(Photo by John Kelley)
[su_spacer size=”40″] Jillian Hollis and Harang Lee led the way on Friday with a pair of 2-under 70s. Bailey Tardy carded an even-par 72 and the Georgia rounded out its counting tallies with a 74, the score posted by both Manuela Carbajo Ré and Rinko Mitsunaga.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldogs were actually 7-under through 15 holes before dropping five strokes late in the day.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “It was another good day of golf, one through five in the lineup,” head coach Josh Brewer said. “We had a chance to post a special number and didn’t get there, but today should give us the confidence that we can go out there and make a lot of birdies and have three, four or even five players under-par tomorrow and Sunday.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] Lee played the front side at even-par, mixing seven pars with a bogey at No. 4 and a birdie at No. 6. She moved into red numbers with birdies at No. 10, No. 13 and No. 14 but dropped one of those strokes with a bogey at No. 17.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Hollis bogeyed No. 4 before birdies at No. 6, No. 8 and No. 10 pushed her to 2-under. She bogeyed No. 12 but then birdied No. 14 and wrapped her day with four successive pars.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Alabama’s 282 provided the Crimson Tide with a one-shot lead over Northwestern. The Bulldogs are tied with Virginia in third. Rounding out the top-10 teams are Auburn at 287, Louisville and LSU both at 288, UCF at 293, GRU Augusta at 294 and Michigan State at 295.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Virginia’s Lauren Coughlin grabbed the individual lead by covering the Vanderbilt Legends Club’s South Course in 6-under, a stroke better than Alabama’s Lakareber Abe. For Georgia, Hollis and Lee are tied for ninth, Tardy is tied for 19th and Carbajo Ré and Mitsunaga are tied for 38th.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia continued to have amazing consistency throughout its lineup. In addition to the four par-or-better team rounds, Bulldog golfers have recorded 13 par-or-better individual rounds. Georgia’s average drop score over its last four rounds is 74.50.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “One through five, it’s been great,” Brewer said. “We don’t know who is going to lead us each day. I think four people have led us. Rinko is the one who hasn’t, but her scores have counted every round so far. You can see it. If someone is 1-under, they’re thinking about needing to get to 2- or 3-under because they have teammates trying to do the same thing. Trust me, it’s a fun way to play.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia will be paired with Alabama and Virginia on Saturday, teeing off from No. 1 between 10:45-11:25 am ET. Live scoring is being updated on a three-hole basis at birdiefire.com.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Mason Rudolph Championship
Vanderbilt Legends Club South Course
Franklin, Tenn.
Par 72; 6276 Yards
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Friday’s First-Round Standings
Team Leaderboard
Alabama 282
Northwestern 283
Georgia 286
Virginia 286
Auburn 287
Louisville 288
LSU 288
UCF 293
GRU Augusta 294
Michigan State 295
Vanderbilt 296
Middle Tennessee 297
Baylor 298
Tulane 299
Houston 300
South Carolina 302
Yale 310
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Individual Leaderboard
Lauren Coughlin, Virginia 66
Lakareber Abe, Alabama 67
Stephanie Lau, Northwestern 68
Cheyenne Knight, Alabama 69
Alex Harrell, Auburn 69
Caroline Nistrup, LSU 69
Olivia Cason, Louisville 69
Courtney Zeng, Vanderbilt 69
Harang Lee, Georgia 70
Jillian Hollis, Georgia 70
Ashley Holder, UCF 70
Nadine Dreher, LSU 70
Lexie Long, Louisville 70
Emily Pentilla, Tulane 70
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Additional Georgia Scores
T19. Bailey Tardy, Georgia 72
T38. Manuela Carbajo Ré, Georgia 74
T38. Rinko Mitsunaga, Georgia 74
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