AUGUSTA, Ga. — The Georgia women’s golf team posted a 4-over 292 in Saturday’s second round of the 3M Augusta Invitational at the Forest Hills Golf Club. The Bulldogs enter Sunday’s final round at 3-under 573, 11 shots clear of No. 21 Purdue on the team leaderboard.
Freshman Paula Neira Garcia led the Bulldogs on Saturday with an even-par 72. Georgia’s other three counting scores included a pair of 73s from Hollis and Rinko Mitsunaga and a 74 by Gabriela Coello. Isabella Skinner posted a 76.
Competing individually, Stephanie Carras signed for a 73 and Elisa Yang notched a 75.
“We made enough birdies to maintain our big lead,” head coach Josh Brewer said. “I like the fact that two players who weren’t under par yesterday led us the entire day. I know Rinko ended up 1-over, but she and Paula did a great job of stabilizing us today.
“Gaby got us off to a good start with birdies on two of the first three holes,” Brewer added. “In the middle of round I thought we might have gotten a little tight trying to protect the lead, but we settled down and played good golf down the stretch.”
Jillian Hollis remains atop the individual leaderboard at 5-under 139, a shot better than Fernanda Lira of Central Arkansas. Hollis regained the lead late. She was 3-over on the day through No. 14 before putting together birdies at No. 16 and No. 18.
In addition to Hollis, Coello is tied for 12th at 145, Mitsunaga is tied for 17th at 147, Neira Garcia and Skinner both are tied for 21st at 148, Carras is tied for 26th at 150 and Yang is tied for 44th at 154.
Most of the action in Neira Garcia’s loop took place in the middle of the course. She bogeyed No. 7 and No. 9 to turn at 2-over but regained both of those strokes with consecutive birdies at No. 11 and No. 12. After another bogey at No. 16, Neira Garcia bounced back with a birdie at No. 17 before closing out her day with a par.
The Bulldogs will be paired with the Purdue and Augusta in Sunday’s final round. Those teams will begin their day at No. 1, teeing off at 9:00 a.m. with a shotgun start on holes No. 1-3. Live scoring is available via www.golfstat.com.
“I feel like we’ve gotten better every day from September to January to now,” Brewer said. “We’ve just got to try to continue that tomorrow. Tomorrow we have a great opportunity to play being chased instead of chasing someone else.”
3M Augusta Invitational
Forest Hills Golf Club
Augusta, Ga.
Par 72, 6228 Yards
Saturday’s Second-Round Results
Team Leaderboard
Georgia
Purdue
Augusta
Central Arkansas 295-293=588
Memphis
Virginia Tech 293-303=596
Daytona State 298-300=598
Mercer
Middle Tennessee 306-298=604
East Tennessee St. 307-299=606
Southern Miss 311-301=612
James Madison
Eastern Michigan 310-304=614
Troy
Columbia
Individual Leaderboard
Jillian Hollis, Georgia 66-73=139
Fernanda Lira, Central Arkansas 69-71=140
Amanda Hollandsworth, Virginia Tech 68-72=140
Emily Goldenstein, Memphis 70-71=141
Micaela Farah, Purdue 71-70=141
Jiwon Jeon, Daytona State 70-72=142
Hee Ying Loy, ETSU 70-73=143
Linda Lindqvist, Augusta 72-71=143
Emma Svensson, Central Arkansas 71-72=143
Additional Georgia Scores
T12. Gabriela Coello 71-74=145
T17. Rinko Mitsunaga 74-73=147
T21. Isabella Skinner 70-78=148
T21. Paula Neira Garcia 76-72=148
*T26. Stephanie Carras 77-73=150
*T44. Elisa Yang 79-75=154