SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The second round has been good for the Georgia women’s golf team this season. It was again on Saturday.
The Bulldogs posted a 3-over 291 – equaling the program’s third-best round ever at the NCAA Championships – to climb seven spots to 10th on the leaderboard at Grayhawk Golf Club. Georgia is at 18-over 594 through 36 holes. While that’s 13 shots off the lead, it’s equally significant that the Bulldogs are 11 shots ahead of 16th, as the field will be cut from 24 teams to 15 following Sunday’s third round.
This season, Georgia has a 289.91 average in the second round of its 11 tournaments, which is significantly better than the Bulldogs’ opening round efforts of 294.36.
A day after posted nine birdies in the entire first round, Georgia recorded that many red numbers on the front nine alone on Saturday. For head coach Josh Brewer, the three birdies over the final three holes on Friday were vital.
“We played well, but it started yesterday honestly,” Brewer said. “We fought back yesterday. I know it doesn’t seem like much but making three coming in yesterday to finish the round showed us what was there if we settled down and played golf. We proved that today.”
Candice Mahé equaled her best round ever at Georgia with a 3-under 69 to lead the way on Saturday. In the process, she joined Vicki Goetze, Shauna Estes and Summer Sirmons as the only Bulldogs to post a score in the 60s at the NCAA finals site.
“I’m only playing for my team,” Mahé said. “Whenever I saw a leaderboard, I was not even looking as an individual. I was always looking for the team. We have had a rough season, but we’ve always stayed together all the time. We are always here for each other. They all had my back when I shot 81 so I feel like this time was my time to be great. Tomorrow we can go even lower so I’m excited to go into the third round.”
Jenny Bae added a 1-under 71, Caterina Don posted a 75 and Céleste Dao and Jo Hua Hung both carded a 76 to round out Georgia’s counting scores.
Mahé climbed 39 places on the individual leaderboard and is tied for sixth at even-par 144, while Bae is tied for 19th at 147, Don is tied for 29th at 148 and Hung is tied for 94th at 155.
Mahé was 6-under through her first 11 holes on Saturday, turning at 4-under after birdies at No. 2, No. 3, No. 7 and No. 9 and adding two more at No. 10 and No. 11. She cooled off with back-to-back bogeys at No. 12 and No. 13 but rebounded with a seventh birdie at No. 14. A double-bogey at No. 17 moved her to 3-under on the day, where she remained after just missing another birdie at No. 18.
“Today was a special round,” Mahé said. “I was 6-under through 11 so I thought I could go really, really low. Unfortunately, it didn’t end up the way I wanted, but we still have tomorrow and a couple of more days.”
The Bulldogs posted six more birdies on Saturday than they did on Friday, executing their game plan entering the round.
“We talked about being a little more aggressive today,” Brewer said. “We were a little timid. I’m not saying we should make bad decisions but there are chances to make birdies and you have to do it. This is a major championship, and you’re going to have a bogey here and there. We decided we were going to attack when we thought we could and respect the golf course where it deserved it.”
Bae was a perfect example of that strategy. Two of her four birdies were of the tap-in variety after nearly missing eagle putts at a pair of par-5s in No. 7 and No. 18. In fact, Georgia played No. 7 at 4-under as a team.
No. 1 Stanford leads the team field at 5-over 581, four shots better than No. 2 Oregon. Rounding out the top-10 teams are No. 17 Auburn and No. 15 UCLA at 586; No. 14 LSU at 587; No. 19 Texas A&M at 589; No. 10 Florida State at 591; No. 7 Arizona State and No. 11 Southern California at 592 and the Bulldogs at 594. There is a six-shot gap between Georgia and No. 13 Texas and Purdue, who are tied for 11th.
Georgia will be paired with the Longhorns and Boilermakers for Sunday’s third round, teeing off from No. 10 in 11-minute increments between 10:25-11:09 am ET. Live scoring is available via golfstat.com.
Following the third round, a cut will reduce the field to the top-15 teams and the nine low individuals not on advancing teams. That will be followed by a final day stroke play on Monday to determine the top eight teams that will advance to match play as well as the individual national champion. The team national champion will be determined by a match-play format that will consist of quarterfinals and semifinals conducted on Tuesday followed by finals on Wednesday.
NCAA Women’s Golf Championships
Grayhawk Golf Club
Scottsdale, Ariz.
Par 72; 6340 Yards
Saturday’s Second-Round Standings
Team Leaderboard
Stanford 289-292=581
Oregon 297-288=585
Auburn 296-290=586
UCLA 295-291=586
LSU 296-291=587
Texas A&M 292-297=589
Florida State 296-295=591
Arizona State 302-290=592
Southern California 298-294=592
Georgia 303-291=594
Texas 305-295=600
Purdue 301-299=600
TCU 300-301=601
San Jose State 307-296=603
Virginia 304-299=603
Wake Forest 301-300=605
Mississippi State 299-306=605
South Carolina 306-316=606
Oklahoma State 307-300=607
Baylor 301-310=611
Michigan 301-310=611
Arkansas 307-305=612
Vanderbilt 308-306=614
Alabama 298-304=614
Individual Leaderboard
Rose Zhang, Stanford 68-70=138
Beth Lillie, Virginia 73-69=142
Megan Schofill, Auburn 72-70=142
Tze-Han Lin, Oregon 72-71=143
Anna Morgan, Furman 72-71=143
Bohyun Park, Texas 76-68=144
Candice Mahé, Georgia 75-69=144
Ingrid Lindblad, LSU 74-70=144
Chiara Tamburlini, Ole Miss 74-70=144
Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen, Oregon 73-71=144
Georgia Scores
T19. Jenny Bae 76-69=147
T29. Caterina Don 73-75=148
T94. Jo Hua Hung 79-76=155
Céleste Dao sb-74
LoraLie Cowart 79-sb-
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