(Photo by Steven Colquitt)
The Georgia women’s golf team fired rounds of 300 and 287 in the first and second rounds of The Gold Rush, respectively, on Monday. The Bulldogs are in third place on the team leaderboard at 587, nine shots off the pace of San Jose State at Old Ranch Country Club.
“I think we just came out a little tight,” head coach Josh Brewer said. “We weren’t nervous, but we might have put a little pressure on ourselves as the defending champions. Our last 27 holes today were really good. We just tried to do too much early on. After that, we had some fun. We want to compete and we want to win, but you have to remember it’s a game and we have to enjoy it.”
The Bulldogs played better in the afternoon, carding their second par-or-better team round of the season. Freshman Harmie Constantino’s 2-under 70 led the way, one of three par-or-better individual efforts in the second round for Georgia. Junior Gabriela Coello and freshman Jo-Hua Hung both signed for even-par 72 and freshman Jenny Bae added a 1-over 73.
Overall, Bae and Hung are tied for 10th at 2-over 146, Coello is tied for 13th at 147, Constantino is tied for 19th at 148 and senior Rinko Mitsunaga is 79th at 166.
San Jose State is atop the team leaderboard at 2-over 578, followed by Sacramento State at 580. Rounding out the top 10 in the 15-team field are the Bulldogs at 587, Long Beach State at 590, BYU at 593, Fresno State at 596, Gonzaga at 600, Kentucky at 601 and Idaho at 603.
Bae provided Georgia with its low loop of the morning by shooting a 1-over 73. The Bulldogs also counted a 74 from Hung, a 75 by Coello and Constantino’s 78.
Georgia will be paired with San Jose State and Sacramento State for Wednesday’s final round, teeing off on holes Nos. 1-3 with an 11:00 a.m. ET shotgun start. Live scoring will be available at www.golfstat.com.
“We’re still in a very good position,” Brewer said. “We’re in the final group and we know we have the firepower to post a low number and put some pressure on the leaders. We’ll try to carry over the momentum we had at the end of today into tomorrow.”