University of Georgia Athletics

Sunday, May 23
Grayhawk Golf Club / Scottsdale, Ariz.
All Day

University of Georgia

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NCAA Stroke Play - Round 3

Photo by: Tim Cowie/Tim Cowie Photography

Bulldogs Finish 18th At NCAA Championships

May 23, 2021 | Women's Golf

Don leads Georgia with even-par loop on Sunday

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The No. 11-ranked Georgia women's golf team posted a 12-over 300 in Sunday's third round of the NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club. The Bulldogs wrap up the tournament in 18th place, Georgia's 27th top-20 finish at the national championships over the last 43 years.

"It's something we've got to build on," head coach Josh Brewer said. "It's been five years since Georgia women's golf has been here. We need to become a staple at the national championships. You've got to take the right steps I guess is the way you have to look at it. In a lot of sports it happens that way. It's a step we're here and disappointed we finished 18th. We feel like we have a team that was capable of competing for a national title. We're disappointed, but we're young. We've got to do a lot of work over the next 365 days to extend next season by three more days."

Sophomore Caterina Don led the Bulldogs on Sunday with an even-par 72. Georgia's other three counting tallies were a trio of 76s from Jenny Bae, Isabella Holpfer and Candice Mahé.

Don's day featured eight pars, five birdies and five bogeys. The Bulldogs teed off from No. 10 on Sunday and Don opened with a trio of birdies at No. 10, No. 12 and No. 14. She bogeyed No. 15 and No. 16 before an additional birdie at No. 18 put her 2-under at the turn. Don bogeyed No. 1 and No. 6 to move back to even before a birdie at No. 7. She bogeyed No. 9 to complete her loop.

"I am satisfied with my round, but on the other side disappointed because we came here to play on Tuesday and we're going home on Sunday," Don said. "It's not what we wanted. I played good today, but it's still a team event so it's more about the team than myself."

Georgia wavered above and below the 15-team cut line for Monday much of the day. The Bulldogs were 1-under as a team through the first five holes before dropping six shots over No. 16 and No. 17. Georgia's hopes of advancing took a blow just after the turn as the Bulldogs played Nos. 1-3 at 8-over. Georgia dropped to 23rd on the leaderboard before a combined six birdies at No. 7 and No. 8 brought the Bulldogs back into the top 20.

"We fight," Brewer said. "That's one thing we take a lot of pride in. We try to finish any thing we do as well as we possibly can. We could've kind of just given up, quite honestly, because we knew where we stood. We battled and tried to make as many birdies as we could. In football terms, we needed a Hail Mary and an onside kick and a Hail Mary and an onside kick coming in. We just had some rushing touchdowns and didn't get an onside kick."

No. 6 Stanford continued its dominance on the team and individual leaderboards. The Cardinal are 18-under entering Monday's final round of stroke play, 20 shots ahead of No. 2 Duke in second. Stanford's Rachel Heck and Angelina Ye are 1-2 in the individual field at 10- and 5-under, respectively.

For Georgia, Bae finished tied for 59th at 224, Mahé tied for 70th at 225, Don tied for 82nd at 227, Holpfer tied for 97th at 230 and Jo Hua Hung tied for 117th at 235.

The Bulldogs' lineup in Arizona featured two juniors, two sophomores and a freshman. In addition, sophomores Caroline Craig and Céleste Dao were relative regulars in the lineup this season as well. Georgia will add LoraLie Cowart, who won the GHSA Class 6A state title for Carrollton High School last week, to the roster in the fall.

"We have a good team, and we're excited to get back in August," Don said. "We'll have a good team with the people who were here and the people we have at home and we'll get ready for another run at an SEC, Regional and national championship. We'll hopefully get our revenge on this same golf course next year."

"We won a Regional championship and competed at the national championships," Brewer said. "We've got people who have played U.S Opens and Augusta National Women's Ams. We've just got to continue to build on the momentum. It's definitely there. We have the right pieces in place. You look back and there are a lot of great things that happened this year. At the same time, we also know we want to finish higher than 18th at the national championships so we've got to do better next year at this time."

NCAA Women's Golf Championships
Grayhawk Golf Club
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Par 72; 6384 Yards

Sunday's Third-Round Standings

Team Leaderboard
Stanford                    291-278-277=846
Duke                        292-281-293=866
Oklahoma State              297-289-282=868
Texas                       289-288-293=870
Ole Miss                    296-291-288=875
Arizona State               300-291-286=877
Wake Forest                 292-293-295=880
Florida State               298-285-298=881
Arizona                     292-298-292=882
Oregon                      290-300-293=883
LSU                         296-292-296=884
South Carolina              312-288-287=887
Baylor                      308-293-290=891
Auburn                      305-299-288=892
UCLA                        302-293-293=895
Michigan State              301-294-303=898
Kent State                  292-310-297=899
Georgia                     307-295-300=902
Kentucky                    299-307-296=902
Michigan                    304-296-303=903
Virginia Tech               302-304-300=906
Maryland                    306-297-303=906
Southern Cal                307-300-300=907
Alabama                     308-310-298=916

Individual Leaderboard
Rachel Heck, Stanford          69-67-70=206
Angelina Ye, Stanford          77-69-65=211
Ashley Menne, Arizona St.      76-72-65=213
Emma Spitz, UCLA               72-70-71=213
Gina Kim, Duke                 74-67-72=213
Maja Stark, Oklahoma St.       78-69-68=215
Brooke Seay, Stanford          75-71-69=215
Julia Johnson, Ole Miss        73-71-71=215
Phoebe Brinker, Duke           73-70-72=215
Sara Kouskova, Texas           74-70-72=216
Briana Chacon, Oregon          71-72-73=216
Lauren Hartlage, Louisville    73-68-75=216

Georgia Scores
 T59. Jenny Bae                75-73-76=224
 T70. Candice Mahé             73-76-76=225
 T82. Caterina Don             78-77-72=227
 T97. Isabella Holpfer         81-73-76=230
T118. Jo Hua Hung              82-73-80=235



 
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