University of Georgia Athletics
University of Georgia
NCAA Fall Preview
Georgia Finishes Fifth At NCAA Preview
September 15, 2010 | Women's Golf
Sept. 15, 2010
BRYAN, Texas --- The No. 13-ranked Georgia women's golf team wrapped up a solid showing at the NCAA Fall Preview at Texas A&M's Traditional Golf Club on Wednesday. The Bulldogs carded a 2-over 290 in the final round and finished fifth at even-par 864 in a field featuring most of the nation's top teams competing on the same layout that will host next spring's NCAA Championships.
Emilie Burger's 69 led the Bulldogs on Wednesday, while Marta Silva Zamora posted a 1-under 71. Georgia also counted a pair of 75s from Milena Savich and Kendall Wright and discarded Amelia Hill's 78.
"We didn't get any birdies on No. 18, which was a little disappointing, but other than that we finished pretty strong" head coach Kelley Hester said. "If you would've asked me before we came about a top-five finish I think I would've said that's very good. Any time you're even-par as a team for a tournament, you're playing well. It was a really good tournament for Burger and Marta."
The Bulldogs' even-par tournament tally equaled the third-best relation-to-par effort in school history.
Burger opened with seven consecutive pars before going birdie-bogey at No. 8 and No. 9 to turn at even. On the back side, she notched birdies at No. 12, No. 14 and No. 15 en route to her second score in the 60s in three days.
Silva Zamora played the front side at 2-over, with bogeys at No. 3 and No. 6. A trio of birdies at No. 13, No. 16 and No. 17 pushed her to a third straight par-or-better loop.
"The birdies are out there on this course, but the bogeys aren't far away," Hester said. "I think there was a pretty clear division between the top-10 teams and the rest of the field. There were a lot of good teams not in the top 10. They probably just didn't make putts this week and felt the same way we did yesterday. You just have to know that it's OK to make a mistake or two because your chances will come. Emilie didn't make any birdie putts early but she was patient and made some later and ended up shooting a very strong score. Marta was 2-over but was patient and worked her way to under par. That shows you what can happen if you're patient on a golf course like this."
Alabama claimed the team title at 15-under 849, a shot better than LSU. Southern Cal was third at 856 and rounding out the top-10 teams were Duke at 860, the Bulldogs at 864, Vanderbilt at 866, UCLA at 869, Virginia at 877, Tulane at 878 and Purdue at 883.
LSU's Megan McChrystal fired a 7-under 65 and claimed medalist honors at 10-under. For Georgia, Burger and Silva Zamora tied for ninth at 4-under 212, Wright tied for 75th at 219, Savich tied for 50th at 225 and Hill tied for 73rd at 230.
The Bulldogs will return to action next weekend when Georgia travels to Franklin, Tenn., to compete in Vanderbilt's Mason Rudolph Championship on Sept. 24-26. The Mason Rudolph field features eight of the top-10 teams included in the Golfweek and Golf World pre-season polls, including No. 1-ranked Purdue (Golfweek) and Southern Cal (Golf World).
Georgia will most likely make a major jump in the next national polls. Nine of the top-10 teams in the preseason rankings of both Golfweek and Golf World were included in the Preview field, and the Bulldogs placed better than nine teams ranked ahead of them in one or both of those polls.
"This should help us in the rankings some," Hester said. "There's another great field at Vanderbilt in a couple of weeks so we'll have another chance there. This week showed what our team is capable of. All in all, it was a good place to start."
NCAA Fall Preview
Traditions Golf Club
Bryan, Texas
Par 72; 6271 Yards
Wednesday's Final Standings
Team Leaderboard
Alabama 286-280-283=849
LSU 287-283-280=850
Southern Cal 289-282-285=856
Duke 293-287-280=860
Georgia 277-297-290=864
Vanderbilt 284-290-292=866
UCLA 293-287-289=869
Virginia 301-290-286=877
Tulane 294-296-288=878
Purdue 300-293-290=883
Michigan State 299-300-295=894
Auburn 296-297-302=895
Texas 299-298-301=898
Wake Forest 295-299-304=898
Pepperdine 307-303-289=899
Texas A&M 297-306-299=902
Stanford 307-299-305=910
Tennessee 306-298-308=912
Individual Leaderboard
Megan McChrystal, LSU 68-73-65=206
Marina Alex, Vanderbilt 67-71-70=208
Lizette Salas, Southern Cal 70-70-70=210
Lindy Duncan, Duke 74-66-71=211
Camilla Lennarth, Alabama 76-65-70=211
Lisa McCloskey, Southern Cal 74-70-67=211
Brooke Pancake, Alabama 65-73-73=211
Tessa Teachman, LSU 70-69-72=211
Emilie Burger, Georgia 67-76-69=212
Marta Silva Zamora, Georgia 72-69-71=212
Natalie Sheary, Wake Forest 70-70-72=212
Jennifer Kirby, Alabama 76-70-66=212
Additional Scores
T25. Kendall Wright, Georgia 69-75-75=219
T50. Milena Savich, Georgia 73-77-75=225
T73. Amelia Hill, Georgia 69-83-78=230
