University of Georgia Athletics
University of Georgia
NCAA Championships
Silva Zamora Climbs Leaderboard At NCAAs
May 20, 2011 | Women's Golf
May 20, 2011
BRYAN, Texas --- Marta Silva Zamora battled her way to an even-par 72 in Friday's third round of the NCAA Women's Golf Championships, leaving her at 2-under through 54 holes.
She then began what was expected to be five-hour wait to see how her tenuous status as "leader in the clubhouse" at Texas A&M's Traditions Golf Club would hold up as the leaders hit the course just after she finished play.
It did, but only because of darkness.
A 1:50 weather delay left to the individual leader on the course with four holes to play when play was suspended just after 8 p.m. UCLA's Tiffany Lua was 3-under through 14 holes tand 5-under overall - three shots better than Silva Zamora. Second-round leader Austin Ernst, who has four holes remaining in her third round as well, also was 2-under alongside Silva Zamora.
Lua and Ernst will complete their final four holes beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, with the start of the fourth-round pushed back 30 minutes to accommodate the extra play. Silva Zamora will tee off at 9:25 CT.
On Friday, Silva Zamora struggled early and was 3-over through five holes after a trio of three-putts. The performance was dramatically different than her first two days, when she suffered only three three-putts and covered that same stretch at a combined 4-under.
"I don't know. I couldn't feel my putter," Silva Zamora said. "I was setting up over the ball and I felt like I didn't know where it was going to go."
The day bottomed out when she three-putted from about 10 feet at No. 5.
At No. 7, Silva Zamora missed her first green of the day but made a solid open-and-down to covert a par. She then notched her lone birdie of the front side at No. 8 and turned at 2-over.
After missing makable birdie putts at No. 11 and No. 12, Silva Zamora holed out from 130 yards on the par-4 14th to get back to even on the day.
"I'd been hitting good shots all day long," she said. "That one was just the right club and the right speed on the green. It was just perfect. When I saw it go in I was like 'thank goodness' because I really needed it."
A quarter of pars later, Silva Zamora began a long wait to see how the other leaders would perform in the afternoon wave.
"On the greens I wasn't very comfortable," Silva Zamora said. "If I would've putted decent, I could have done way better. Thank goodness I had that eagle. It was like the course paid me back."
Head coach Kelley Hester was proud of Silva Zamora's resolve after the rough start.
"She really dug her heels in and said 'I'm going to do whatever it takes. If they're not going to fall with my putter, then I'm going to hit it closer,'" Hester said. "When she did miss a few greens, she made some wonderful pitch shots. She really made some great saving par putts today. Some times those don't stick out in your mind. You just remember the ones you missed. All in all, (it was) very consistent, very solid. I would venture to say that nobody in the field has hit the ball as well as she has this week."
Regardless of Saturday's outcome, Silva Zamora has all but assured she will shatter the Georgia season stroke average record. The junior now sports a 71.47 average this season, including 22 par-or-better tallies in 32 rounds played. She need only shoot a 109 -- a mark she might be able to obtain only using her unfriendly putter -- in the final round to better the current Bulldog record of 72.63 set by Taylor Leon in 2006-07.
NCAA Women's Golf Championship
Traditions Golf Club in Bryan, Texas
Par 72; 6260 Yards
Friday's Third-Round Completed Standings
Individual Leaderboard
Marta Silva Zamora, Georgia 71-71-72=214
Caroline Powers, Michigan State 70-76-69=215
Brittany Altomare, Virginia 69-75-70=216
Amy Anderson, North Dakota State 74-72-70=216
Lindy Duncan, Duke 72-74-70=216
Kelli Shean, Arkansas 75-70-71=216
Natalie Sheary, Wake Forest 72-74-71=217
Anna Leigh Keith, Vanderbilt 72-72-74=218
Katerina Ruzickova, Texas A&M 73-72-73=218
Teresa Puga, Minnesota 77-72-70-219
Amy Simanton, UC Davis 73-76-71=220
Emily Tubert, Arkansas 76-73-71=220
Katie Burnett, South Carolina 71-80-80=221
Tiffany Lua of UCLA is 5-under through 50 holes.
Austin Ernst of LSU is 2-under through 50 holes.
Laura Gonzalez of Purdue is even through 51 holes.
