCAA Championship History
Georgia has long been one of the nation’s premier programs. The Bulldogs have 20 top-10 finishes at nationals since 1979, including winning the 2001 NCAA title.
The Bulldogs are in the midst of their most successful stint ever. Georgia has advanced to the NCAAs in 10 of the last 11 years, missing out only in 2005 when the Dogs slipped from third to ninth in the final round of the West Regional, three shots shy of advancing.
Since the NCAA went to a Regional format in 1993, Georgia also claimed East crowns in 1993, 1998 and 1999.
In addition to the team success, three Bulldog golfers have claimed individual national titles. Terri Moody earned medalist honors at the 1981 AIAW Championships, while Cindy Schreyer and Vicki Goetze took home individual crowns from the 1984 and 1992 NCAA Championships, respectively.
SEC leads nation in NCAA qualifiers
Eleven Southeastern Conference schools were included in the 63-team field for the NCAA Women’s Golf Regionals. That tally represents the most in league history and also leads the nation by a wide gap.
The SEC’s previous high for NCAA women’s golf bids was 10 teams in 2004 and ’06. At least three-fourths of the league’s members have qualified for NCAA Regional competition since 2002, with nine earning bids in 2002, ’03, ’05, ’07 and ’08.
The achievement is not an all-sports record for the SEC. In 2001, ’02 and ’04, all 12 conference schools earned spots in the 64-team bracket for the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships. In addition, 11 SEC men’s golf and women’s tennis teams have garnered NCAA bids this spring.
In women’s golf for 2009, the Pac-10 trailed the SEC in NCAA bids with seven, followed by the ACC and Big 12 with six. Additional leagues with multiple teams in the field include the Big Ten with four; Conference-USA, Mountain West and Southern all with three; and Big East, Big West and West Coast with two each.
Georgia solid against NCAA East foes
The Bulldogs have compiled a 34-23 (.596) record in head-to-head competition in stroke play events this season against teams competing in the NCAA Regional, a tally that includes the stroke play qualifying rounds at the Hooters/NGCA Collegiate Match Play Championship.
Against SEC squads in Gainesville, the Bulldogs have compiled a 16-13 mark: 2-4 vs. Alabama; 1-4 vs. Auburn; 3-0 vs. Florida; 3-1 vs. Ole Miss; 3-1 vs. South Carolina; 2-3 vs. Tennessee; and 2-0 vs. Vanderbilt.
In addition, Georgia is 18-10 against non-conference foes in the East: 1-0 vs. Central Florida; 3-0 vs. Coastal Carolina; 1-1 vs. College of Charleston; 1-1 vs. Denver; 1-1 vs. Duke; 0-1 vs. East Carolina; 4-0 vs. Florida State; 2-0 vs. Furman; 1-2 vs. North Carolina; 2-0 vs. Tulane; and 2-4 vs. Virginia.
Jackson State and Stetson are the only schools in the 21-team field the Bulldogs are yet to face in 2008-09.
Silva Zamora headlines SEC honorees
Marta Silva Zamora was tabbed the SEC Freshman of the Year for women’s golf, the league office in Birmingham, Ala., announced on Thursday, April 23.
In addition, Silva Zamora and Mallory Hetzel were named first-team All-SEC in balloting of league coaches, while Carolina Andrade was tabbed second-team All-SEC and also was honored on the league’s Community Service Team for women’s golf.
Silva Zamora essentially wrapped up SEC Freshman of the Year honors by winning the individual title at the 2009 SEC Championships. She secured a four-shot victory by shooting 3-under 210.
“It was very close for Marta and the SEC freshman honor going into the SEC Championships,” head coach Kelley Hester said. “I actually told her You need to beat this one kid.’ She asked Why?’ because I don’t think she was even aware of the award. Sure enough, she not only beat that kid, she beat everyone else in the field. Marta has had an outstanding freshman year.”
Silva Zamora is Georgia’s league-leading eighth SEC Freshman of the Year honoree in women’s golf. She joined Tina Paternostro (1989), Luciana Bemvenuti (1991), Vicki Goetze (1992), Erin O’Neil (1994), Shauna Estes (1997), Reilley Rankin (1998) and Taylor Leon (2006).
Hetzel was named All-SEC for the second time in her career. She was a second-team choice as a freshman in 2006.
“Starting about this time last year, Mal has worked extremely hard on her golf game,” Hester said. “I think she sort of rededicated herself to her game, and it’s nice to see her rewarded for those efforts.”
Andrade is the only Georgia golfer to produce counting scores in all 24 rounds played during the 2008-09 campaign. Andrade, the team’s representative on UGA’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC), was named to the Community Service team for the second consecutive year.
“Carolina has been our rock,” Hester said. “She’s been very steady. However, my guess is that Carolina would feel like she still hasn’t played her best golf. She’s certainly deserving of the second-team honor, but I think she hopes to play even better during the post-season.”
Lots of history in G’ville, just not recent
Georgia has competed on the Mark Bostick Golf Course layout numerous times in the past three decades, but all of those appearances were before any current Bulldogs were on the roster.
Most notably, Georgia captured the 2001 SEC Championship on the same UF layout, using a final-round 292 to turn a four-stroke deficit into a five-shot victory.
Between the 1978-79 campaign and the 2001-02 season, the Bulldogs competed in 19 of 24 editions of the Lady Gator Invitational. Georgia has appeared in the Lady Gator only once since then, finishing seventh in 2005.
Georgia captured the team title at the 1998 and 1999 Lady Gators and also finished as runner-up on four more occasions. Three Bulldog golfers earned medalist honors at the Lady Gator: Vicki Goetze in ’93, Julia Boros in ’98 and Summer Sirmons in ’01.
Kelley Hester posted two top-20 efforts while competing in three Lady Gator Invitationals. She tied for 15th in 1994 and tied for 17th in 1996 two of the 21 top-20s she recorded in 40 tourneys from 1992-96.
Hetzel earns emotional victory
Mallory Hetzel shared medalist honors with Marta Silva Zamora after birdieing three of the last five holes in the final round of the UNLV Invitational on March 11.
The victory completed an extremely emotional six-day span for Hetzel. She traveled to Las Vegas a day after the unexpected death of her uncle, Patrick Hetzel, the younger brother of Mallory’s father, Doug.
“Mallory played with a very heavy heart,” Kelley Hester said. “The first thing she said when she won was that she wished her dad could have been here to see it. She dedicated the win to her uncle in the awards ceremony and I know it meant a lot to her to play well here in his honor.”
Hetzel was playing in the group ahead of Silva Zamora, the first- and second-round leader, and battled down the stretch.
Hetzel moved into a tie after consecutive birdies at 14 and 15, but Silva Zamora birdied 15 moments later. Silva Zamora bogeyed 16 to fall back to a tie; however, she birdied 17 to regain an edge.
Hetzel knotted the score with a birdie at 18 before Silva Zamora’s eight-foot birdie putt on the closing hole that would have secured an outright win lipped out.
A record-breaking performance
Georgia broke its school record for a 54-hole tournament score and wrapped up a wire-to-wire victory at the College of Charleston’s Cougar Classic on Sept. 16.
The Bulldogs’ 6-under 858 bested both the relation-to-par and gross score school records. The previous marks were 4-under at the 1999 Liz Murphey Collegiate and an 862 at the 2006 Stanford Intercollegiate.
Individually, freshman Marta Silva finished third at 6-under 210, and senior Mallory Hetzel, the first- and second-round leader, placed fourth at 5-under 211. Silva’s effort equaled the fifth-best relation-to-par performance in Georgia history, while Hetzel tied the ninth-best mark.
Alabama fired a 6-under 282 in the final round and at one point trimmed UGA’s lead, which was 13 shots at the start of the day, to three. However, an eagle by Carolina Andrade at No. 18 and back-to-back birdies from Silva Zamora returned Georgia’s advantage to a solid margin.
A star on the course and the tube
Golf fans who have a strange feeling that they’ve seen Marta Silva Zamora somewhere most likely have noticed her on an episode of the Golf Channel reality show “School of Golf” that originally aired in the fall of 2008.
Silva Zamora was cast member of the show along with other students attending the Hank Haney International Junior Golf Academy in Hilton Head, S.C.
“I was at the Academy anyway, and they came in and said Hey, we’re doing a show for The Golf Channel,’ ” Silva Zamora said. “I said No, I don’t want to do it,’ at first. I didn’t want to be on TV. I didn’t want the cameras around. I did not speak English very well and when the cameras were on, I was really, really nervous and that just made it worse. But they were there so you had to get used to it.”
Three female cast members are now competing at the collegiate level as freshmen: Silva Zamora, Whitney Johnson at Virginia and Katelyn “Teo” Poplawski at Idaho.
Never fear...depth is on the way!
After competing with just five scholarship players since last November, Kelley Hester will add three or more golfers to next year’s roster. A trio of the Peach State premier junior golfers signed letters-of-intent with Georgia in November and the Bulldogs still have the ability to add additional signees or transfers this spring.
Emilie Burger of Hoschton, Kendall Wright of Duluth and Abby Johnson of Buford all will join the Bulldogs this fall.
“I’m very excited about getting some good, strong Georgia talent,” Hester said. “That might have been underdeveloped in our program over the past several years.”
