Georgia women's golf starts fast, finishes 6th in Illini Invitational
The Georgia women’s golf team finished sixth overall in the Illini Invitational after play was wrapped on Oct. 10, led by Caterina Don’s top ten performance. Georgia finished with an overall score of 864 as a unit. Individually, Don’s score of 212 was enough to tie her at ninth, followed by formidable showings from LoraLie Cowart, Napat Lertsadwattana, Isabella Holpfer and Kate Song.
Spirits were high for the Bulldogs as they found themselves in third after two rounds of play in Olympia Fields, Illinois. Caterina Don was tied for first place thanks to a 4-under 68 tally in her second round, where she picked up five birdies and an eagle. From there, the Bulldogs were forced to retread some old ground by slipping to yet another middle-of-the-pack finish.
“[Don] is back to playing the way she was three or four years ago, her freshman year,” head coach Josh Brewer said. “She was one of the best players in the world. I think she is finally healthy, confident and having fun. It is nice to see her rewarded for sticking with it and getting through some tough times to enjoy playing golf again.”
Georgia’s struggles with the opening nine holes of day two caught the team by surprise to say the least, netting the Bulldogs an 11-over score heading into the home stretch. Thanks to the ensuing nine birdies from the trio of Don, Lertsadwattana and Song, Georgia notched a score of 293 on the round — ensuring their par-or-better tournament streak that has spanned all three tournaments on the year.
As for individual scores, LoreLie Cowart followed up Don’s performance with a tie for 19th at 215, Lertsadwatanna finished tied for 40th with a 220 tally, Holpfer tied seven positions behind her for 47th with a score of 222 and Song rounded out the roster scoring 223 for her T54 finish.
“It’s been a year or two since we found ourselves in the final group going into the last round,” Brewer said. “I think it says a lot about our new nucleus, the returnees and the newcomers, and how far we’ve come. You need days like today in sports to realign yourself and discover things you need to work on and clean up. We’ll learn from being in the position we were in today, and I’m confident we’ll handle ourselves better the next time we’re there.”
With the duo of LSU’s Latanna Stone and Ingrid Lindblad each taking a share of the individual trophy, the No. 13 Tigers ran away with the team title as well, finishing at 837 over three rounds of play. No. 8 Ole Miss, Northwestern, No. 11 San Jose State and Oklahoma State concluded the top five finishes from the invitational.
Georgia will have to lick its wounds quickly as it looks to finish its fall campaign on a high note in the Stanford Intercollegiate from Oct. 20-22.
