University of Georgia Athletics
Photo by: Todd Drexler/Tim Cowie Photos
Bulldogs Wrap Up Fall Slate At Stanford
October 20, 2022 | Women's Golf
Georgia coming off record-setting performance
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ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia women's golf team will complete the 2022 calendar portion of its schedule this weekend when the Bulldogs compete in the Stanford Intercollegiate. The tournament will be Georgia's fourth of the fall and the last event until next February.
The 18-team field competing Friday-Sunday at the Stanford Golf Course includes three top-10 and seven top-20 teams. Top-ranked Stanford headlines the competing schools, along with No. 7 Texas, No. 9 Virginia, No. 11 USC, No. 13 Arizona State, No. 16 Florida, No. 19 San Jose State, Baylor, Cal, Denver, Georgia, Iowa State, Miami (Fla.), Northwestern, Oregon State, San Diego State, UC Davis and Washington.
"I think it's a fun way to end the year," head coach Josh Brewer said. "It's probably not the easiest way since it's our hardest tournament of the fall. It's basically a Pac-12 Championship, and they add a few of the best schools from other conferences. It's an amazing challenge. We look forward to representing the SEC out there. There are also some schools that we don't see very often and haven't seen since last season's national championships."
Last spring, Georgia tied for fifth at the NCAA Championships, the program's best performance in two decades. The Bulldogs finished eighth in stroke play qualifying and then dropped a 3-2 decision to Stanford, the eventual national champions, in the quarterfinals of match play.
"It's the first time we'll see Stanford since match play," Brewer said. "We felt like we had them on the ropes but hat's off to them, they ended up winning a national championship. We're excited to go play them on their golf course. We know it's a monumental task, but it would be fun to have the chance to see them in the final round."
Georgia's lineup for the weekend will include super seniors Jenny Bae and Jo Hua Hung, seniors Candice Mahé and Caterina Don and junior Isabella Holpfer. That's the same quintet that won the 2021 NCAA Columbus Regional and represents four-fifths of the Bulldogs' match play lineup at the NCAAs last spring.
Bae is one of five top-15 ranked individuals in the field. She enters the weekend ranked No. 14 nationally, with a trio of top-10 finishes and medalist honors at the Illini Invitational this fall. Top-ranked Rose Zhang of Stanford, No. 6 Meghan Ganne from Stanford, No. 9 Amanda Sambach from Virginia and No. 10 Sadie Englemann from Stanford also are competing this weekend.
Brewer believes a simple focus is what's key for his team.
"Strangely, just playing for Georgia," he said. "This group loves playing college golf. I know it's an individual sport, but this group has bought in for the last three years that they play for Georgia. Special things can happen with this group. They've proven they can play at the highest level. We just need to go and play golf."
Hung, in particular, has embraced the team spirit of college golf and supporting her teammates whenever possible.
"I feel like that's the difference between playing college golf and professional golf," Hung said. "In college, you have teammates. I think that's very important. In the beginning, I didn't know that would make such a difference but since I've been here the last four years, I actually feel like it's huge. When you're with people and they make you smile, that makes you happy. Somehow, indirectly, I really think that helps you to perform better. I always try to give my energy to my teammates and make sure they stay happy. If they stay happy, maybe they will make more birdies and that will definitely make Josh more happy, so…"
Georgia is coming off a fourth-place showing at the Illini Invitational at Medinah Country Club, where Bae's 16-under showing won the individual title and helped the Bulldogs post a 24-under team tally. Bae's performance broke Georgia's individual tournament scoring record by four strokes and led to the Bulldogs besting the program's team tourney mark by five shots.
"We got fourth last tournament," Don said. "You need to take top-4 to make it to nationals. I'm looking at it like the last tournament was a Regional and Stanford is going to be a national championship for the fall. I just hope we can finish as good as we did last year at the national championships."
Both Bulldogs are looking forward to competing on the West Coast.
"I always love coming to the end of the fall season and knowing that we have a trip to Stanford," Don said. "It's a good test of golf. We see some teams that we don't usually see until the national championships so it's sort of a fall preview of our national championship in the spring."
"The West Coast is my favorite for some reason," Hung said. "We played at Stanford the last three years, so we know it will be a tough field because of all the Pac-12 schools. They are all really good at golf. I think for us it's challenging, but the course is really doable. If we have good strategy and focus on the course, we can have a good performance."
Georgia will be paired with Southern California and UC Davis for the first two rounds, teeing off from No. 1 in 11-minute intervals beginning at 11:25 a.m. ET on Friday. On Saturday, the trio will open play at No. 10 at 3:55 p.m. ET. Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament at www.golfstat.com.
ATHENS, Ga. — The Georgia women's golf team will complete the 2022 calendar portion of its schedule this weekend when the Bulldogs compete in the Stanford Intercollegiate. The tournament will be Georgia's fourth of the fall and the last event until next February.
The 18-team field competing Friday-Sunday at the Stanford Golf Course includes three top-10 and seven top-20 teams. Top-ranked Stanford headlines the competing schools, along with No. 7 Texas, No. 9 Virginia, No. 11 USC, No. 13 Arizona State, No. 16 Florida, No. 19 San Jose State, Baylor, Cal, Denver, Georgia, Iowa State, Miami (Fla.), Northwestern, Oregon State, San Diego State, UC Davis and Washington.
"I think it's a fun way to end the year," head coach Josh Brewer said. "It's probably not the easiest way since it's our hardest tournament of the fall. It's basically a Pac-12 Championship, and they add a few of the best schools from other conferences. It's an amazing challenge. We look forward to representing the SEC out there. There are also some schools that we don't see very often and haven't seen since last season's national championships."
Last spring, Georgia tied for fifth at the NCAA Championships, the program's best performance in two decades. The Bulldogs finished eighth in stroke play qualifying and then dropped a 3-2 decision to Stanford, the eventual national champions, in the quarterfinals of match play.
"It's the first time we'll see Stanford since match play," Brewer said. "We felt like we had them on the ropes but hat's off to them, they ended up winning a national championship. We're excited to go play them on their golf course. We know it's a monumental task, but it would be fun to have the chance to see them in the final round."
Georgia's lineup for the weekend will include super seniors Jenny Bae and Jo Hua Hung, seniors Candice Mahé and Caterina Don and junior Isabella Holpfer. That's the same quintet that won the 2021 NCAA Columbus Regional and represents four-fifths of the Bulldogs' match play lineup at the NCAAs last spring.
Bae is one of five top-15 ranked individuals in the field. She enters the weekend ranked No. 14 nationally, with a trio of top-10 finishes and medalist honors at the Illini Invitational this fall. Top-ranked Rose Zhang of Stanford, No. 6 Meghan Ganne from Stanford, No. 9 Amanda Sambach from Virginia and No. 10 Sadie Englemann from Stanford also are competing this weekend.
Brewer believes a simple focus is what's key for his team.
"Strangely, just playing for Georgia," he said. "This group loves playing college golf. I know it's an individual sport, but this group has bought in for the last three years that they play for Georgia. Special things can happen with this group. They've proven they can play at the highest level. We just need to go and play golf."
Hung, in particular, has embraced the team spirit of college golf and supporting her teammates whenever possible.
"I feel like that's the difference between playing college golf and professional golf," Hung said. "In college, you have teammates. I think that's very important. In the beginning, I didn't know that would make such a difference but since I've been here the last four years, I actually feel like it's huge. When you're with people and they make you smile, that makes you happy. Somehow, indirectly, I really think that helps you to perform better. I always try to give my energy to my teammates and make sure they stay happy. If they stay happy, maybe they will make more birdies and that will definitely make Josh more happy, so…"
Georgia is coming off a fourth-place showing at the Illini Invitational at Medinah Country Club, where Bae's 16-under showing won the individual title and helped the Bulldogs post a 24-under team tally. Bae's performance broke Georgia's individual tournament scoring record by four strokes and led to the Bulldogs besting the program's team tourney mark by five shots.
"We got fourth last tournament," Don said. "You need to take top-4 to make it to nationals. I'm looking at it like the last tournament was a Regional and Stanford is going to be a national championship for the fall. I just hope we can finish as good as we did last year at the national championships."
Both Bulldogs are looking forward to competing on the West Coast.
"I always love coming to the end of the fall season and knowing that we have a trip to Stanford," Don said. "It's a good test of golf. We see some teams that we don't usually see until the national championships so it's sort of a fall preview of our national championship in the spring."
"The West Coast is my favorite for some reason," Hung said. "We played at Stanford the last three years, so we know it will be a tough field because of all the Pac-12 schools. They are all really good at golf. I think for us it's challenging, but the course is really doable. If we have good strategy and focus on the course, we can have a good performance."
Georgia will be paired with Southern California and UC Davis for the first two rounds, teeing off from No. 1 in 11-minute intervals beginning at 11:25 a.m. ET on Friday. On Saturday, the trio will open play at No. 10 at 3:55 p.m. ET. Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament at www.golfstat.com.
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