Bulldogs Set To Begin SECs At Greystone Golf & Country Club

Georgia Women's Golf
2023 SEC Championship Notes
March 12-16 at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Ala.
Par 72; 6331 Yards
Live Scoring: www.golfstat.com
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The Bulldogs' Lineup:
1. Jenny Bae – 5-3; Super Senior; Suwanee, Ga.; Collins Hill High School
• Runner-up at 2023 ANWA
• Shot school-record 16-under to win Illini Invitational in the fall
• With 20 par-or-better rounds, two shy of UGA record
• 3-Time SEC Golfer of the Week this season (Oct. 13, Oct. 27 & April 5)

2. Jo Hua Hung – 5-4; Super Senior; New Taipei City, Taiwan; Chih Ping Senior High School
• Qualified for 2021 U.S. Open
• Opened 2023 slate by winning Lady Bulldog Individual Championship
• Top-20 finisher in all 5 tournaments during 2023
• Led UGA at SECs in both 2019 (12th) and 2022 (4th)

3. Caroline Craig – 5-6; Senior; Sautee Nacoochee, Ga.; White County High School
• Competing in SECs for first time
• A WGCA All-American Scholar in 2020, 2021 and 2022
• 3rd round average of 69.75 is 5.85 better than in 1st and 2nd rounds
• Missed start of spring season due to fractured thumb

4. Candice Mahé – 5-8; Senior; Gourin, France; Lycee Sainte Jeanne D'Arc
• Top-10 finisher in 3 NCAA events – 5th at 2021 Regional, 3rd at 2022 Regional and 6th at 2022 NCAAs
• Defeated Rose Zhang in 2022 NCAA match play quarterfinals
• Competed in the 2021 ANWA
• Won 5 tourneys between 2015-19

5. Caterina Don – 5-6; Senior; Pinerolo, Italy; Istituto Maria Immacolata in Scuola Paritaria DM
• Earned 2nd collegiate victory at 2023 San Diego State Classic
• Shot a UGA-record 8-under 64 at 2021 Heroes Intercollegiate
• Won 2022 Joel Eaves Award for top GPA among UGA's female student-athletes who are seniors

Sub: LoraLie Cowart – 5-4; Sophomore; Carrollton, Ga.; Carrollton High School
• Competed in 7 tourneys as a sophomore, including six individually
• Represented UGA at the 2022 NCAA Albuquerque Regional and NCAA Championships
• Won the 2020 National High School Golf Association Invitational

Bulldogs Set To Begin SECs At Greystone Golf & Country Club
The Georgia Bulldogs will tee off in the 2023 Southeastern Conference Women's Golf Championships on Wednesday morning.

Georgia will be paired with Arkansas and Tennessee for the first round of stroke play qualifying at Greystone Golf and Country Club outside Birmingham. The Bulldogs, Razorbacks and Volunteers will start from No. 10 and go off in 10-minute intervals between 10:10-50 a.m. ET.

The tournament will feature three rounds of stroke play before the field is cut to eight teams for a bracketed, match-play competition to determine the SEC Champion. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be on Saturday, and the championship match will be televised live on the SEC Network on Sunday.

"Now everyone starts at zero and honestly, it's the biggest, probably the best tournament we will play all year," head coach Josh Brewer said. "If you look at the rankings, we think we are the deepest conference in the country, so going in you know you have to play well. You have that excitement, that buzz that starts to set in. It makes us realize this is why you do all the work from August to now."

The SEC sported four top-10 and four additional top-20 teams in the April 4 edition of Golfstat's rankings. Georgia was No. 29 in that ledger, placing the Bulldogs as the No. 10 seed for the SECs.

Georgia's roster features all of the golfers who helped UGA win those Regionals in 2021 and 2022 advance to match play at the NCAA Championships last May.

"Because we had success everyone is probably thinking, 'Oh great, the 10 seed is a team that has won a Regional the past two years and made match play at the National Championship' instead of your basic 10 seed," Brewer said. "So for us, we are kind of going in feeling like we have a little a chip on our shoulder, as the underdog, and we will ride that wave."

The Bulldogs' playing five for Birmingham has to be one of the most experienced in college golf and includes fifth-year "super seniors" Jenny Bae and Jo Hua Hung, as well as traditional fourth-year seniors Caroline Craig, Candice Mahé and Caterina Don.

All told, that quintet has competed in 183 tournaments for Georgia and has produced top-20 individual efforts in more than half of those starts (95 top-20s).

In addition, sophomore LoraLie Cowart will travel as a potential substitute.

"I think everyone is really talented on the team, so this year I really do think we have a good chance of winning this time," Hung said. "So, I would say the next few days we have to be focused and also have fun too. We need to have fun on the course, but focus on each shot and the strategy, have a game plan in mind, and I think we will do great."

Bae is coming off a runner-up performance at the Augusta National Women's Amateur. She finished 54 holes tied atop the leaderboard with world No. 1 Rose Zhang before falling on the second hole of a playoff.

Bae broke the ANWA tournament record for birdies with 16 and tied the event's single-round mark for birdies with seven on the opening day.

Hung began 2023 by winning the Lady Bulldog Individual Championship, a one-day, 36-hole event at the UGA Golf Course and has posted top-20 finishes in all five starts this spring. That includes a tie for 18th at the Women's Amateur Asia-Pacific in March.

Craig is a senior making her debut at the SEC Championships, two years after she earned a spot in the Bulldogs' lineup for the 2021 SECs before missing the competition due to an illness.

Mahé has been a postseason standout each of the past two years. She posted top-5 finishes in NCAA Regionals in Columbus (fifth) and Albuquerque (third) and then tied for sixth – with Bae – at the 2022 NCAAs in Scottsdale.

Don's competitive resume includes helping Italy win the 2018 World Junior Girls' Team Championships and the 2016 and 2018 European Girls' Team Championships. She also competed in the 2019 and 2021 ANWAs and the 2021 U.S. Women's Open.

Brewer believes his team's experiences will pay dividends.

"We believe this is our time of the year," Brewer said. "It's a long week, and it's a grind like the National Championships. That's why we put this in place a long time ago, to emulate the NCAAs. Hats off to the conference for putting in the resources to women's golf and for putting our championship on TV."

Bae knows although she and her teammates try to approach the postseason as other events, it's easier said than done.

"I think we all try to look at it like any other tournament, so we don't get higher expectations of ourselves," Bae said. "But I think it is only natural that the adrenaline is flowing in every one of us when we go out there, and that is why we play better in post season. It is so much more fun and a challenge to us."

Bulldogs Lead SEC In Women's Golf Titles Won
Georgia has captured a league-leading 19 SEC Women's Golf Championships. The Bulldogs have won 11 team titles and eight medalist honors. .

Florida ranks second with 18 conference championships, nine team and nine individual titles, while Auburn ranks third with 16 crowns, 10 team and six individual.

The Bulldogs, Gators and Tigers have combined to capture 53 of the 82 all-time SEC titles in women's golf.

Bae Stars At Augusta
Jenny Bae's valiant comeback effort came up just short at the 2023 Augusta National Women's Amateur. Bae rallied from a six-shot deficit entering the final round to force a sudden-death playoff before Rose Zhang, the world's No. 1 ranked amateur, secured victory on the second extra hole.

Bae and Zhang finished 54 holes tied at 9-under 207. Bae closed with a 2-under 70, the low loop of the 31 golfers in the field and one of only three par-or-better efforts in the final round.

Bae's six-shot deficit was cut in half early in the day when she birdied No. 2 and Zhang doubled No. 1. Almost just as quickly, the margin returned to six as Bae doubled No. 3 and Zhang birdied No. 3.

Bae steadied to par the next four holes as Zhang struggled with bogeys at No. 4, No. 5 and No. 7 before horn sounded to suspend play with a weather delay at 10:31.

At that point, the difference was back to three shots, with Zhang at 9-under and Bae at 6-under.

When play resumed at 1:50, Bae birdied No. 9 to close the gap to two. Another birdie at No. 13 brought Bae within one; however, Zhang followed with her own birdie at 13.

"To be honest I tried to avoid looking at the leaderboard for a little over the first nine holes," Bae said. "Then, I glanced back and saw that I was about a shot behind, and I was like 'I can do this. Let's get it.' I think the last three or four holes when the roaring was so big, I realized I really had a good chance."

A bogey by Zhang at No. 15 again brought Bae back within a stroke of the lead. She then hit her approach at No. 17 within a foot and converted the birdie to head to No. 18 tied atop the leaderboard.

Both golfers parred No. 18, setting up the first-ever playoff in the fourth edition of the ANWA. They returned to No. 18 and again made par before moving onto No. 10, where Bae's approach went left of the green into pine straw. Zhang eventually converted a tap-in par to secure the win.

Bae's effort was a record-setting performance. She broke the ANWA record with 16 birdies over 54 holes, topping the tally of 15 by Maria Fassi in the inaugural tournament in 2019. Bae and Zhang's 54-hole score of 9-under was a stroke off the tournament record of Jennifer Kupcho, also in established in 2019.

Bae also became the fourth SEC golfer finished as runner-up in four editions of the tournament, joining Fassi from Arkansas in 2019 and both Ingrid Lindblad and Latanna Stone from LSU in 2022.

Bae's finish in this year's ANWA is the best ever by a Georgia golfer. The previous standard was established by Caterina Don when she tied for 12th in the inaugural tournament in 2019.

Plenty Of ANWA Experience
All told, five current and future Bulldogs have now competed in the Augusta National Women's Amateur seven times.

In addition to Bae in 2022 and 2023, signee Savannah de Bock, the 2022 European Ladies Amateur champion from Belgium, qualified this year; Don did so in 2019 and 2021; and Isabella Holpfer and Candice Mahé played in 2021.

Trio Of Bulldogs Earn Wins
Jenny Bae, Caterina Don and Jo Hua Hung all have captured individual victories during the 2022-23 season.

Bae won the Illini Invitational last fall in record-setting fashion, shooting 16-under to break Bailey Tardy's UGA record – 12-under at the 2015 Windy City Collegiate – by four shots.

Bae started the final round in second at historic Medinah Country Club but quickly moved to the top of the leaderboard with birdies on two of her first three holes. She eventually shot 6-under 66 including birdies on her final two holes to clinch her second collegiate individual title.

Hung began the 2023 portion of Georgia's schedule by winning the Lady Bulldog Individual Championship, a one-day, 36-hole event at the UGA Golf Course.

Hung recorded consecutive 71s to finish at 2-under 142. Hung and teammates Céleste Dao and Isabella Holpfer traded the lead throughout the day.

Don notched her second win as a Bulldog with an even-par effort at the San Diego State Classic at The Farms Golf Club in Rancho Sante Fe, Calif.

Don surged past Hung en route to victory. She was two shots back of her teammate at the turn of the final round but moved into a tie with a quartet of birdies at No. 11, No. 13, No. 14 and No. 15. Don went up a stroke when Hung bogeyed No. 17 before both golfers parred No. 18.

Bae, Don Earn SEC Honors
Jenny Bae and Caterina Don earned SEC Golfer of the Week accolades this season. Bae was tabbed three times, while Don was once.

During the fall, Bae was recognized on both Oct. 13 – after she won the Illini Invitational – and Oct. 27 – following a fourth-place effort at the Stanford Intercollegiate. She was again honored on April 3 after finishing as runner-up at the Augusta National Women's Am.

Bae has now earned five SEC weekly awards. She also was tabbed Player of the Week last season on Feb. 16 and was the Freshman of the Week on March 13, 2019.

Don's accolade came following her victory at the San Diego State Classic, the second win of her UGA career.

Don Honored For Academics, Leadership
Caterina Don received two prestigious awards for achievements off the course.

The senior from Pinerolo, Italy, majoring in Mathematics won the Joel Eaves Award last fall, which is given annually to UGA's female student-athlete with the highest GPA entering their senior year.

This spring, Don was one of 10 collegiate student-athletes from throughout the state of Georgia honored by the Atlanta Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America as a "Peach of an Athlete" role model for distinguishing themselves by their character, scholastic achievement, academic excellence and community service.

Don serves as Vice President of UGA's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and was one of two (of approximately 250) current UGA female student-athletes chosen to take part in a panel discussion at Georgia's event celebrating the 50th anniversary of Title IX.

Graduate Patches On The Way
Several Bulldogs will have the popular "SEC graduate" patches added to their uniforms before Georgia competes in the NCAAs in May.

Super seniors Jenny Bae and Jo Hua Hung both will receive their degrees in Sport Management, as will Caroline Craig.

Candice Mahé will earn her bachelor's in International Affairs, while Céleste Dao will do so in Finance.

Caterina Don will wrap up requirements to receive her diploma in Mathematics this spring but will remain in Athens next year to compete for a fifth season and earn an additional certification.

The current senior class helped the program win UGA's Faculty Athletics Representative Award in 2021 as the women's athletic team with the highest GPA in 2020-21.

Georgia's graduation ceremonies will be held on Friday, May 12 at Sanford Stadium, home of the two-time defending CFP national champions.

Bulldogs Set To Begin SECs At Greystone Golf & Country Club

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Players Mentioned

Jenny Bae

LoraLie Cowart

Caroline Craig

Caterina Don

Isabella Holpfer

Jo Hua Hung