Georgia senior Manuela Carbajo Ré will begin play at the South American Amateur Championship in Lima, Peru, on Thursday. The Necochea, Argentina, native won the event in 2011 as a high school junior but has not competed in her continental am in the last three years.

 
“I’m definitely excited about playing in this tournament and to go to South America for a week,” Carbajo Ré said. “I have’t played in this tournament for a couple of years, but my expectations are high. I’m going to try to beat myself and shoot under par. I don’t know the course, but I’m going in with the thought of shooting under par.”
 
The 72-hole tournament will be contested at the Lima Golf Club. Carbajo Ré will tee off at 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday. She will be paired with Lucia Polo, a junior at Tennessee from Guatemala City, Guatemala, and Lauren Greenleaf, a former Virginia golfer, for the first and second rounds.
 
“I’m happy to start competing,” Carbajo Ré said. “I think this will definitely help me get ready for the (college) season. It has been a couple of months since I played in a tournament. After a couple of months I don’t think you’re as sharp. I’m excited to start competing again to help me for the spring.”
 
Carbajo Ré is coming off a strong fall for the Bulldogs and will enter the spring ranked No. 57 and No. 61 nationally in the Golfstat and Golfweek individual rankings. She posted at 73.09 stroke average over 11 rounds in four tournaments. Her top individual finish was a fourth-place showing at the Cardinal Kickoff and she also recorded top-20 efforts at the Cougar Classic (t-17th) and Stanford Intercollegiate (t-11th).
 
Carbajo Ré shot 5-over 293 to win the 2011 South American Am in Bucaramanga, Colombia. She carded rounds of 72-75-74-72 to edge Maria Salinas, a former Florida State All-American from Peru, by one shot. Carbajo Ré also placed 14th in 2010 and 10th in 2012 but has not competed in the event since.
 

 
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