Bulldogs Make Second Straight Trip To NCAA Championships

Georgia Women's Golf 2022 NCAA Championships Notes
May 20-25 • Grayhawk Golf Club • Scottsdale, Ariz.
Par 72; 6399 Yards
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The Bulldogs' Lineup
1. Jenny Bae – 5-3; Sr.; Suwanee, Ga.; Collins Hill High School
• Participated in 2022 ANWA
• Invited to 2022 Curtis Cup practice session by USGA
• Reached the round of 16 at 2021 U.S. Women's Am
• Won 2021 Georgia Am & Open

2. Candice Mahé – 5-8; Jr.; Gourin, France; Lycee Sainte Jeanne D'Arc
• Career-low loop (69) and tourney (213) at Albuquerque Regional
• Participated in the 2021 ANWA
• Gold medalist in the co-ed field at the 2019 Spirit International
• Won the 2019 Spanish Ladies Am

3. Jo Hua Hung – 5-4; Sr.; New Taipei City, Taiwan; Chih Ping Senior High School
• Leads team with 15 POB rounds
• Participated in the 2021 U.S. Women's Open
• Named to SEC Academic Honor Roll in both 2020 & 2021
• Tabbed SEC All-Freshman in 2019

4. Caterina Don – 5-6; Jr.; Pinerolo, Italy; Istituto Maria Immacolata in Scuola Paritaria DM
• Notched three top-10 finishes in seven tourneys this spring
• Participated in the 2020 U.S. Women's Open
• Made the cut at the ANWA in both 2019 & 2021

5. LoraLie Cowart – 5-4; Fr.; Carrollton, Ga.; Carrollton High School
• Missed fall due to a wrist injury
• UGA's top finisher at the Liz Murphey, tying for 8th
• Tabbed AJGA All-America in 2020
• Medalist at the 2020 National HS Golf Association Invitational

Sub: Céleste Dao – 5-8; Jr.; Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot, Quebec; École secondaire du Chêne-Bleu
• Qualified for the U.S. Women's Open in both 2017 &2019
• 2020 & 2021 WGCA All-American Scholar
• Semifinalist at 2017 U.S. Girls' Junior Championship

Bulldogs Make Second Straight Trip To NCAA Championships
The Georgia Bulldogs will make their second consecutive appearance in the NCAA Women's Golf Championships when competition begins on Friday at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Bulldogs are among 24 teams that advanced from Regionals to Championships site, where four rounds of stroke play and an eight-team match play bracket will be utilized to crown the national champion.

Georgia, which is currently ranked No. 24 by Golfstat and No. 27 by Golfweek, is the No. 20 seed in the Championships and will be paired with Michigan and TCU for the first two rounds. The Bulldogs, Wolverines and Horned Frogs will tee off in 11-minute increments between 10:25-11:09 a.m. ET on Friday morning and from 3:36-4:20 p.m. on Saturday.

Georgia will utilize the same lineup it did for the last two tourneys – the SEC Championships and NCAA Albuquerque Regional – with seniors Jenny Bae and Jo Hua Hung, juniors Caterina Don and Candice Mahé and freshman LoraLie Cowart comprising the Bulldogs' playing five. Céleste Dao will travel as a potential sub. Following a 10th place finish at the SECs, that quintet rebounded at Regionals to place third. Bae and Mahé led the way in Albuquerque by finishing second and third, respectively.

A year ago, Georgia arrived at the NCAAs after playing its best golf of the season at the Columbus Regional. Bae captured medalist honors in Ohio to lead a trio of Bulldogs who notched top-5 individual efforts as Georgia earned an impressive 15-stroke victory. However, the Bulldogs finished 18th in Scottsdale.

"Last year, we celebrated," head coach Josh Brewer said. "We probably didn't go out there as focused as we should have been. Honestly, we played poorly. That's on us. This year, we've already said it's more of a business trip. We always have fun, but we're going out there spend an entire week and have tee times all the way past the weekend."

Bae, who shot 5-under in Albuquerque and is a combined 9-under over her last six Regional rounds, is looking for similar scores in Arizona.

"We are really excited to go play in Arizona again," Bae said. "We worked our butts off the entire year to get back there and we're ready, as always. I think last year we didn't get the results that we wanted, but we know the course better than we did last year and we are even more prepared. Each of us has worked on the things that we needed to work on, and now we are ready."

Mahé has four top-10s in 19 career appearances at UGA. Two of those were in Regionals – fifth in Columbus last year and third in Albuquerque.

"I'm such a competitive person," Mahé said. "I do well whenever it's really intense. Everyone wants to play well in the Regional, but at the same time you also have nothing to lose. It's going to be the same mindset for nationals."

Ranked in the mid-20s nationally, the Bulldogs feel they are undervalued nationally.

"We have had a tough season, but what matters at the end of the year is the postseason," Mahé said. "Everyone is going to remember the national championship, not what they did in the regular season."

Georgia enjoyed a strong start to the fall, breaking the school single-round record with a 14-under loop at the Cougar Classic and posting the second-best tournament score in school history – a 15-under tally – to win the team title at the Illini Invitational.

A week after the victory at Medinah, Georgia wrapped up the fall with a 13th-place finish at the Stanford Intercollegiate. Bae missed the final two rounds there, leaving the Bulldogs in a play-four, count four situation.

After playing the first three tourneys at a combined 25-under, Georgia shot 39-over in three rounds at Stanford and dropped from the low-teens to the high-30s in the national rankings.

The Bulldogs spent the spring slowly ascending in the polls but unable to recapture their fall mojo...until last week. Georgia used a 4-under 284 in the second round in Albuquerque to climb from fifth to second and then opened the final round with a trio of birdies.

Georgia eventually moved to 6-under through 14 holes and pulled within two shots of No. 2 Oregon in the final round but could not trim the gap to the Ducks any farther.

"I've said for six weeks that we were close," Brewer said following the final round in Albuquerque. "Unfortunately, the results never showed that. Deep down, I knew we were. I was just hoping we wouldn't run out of tournaments before we could prove it."

Fortunately, that did not happen and Georgia finds itself in the field at the finals site for the 24th time since the NCAA began administering women's intercollegiate athletics in 1982.

Bulldogs Boast Strong History In National Championships Play
Georgia has long been one of the premier programs in women's college golf, headlined by four total national championships – one team and three individual.

The Bulldogs won the 2001 NCAA title Mission Inn Resort in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla. Georgia was national runner-up in 1981, 1988 and 1999. In addition, Terri Moody earned medalist honors at the 1981 AIAWs, while Cindy Schreyer and Vicki Goetze took home NCAA individual crowns in 1984 and 1992, respectively.

Georgia is making its 24th all-time appearance at the NCAA Championships' finals site. That ranks ninth-best nationally as outlined below.

**All-Time NCAA Finals Appearances**
Rk.	School	No.
1	Arizona State	37
2	Stanford	36
3	Southern California	34
4	UCLA	33
5	Arizona	32
	Duke	32
7	Texas	30
8	Florida	28
9	Georgia	24
10	Oklahoma State	23

* schools in bold competing in 2022 Championships

Dating back to 1979, when the AIAW still administered women's college athletics, the Bulldogs will be competing in their 28th national championships as a team.

Georgia has made the most of those trips. In addition to winning the 2001 national title, the Bulldogs have posted 27 top-20 and 20 top-10 finishes over the last 42 national championship tourneys.

Individually, Georgia golfers have combined to record 21 top-10 and 36 top-20 efforts at the national championships. In addition, Heather Kuzmich and Tina Paternostro were the NCAA long drive champions in 1988 and 1991, respectively.

Third Trip To The Desert…We'll Take The Same Score
Georgia will be competing on a desert layout for the third time during the 2022 calendar at the NCAA Championships. The Bulldogs shot 2-over 866 at the Clover Cup in Mesa, Ariz., in March and posted the same score – 2-over 866 – at last week's NCAA Albuquerque Regional.

When informed that his team shot 2-over 866 in their previous trips to the desert this year, Georgia head coach Josh Brewer quipped: "I'd be happy to take that score after three rounds this week too! I think we'd be in pretty good spot going into Monday if we're 2-over at that point."

The Bulldogs ventured to Longbow Golf Club in Mesa during spring break for Notre Dame's Clover Cup. Georgia finished sixth as a team, while Caterina Don's fifth-place performance led UGA individually.

"The Clover Cup helped for sure," Jenny Bae said. "All of our yardages were definitely a lot farther, which means we would have to readjust our target lines and how we hit our balls. I think it was great practice and preparation."

The trip in March also afforded Georgia the chance to play at practice round at Grayhawk.

Last week, the Bulldogs punched their ticket to Scottsdale with a third-place effort at the University of New Mexico's Championship Course. Bae and Candice Mahé recorded top-5 showings to pace Georgia.

"The Regional was very helpful," Mahé said. "It helped us get used to the temperatures because it was really hot. Whenever the temperature is high, the ball flies very well so our distances can be really different than usual. Josh did a really good job of giving us our yardages, compared to what they are in Athens and what it's supposed to fly like in New Mexico. He's going to do the same thing in Arizona. Also, its super dry so it will play like the Regionals."

It Just Means...The Most Ever
Nine Southeastern Conference teams have earned spots in the field for the 2022 NCAA Championships at Grayhawk, the most ever by a single conference. Previously, the SEC's eight teams in the 2012 NCAAs at Vanderbilt's Legend Club in Franklin, Tenn., represented the record. Both the SEC and the Pac 12 have sent seven teams to nationals on several occasions.

In addition to Georgia from the Albuquerque Regional, Arkansas advanced from Ann Arbor; Alabama, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt earned spots in Franklin; LSU came out of Stanford; Auburn rallied in Stillwater; and Mississippi State and South Carolina traveled through Tallahassee.

It Just Means More...Take II
Eleven schools have both women's and men's teams in the NCAA Championships.

The SEC leads that ledger with five programs. Georgia, Arkansas, Auburn, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt all will have two teams in Scottsdale. In addition, the Pac 12 will have three teams (Arizona State, Oregon and Stanford), while the ACC (Florida State and Wake Forest) and the Big 12 (Oklahoma State and Texas) will have two each.

UGA Golf Among Elite
Both of Georgia's golf programs have long been ranked among the best in the nation.

While the women's 24 NCAA Championship appearances rank ninth nationally, the Georgia men have advanced to the finals site 49 times, seventh-most all time.

Georgia is one of only four schools to win national titles in both women's and men's golf in the 2000s.

The Bulldogs, who won the women's title in 2001 and the men's in 2005, are joined by Alabama (women in 2013, men in 2011), Stanford (women in 2007, men in 2015) and UCLA (women in 2008, men in 2004 & 2011).

Georgia Flexes Depth During Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic
Rumors that Josh Brewer has appealed to change the format of the NCAA Championships to a "play 10, count 5 format" can be neither confirmed nor denied. No one would blame Brewer if he did so following his team's showing in the 50th annual Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic this spring.

Georgia entered the tournament, which included eight top-25 teams, ranked No. 31 nationally. The Bulldogs and their "B" team both proceeded to tie for fifth.

In the process, the Georgia quintets tied No. 13 Southern California and beat No. 11 Texas, No. 17 Arkansas and No. 22 Ole Miss.

"The depth is really good," Brewer said. "It shows how well we've done recruiting and how hard these players have worked and developed themselves. Now, we just have to get the right nucleus going forward."

Bae's Super Summer: Three Wins In A Week
Jenny Bae enjoyed what has to be one of the most productive weeks of golf ever last summer. In the span of six days, the senior from Suwanee, Ga., secured three victories, winning the Georgia Women's Amateur, the Georgia Women's Open and a qualifier for the U.S. Women's Amateur.

Bae began the stretch by shooting 11-under at Coosa Country Club on June 28-30 in Rome, Ga., to earn a five-stroke victory in the Georgia Am. She was in third place, one shot back of the co-leaders, following a 3-under 69 in the opening round. The Collins Hill High graduate took control the next day with a bogey-free, 6-under 66. Bae began the final round with a three-shot lead and widened that gap with a closing 70.

The following morning, Bae began at wire-to-wire victory in the Georgia Open at the UGA Golf Course. She fired a 6-under 66 in the first round and followed with an even-par 72 to clinch to title by two.

Following a day off on Saturday and a practice round on Sunday, Bae was back at it on Monday. She shot 5-under 68 to win a Am qualifier at Woodmont Golf and Country Club in Canton, Ga.

All told, Bae played 108 holes in those three events at a combined 22-under.

Bae turned in a solid showing at the 121st annual U.S. Women's Amateur at Westchester Country Club in Rye, N.Y. She tied for 12th in two rounds of stroke play qualifying, shooting even-par 144. Bae then won a pair of matches before bowing out when she was defeated by Jensen Castle, the eventual Am winner, in the round of 16.

University of Georgia Athletics

Bulldogs Make Second Straight Trip To NCAA Championships

Players Mentioned

Jenny Bae

LoraLie Cowart

Caterina Don

Jo Hua Hung

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