Friday, April 20
Greystone Golf & Country Club / Birmingham, Ala.
All Day
University of Georgia
4th (306-290-299=895)
at
SEC Championships
Photo by: Jimmy Mitchell
Bulldogs Advance To SEC Match Play
April 20, 2018 | Women's Golf
Bulldogs Advance To SEC Match Play
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Georgia carded a 299 in Friday's final round of stroke play qualifying at the SEC Women's Golf Championships at the Greystone Golf and Country Club. The Bulldogs finished at 895 as a team and grabbed the No. 4 seed – behind a trio of top-10 teams – for the match play portion of the tournament.
"In the stroke play portion, we played well," head coach Josh Brewer said. "You always want to finish first, but we came here and wanted to make match play, and we've done that."
Georgia will face No. 5 seed Auburn in the quarterfinals on Saturday morning, beginning at hole No. 10 in waves from 8:50-9:30 a.m. ET.
"One thing that's different is that if you happen to have a swing that might cost you in stroke play, it might not cost you as bad in match play," Brewer said. "Besides that, you've just got to play golf, take care of yourself and know that you're good enough to win your match. We know we've got to play well, but we know we're deep enough. Whoever we're playing against has to play well, too."
Jillian Hollis paced the Bulldogs with a 1-under 71, her 12th par-or-better score in 15 rounds this spring. Rinko Mitsunaga added an even-par 72, and Georgia also counted 78s from Gabriela Coello and Isabella Skinner. Paula Neira Garcia posted a 79.
Overall, Hollis finished tied for fourth on the leaderboard at even-par 216. Hollis now has five top-5 finishes in as many events this spring, including victories at both the 3M Augusta Invitational and the PING/ASU Invitational.
In addition, Mitsunaga tied for 15th at 221, Neira Garcia tied for 31st at 229, Skinner tied for 39th at 230 and Coello tied for 52nd at 234.
Georgia played the front side of the layout at even-par as a team and appeared to have a comfortable cushion to earn the No. 4 or No. 5 seed. The afternoon got interesting late, however, as the Bulldogs played the back side at 11-over. Georgia momentarily slipped to sixth on the leaderboard until Hollis birdied No. 16 and Florida added a bogey to its team tally.
Both Hollis and Mitsunaga played steady most of the day, with 12 and 14 pars, respectively.
Hollis double-bogeyed No. 2 but bounced back with birdies at No. 3 and No. 4 to get back to even. After a bogey at No. 8, she moved into red numbers with birdies at No. 11 ad No. 16.
"I was pretty angry about that double so I just made two birdies and continued," Hollis said matter of factly.
Mitsunaga was 3-under through 16 holes, with birdies at No. 5, No. 6 and No. 10. She hit her tee shot at the par-3 No. 17 off the back left of the green and suffered a triple bogey as the only blemish on her scorecard.
No. 10 South Carolina closed with a 285 and to finish at 867 and earn the top seed among the eight teams to the match play bracket. Trailing the Gamecocks and rounding out the teams advancing to match play were No. 2 Alabama at 872, No. 3 Arkansas at 875, the Bulldogs at 895, No. 20 Auburn and No. 13 Florida both at 896, No. 24 Vanderbilt at 899 and Missouri at 907.
The quarterfinals will begin at 8:00 a.m. ET on Saturday with Alabama versus Vanderbilt and Arkansas against Florida. Georgia will face Auburn, and the Gamecocks will take on Missouri beginning at 8:50 a.m. ET. Live scoring will be available via www.golfstat.com.
The Georgia-Auburn matchups will feature Gabriela Coello vs. Julie McCarthy at 8:50, Rinko Mitsunaga vs. Kaleigh Telfer at 9:00, Paula Neira Garcia vs. Michaela Owen at 9:10, Isabella Skinner vs. Kelli Murphy at 9:20 and Jillian Hollis vs. Kayley Marschke at 9:30.
"Your mindset always changes a little bit just because you are playing against somebody as much as you're playing the golf course," Hollis said. "My mom has always told me that you have to play every hole like a one-hole tournament. You've just got to play each hole as best as you can and try to win that hole. That's they way I'll look at it tomorrow."
The quarterfinals winners will face off beginning at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, and the championship match will tee off at 9:00 a.m. ET on Sunday.
2018 SEC Women's Golf Championships
Greystone Golf & Country Club
Birmingham, Ala.
Par 72; 6253 Yards
Friday's Third-Round Results
Team Leaderboard
South Carolina 291-291-285=867
Alabama 286-304-282=872
Arkansas 299-293-283=875
Georgia 306-290-299=895
Auburn 306-301-289=896
Florida 298-301-297=896
Vanderbilt 296-306-297=899
Missouri 304-308-295=907
Kentucky 309-301-303=913
Mississippi State 308-305-302=915
Tennessee 310-304-295=916
Ole Miss 316-305-304=918
Texas A&M 312-315-296=923
LSU 313-311-303=927
Individual Leaderboard
Maria Fassi, Arkansas 70-70-69=209
Ainhoa Olarra, South Carolina 70-69-70=209
Kristen Gillman, Alabama 69-75-70=214
Jillian Hollis, Georgia 75-70-71=216
Marta Perez, Florida 75-70-71=216
Cheyenne Knight, Alabama 71-75-70=216
Dylan Kim, Arkansas 70-73-73=216
Julia Johnson, Ole Miss 76-72-69=217
Lois Kay Go, South Carolina 72-75-71=218
Lauren Stephenson, Alabama 72-76-70=218
Kaleigh Telfer, Auburn 75-72-71=218
Georgia Scores
T15. Rinko Mitsunaga 75-74-72=221
T31. Paula Neira Garcia 78-70-79=229
T39. Isabella Skinner 78-74-78=230
T52. Gabriela Coello 78-78-78=234
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Georgia carded a 299 in Friday's final round of stroke play qualifying at the SEC Women's Golf Championships at the Greystone Golf and Country Club. The Bulldogs finished at 895 as a team and grabbed the No. 4 seed – behind a trio of top-10 teams – for the match play portion of the tournament.
"In the stroke play portion, we played well," head coach Josh Brewer said. "You always want to finish first, but we came here and wanted to make match play, and we've done that."
Georgia will face No. 5 seed Auburn in the quarterfinals on Saturday morning, beginning at hole No. 10 in waves from 8:50-9:30 a.m. ET.
"One thing that's different is that if you happen to have a swing that might cost you in stroke play, it might not cost you as bad in match play," Brewer said. "Besides that, you've just got to play golf, take care of yourself and know that you're good enough to win your match. We know we've got to play well, but we know we're deep enough. Whoever we're playing against has to play well, too."
Jillian Hollis paced the Bulldogs with a 1-under 71, her 12th par-or-better score in 15 rounds this spring. Rinko Mitsunaga added an even-par 72, and Georgia also counted 78s from Gabriela Coello and Isabella Skinner. Paula Neira Garcia posted a 79.
Overall, Hollis finished tied for fourth on the leaderboard at even-par 216. Hollis now has five top-5 finishes in as many events this spring, including victories at both the 3M Augusta Invitational and the PING/ASU Invitational.
In addition, Mitsunaga tied for 15th at 221, Neira Garcia tied for 31st at 229, Skinner tied for 39th at 230 and Coello tied for 52nd at 234.
Georgia played the front side of the layout at even-par as a team and appeared to have a comfortable cushion to earn the No. 4 or No. 5 seed. The afternoon got interesting late, however, as the Bulldogs played the back side at 11-over. Georgia momentarily slipped to sixth on the leaderboard until Hollis birdied No. 16 and Florida added a bogey to its team tally.
Both Hollis and Mitsunaga played steady most of the day, with 12 and 14 pars, respectively.
Hollis double-bogeyed No. 2 but bounced back with birdies at No. 3 and No. 4 to get back to even. After a bogey at No. 8, she moved into red numbers with birdies at No. 11 ad No. 16.
"I was pretty angry about that double so I just made two birdies and continued," Hollis said matter of factly.
Mitsunaga was 3-under through 16 holes, with birdies at No. 5, No. 6 and No. 10. She hit her tee shot at the par-3 No. 17 off the back left of the green and suffered a triple bogey as the only blemish on her scorecard.
No. 10 South Carolina closed with a 285 and to finish at 867 and earn the top seed among the eight teams to the match play bracket. Trailing the Gamecocks and rounding out the teams advancing to match play were No. 2 Alabama at 872, No. 3 Arkansas at 875, the Bulldogs at 895, No. 20 Auburn and No. 13 Florida both at 896, No. 24 Vanderbilt at 899 and Missouri at 907.
The quarterfinals will begin at 8:00 a.m. ET on Saturday with Alabama versus Vanderbilt and Arkansas against Florida. Georgia will face Auburn, and the Gamecocks will take on Missouri beginning at 8:50 a.m. ET. Live scoring will be available via www.golfstat.com.
The Georgia-Auburn matchups will feature Gabriela Coello vs. Julie McCarthy at 8:50, Rinko Mitsunaga vs. Kaleigh Telfer at 9:00, Paula Neira Garcia vs. Michaela Owen at 9:10, Isabella Skinner vs. Kelli Murphy at 9:20 and Jillian Hollis vs. Kayley Marschke at 9:30.
"Your mindset always changes a little bit just because you are playing against somebody as much as you're playing the golf course," Hollis said. "My mom has always told me that you have to play every hole like a one-hole tournament. You've just got to play each hole as best as you can and try to win that hole. That's they way I'll look at it tomorrow."
The quarterfinals winners will face off beginning at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, and the championship match will tee off at 9:00 a.m. ET on Sunday.
2018 SEC Women's Golf Championships
Greystone Golf & Country Club
Birmingham, Ala.
Par 72; 6253 Yards
Friday's Third-Round Results
Team Leaderboard
South Carolina 291-291-285=867
Alabama 286-304-282=872
Arkansas 299-293-283=875
Georgia 306-290-299=895
Auburn 306-301-289=896
Florida 298-301-297=896
Vanderbilt 296-306-297=899
Missouri 304-308-295=907
Kentucky 309-301-303=913
Mississippi State 308-305-302=915
Tennessee 310-304-295=916
Ole Miss 316-305-304=918
Texas A&M 312-315-296=923
LSU 313-311-303=927
Individual Leaderboard
Maria Fassi, Arkansas 70-70-69=209
Ainhoa Olarra, South Carolina 70-69-70=209
Kristen Gillman, Alabama 69-75-70=214
Jillian Hollis, Georgia 75-70-71=216
Marta Perez, Florida 75-70-71=216
Cheyenne Knight, Alabama 71-75-70=216
Dylan Kim, Arkansas 70-73-73=216
Julia Johnson, Ole Miss 76-72-69=217
Lois Kay Go, South Carolina 72-75-71=218
Lauren Stephenson, Alabama 72-76-70=218
Kaleigh Telfer, Auburn 75-72-71=218
Georgia Scores
T15. Rinko Mitsunaga 75-74-72=221
T31. Paula Neira Garcia 78-70-79=229
T39. Isabella Skinner 78-74-78=230
T52. Gabriela Coello 78-78-78=234
Players Mentioned
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