Friday, May 19
Grayhawk Golf Club / Scottsdale, Ariz.
All Day
University of Georgia
T3rd (286)
vs
NCAA Championships Stroke Play - Day 1
Photo by: Tim Cowie
Bulldogs Third After School-Record Score To Open NCAAs
May 19, 2023 | Women's Golf
Georgia fires 2-under tally in Scottsdale
Follow UGA Golf on Twitter l Instagram l Facebook
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — Led by a trio of under-par individual efforts, the Georgia women's golf team fired its best round ever in NCAA Championships competition on Friday. The Bulldogs' 2-under 286 left them tied for third in the 30-team field following the opening day at Grayhawk Golf Club.
"I'm pleased and as we said last week at Regionals 'not bad,'" quipped head coach Josh Brewer. "You've got to be happy, but you also sense a little frustration because I feel like we could have maybe even taken it deeper. But that's probably being greedy. It's a long week and we played lot of good golf, so it's a good position to be in."
Jenny Bae's 2-under 70 and a pair of 1-under 71s from LoraLie Cowart and Jo Hua Hung paced Georgia on Friday. The Bulldogs' previous NCAA Championship team low round was 1-under – a 287 in the final round in 1992 in Tempe, Ariz., and a 295 on a par-74 layout in the third round in 1988 in Las Cruces, N.M.
Georgia also counted a 74 from Isabella Holpfer while discarding a 75 by Candice Mahé.
The Bulldogs teed off from No. 10 and played the back side of the course first on Friday
Bae, who recorded her school-record 24th par-or-better effort in 33 rounds this season, began with a quartet of pars before birdies at No. 14 and No. 18 moved her to 2-under at the turn. Following a bogey at No. 1, she birdied No. 4 and No. 7 to move to 3-under before giving one of those strokes back with a bogey at No. 9.
Cowart, who didn't shoot par-or-better in 29 regular-season rounds, notched her second red number is four NCAA tournament loops this spring. She chipped in from the bunker at No. 10 to open the day and went on to birdie No. 11 and No. 13 to move to 3-under through four holes. Cowart eventually finished at 1-under following bogeys at No. 1 and No. 5.
"That was almost a fried egg up against the lip, but it kind of hit soft and went in the hole," Cowart said. "It was really exciting. (Assistant coach) Ember (Holloway) was back in the fairway, and I could hear her scream. It was just exciting to start that way. It let me know that, even though the shot from the fairway on 10 went right, I was hitting the ball well and it was going to be a good day. Golf is like 'Hey. It's your day.' When things are going your way, you run with it. I feel like I did."
Conversely, Hung struggled early before finding her footing. She birdied No. 11 but then went double-bogey, bogey to fall to 2-over through four holes. Hung regained one of those strokes with a birdie at No. 17 and pulled back to even with another at No. 2. She closed the day with a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 9 to record her 15th par-or-better round of the season.
"I had an early birdie on No. 11, but then I had a double so it kind of messed up my routine," Hung said. "In the middle of the round I was trying to get my rhythm back. Somehow I found my tempo so I was able to shoot under par on the back nine. I'm glad I did a good job with that.
"There's definitely a lot of self talk on the course," Hung added. "Going double-bogey and bogey after that hurts your score. At the same time, I just tried to tell myself that we've only played four holes and there's a lot of golf left. I just tried to focus on each shot and stick with my routine. I think by doing that, that helped me get back to my rhythm."
No. 2 Wake Forest shot 9-under 279 to grab a one-shot lead over Oklahoma State on the team leaderboard. The Bulldogs are tied with No. 4 South Carolina in third of a tightly packed leaderboard that features 19 teams within 10 strokes in third and 21st places. No. 6 Texas A&M and New Mexico are tied for fifth at 287, followed by No. 1 Stanford, No. 10 Florida State and No. 22 Duke all at 288; No. 12 Baylor at 289; No. 20 SMU and Texas Tech both at 291; No. 8 San Jose State, No. 11 Texas and No. 23 Arizona all at 292; Michigan State and TCU both at 293; No. 3 LSU at 294; No. 16 Pepperdine at 295; and No. 9 Southern California and Augusta both at 296.
Maddison Hinson-Tolchard from Oklahoma State carded a 6-under 66 to grab the individual lead, a shot ahead of Lauren Walsh from Wake Forest. For Georgia, Bae is tied for 10th, Cowart and Hung are tied for 21st, Holpfer is tied for 66th and Mahé is tied for 90th.
Georgia will again be paired with Michigan State and Texas Tech for the second round. After playing in the morning on Friday, the Bulldogs, Spartans and Red Raiders will tee off in the afternoon on Saturday, opening at No. 1 in 11-minute intervals between 3:25-4:09 p.m. ET.
"I want the break," Brewer said. "I feel like we need the rest because it's been a long couple of days with early tee times. We'll go back and enjoy a nice dinner and not feel rushed to do everything. I'm happy for the girls, and hopefully we'll be able to continue this momentum tomorrow."
Live scoring is being updated on a hole-by-hole basis at golfstat.com.
NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships
Grayhawk Golf Club
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Par 72; 6368 Yards
Friday''s First-Round Morning Wave Standings
Team Leaderboard
Wake Forest 279
Oklahoma State 280
Georgia 286
South Carolina 286
New Mexico 287
Texas A&M 287
Duke 288
Florida State 288
Stanford 288
Baylor 289
SMU 291
Texas Tech 291
Texas 292
San Jose State 292
Arizona 292
Michigan State 293
TCU 293
LSU 294
Pepperdine 295
Augusta 296
Southern California 296
Oregon State 297
Virginia 298
Clemson 299
Ole Miss 300
Mississippi State 301
Tulsa 301
Northwestern 303
Vanderbilt 305
N.C. State 305
Individual Leaderboard
Madison Hinson-Tolchard, Oklahoma St. 66
Lauren Walsh, Wake Forest 67
Shannon Tan, Texas Tech 68
Mega Ganne, Stanford 68
Lucia Lopez-Ortega, San Jose St. 67
Rina Tatematsu, Oklahoma St. 68
Adela Cernousek, Texas A&M 69
B. Fernadez Garcia-Poggio, Texas A&M 69
Pimmada Wongthanavimok, Arizona 69
Jenny Bae, Georgia 70
Sera Hasegawa, Baylor 70
Rachel Kuehn, Wake Forest 70
Ingrid Lindblad, LSU 70
Amanda Sambach, Virginia 70
Lottie Woad, Florida St. 70
Mathilde Claisse, S. Carolina 70
Erica Sheperd, Duke 70
Lauren Zaretsky, Texas Tech 70
Lisa-Marie Pagilano, New Mexico 70
Mimi Rhodes, Wake Forest 70
Additional Georgia Scores
T21. LoraLie Cowart, Georgia 71
T21. Jo Hua Hung, Georgia 71
T66. Isabella Holpfer 74
T90. Candice Mahé 75
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. — Led by a trio of under-par individual efforts, the Georgia women's golf team fired its best round ever in NCAA Championships competition on Friday. The Bulldogs' 2-under 286 left them tied for third in the 30-team field following the opening day at Grayhawk Golf Club.
"I'm pleased and as we said last week at Regionals 'not bad,'" quipped head coach Josh Brewer. "You've got to be happy, but you also sense a little frustration because I feel like we could have maybe even taken it deeper. But that's probably being greedy. It's a long week and we played lot of good golf, so it's a good position to be in."
Jenny Bae's 2-under 70 and a pair of 1-under 71s from LoraLie Cowart and Jo Hua Hung paced Georgia on Friday. The Bulldogs' previous NCAA Championship team low round was 1-under – a 287 in the final round in 1992 in Tempe, Ariz., and a 295 on a par-74 layout in the third round in 1988 in Las Cruces, N.M.
Georgia also counted a 74 from Isabella Holpfer while discarding a 75 by Candice Mahé.
The Bulldogs teed off from No. 10 and played the back side of the course first on Friday
Bae, who recorded her school-record 24th par-or-better effort in 33 rounds this season, began with a quartet of pars before birdies at No. 14 and No. 18 moved her to 2-under at the turn. Following a bogey at No. 1, she birdied No. 4 and No. 7 to move to 3-under before giving one of those strokes back with a bogey at No. 9.
Cowart, who didn't shoot par-or-better in 29 regular-season rounds, notched her second red number is four NCAA tournament loops this spring. She chipped in from the bunker at No. 10 to open the day and went on to birdie No. 11 and No. 13 to move to 3-under through four holes. Cowart eventually finished at 1-under following bogeys at No. 1 and No. 5.
"That was almost a fried egg up against the lip, but it kind of hit soft and went in the hole," Cowart said. "It was really exciting. (Assistant coach) Ember (Holloway) was back in the fairway, and I could hear her scream. It was just exciting to start that way. It let me know that, even though the shot from the fairway on 10 went right, I was hitting the ball well and it was going to be a good day. Golf is like 'Hey. It's your day.' When things are going your way, you run with it. I feel like I did."
Conversely, Hung struggled early before finding her footing. She birdied No. 11 but then went double-bogey, bogey to fall to 2-over through four holes. Hung regained one of those strokes with a birdie at No. 17 and pulled back to even with another at No. 2. She closed the day with a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 9 to record her 15th par-or-better round of the season.
"I had an early birdie on No. 11, but then I had a double so it kind of messed up my routine," Hung said. "In the middle of the round I was trying to get my rhythm back. Somehow I found my tempo so I was able to shoot under par on the back nine. I'm glad I did a good job with that.
"There's definitely a lot of self talk on the course," Hung added. "Going double-bogey and bogey after that hurts your score. At the same time, I just tried to tell myself that we've only played four holes and there's a lot of golf left. I just tried to focus on each shot and stick with my routine. I think by doing that, that helped me get back to my rhythm."
No. 2 Wake Forest shot 9-under 279 to grab a one-shot lead over Oklahoma State on the team leaderboard. The Bulldogs are tied with No. 4 South Carolina in third of a tightly packed leaderboard that features 19 teams within 10 strokes in third and 21st places. No. 6 Texas A&M and New Mexico are tied for fifth at 287, followed by No. 1 Stanford, No. 10 Florida State and No. 22 Duke all at 288; No. 12 Baylor at 289; No. 20 SMU and Texas Tech both at 291; No. 8 San Jose State, No. 11 Texas and No. 23 Arizona all at 292; Michigan State and TCU both at 293; No. 3 LSU at 294; No. 16 Pepperdine at 295; and No. 9 Southern California and Augusta both at 296.
Maddison Hinson-Tolchard from Oklahoma State carded a 6-under 66 to grab the individual lead, a shot ahead of Lauren Walsh from Wake Forest. For Georgia, Bae is tied for 10th, Cowart and Hung are tied for 21st, Holpfer is tied for 66th and Mahé is tied for 90th.
Georgia will again be paired with Michigan State and Texas Tech for the second round. After playing in the morning on Friday, the Bulldogs, Spartans and Red Raiders will tee off in the afternoon on Saturday, opening at No. 1 in 11-minute intervals between 3:25-4:09 p.m. ET.
"I want the break," Brewer said. "I feel like we need the rest because it's been a long couple of days with early tee times. We'll go back and enjoy a nice dinner and not feel rushed to do everything. I'm happy for the girls, and hopefully we'll be able to continue this momentum tomorrow."
Live scoring is being updated on a hole-by-hole basis at golfstat.com.
NCAA Division I Women's Golf Championships
Grayhawk Golf Club
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Par 72; 6368 Yards
Friday''s First-Round Morning Wave Standings
Team Leaderboard
Wake Forest 279
Oklahoma State 280
Georgia 286
South Carolina 286
New Mexico 287
Texas A&M 287
Duke 288
Florida State 288
Stanford 288
Baylor 289
SMU 291
Texas Tech 291
Texas 292
San Jose State 292
Arizona 292
Michigan State 293
TCU 293
LSU 294
Pepperdine 295
Augusta 296
Southern California 296
Oregon State 297
Virginia 298
Clemson 299
Ole Miss 300
Mississippi State 301
Tulsa 301
Northwestern 303
Vanderbilt 305
N.C. State 305
Individual Leaderboard
Madison Hinson-Tolchard, Oklahoma St. 66
Lauren Walsh, Wake Forest 67
Shannon Tan, Texas Tech 68
Mega Ganne, Stanford 68
Lucia Lopez-Ortega, San Jose St. 67
Rina Tatematsu, Oklahoma St. 68
Adela Cernousek, Texas A&M 69
B. Fernadez Garcia-Poggio, Texas A&M 69
Pimmada Wongthanavimok, Arizona 69
Jenny Bae, Georgia 70
Sera Hasegawa, Baylor 70
Rachel Kuehn, Wake Forest 70
Ingrid Lindblad, LSU 70
Amanda Sambach, Virginia 70
Lottie Woad, Florida St. 70
Mathilde Claisse, S. Carolina 70
Erica Sheperd, Duke 70
Lauren Zaretsky, Texas Tech 70
Lisa-Marie Pagilano, New Mexico 70
Mimi Rhodes, Wake Forest 70
Additional Georgia Scores
T21. LoraLie Cowart, Georgia 71
T21. Jo Hua Hung, Georgia 71
T66. Isabella Holpfer 74
T90. Candice Mahé 75
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
/ Women's Golf
Women's Golf - Coach Brennan and Coach Stevens Feature
Monday, April 28
Georgia Women's Golf - Lady Bulldog Invitational Highligths
Saturday, January 25
Georgia Women's Golf - NCAA Regionals Round Two Recap
Tuesday, May 07
Georgia Women's Golf - NCAA Regionals Round One Recap
Monday, May 06
