(Photo by John Kelley
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia entered the day atop the leaderboard but slid two spots as Alabama and Northwestern closed with under-par rounds.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “It was one of those days where we started a little slow and never could get anyone going,” head coach Josh Brewer said. “We struggled for six or seven holes, but I’m proud of the way we battled. We hung around and gave ourselves a chance to win if we could’ve gotten hot at the end of the day, but that didn’t happen. Hats off to Alabama and Northwestern. They played great for three days. We got ourselves in position and had the fourth-best score today so it’s not like we gave it away. We’ll shake their hands and look forward to seeing them again in a couple of weeks.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] Georgia’s 10-under score represents the second-best tally in school history, trailing only a 14-under mark in winning the 2009 Cougar Classic. Entering this fall, the Bulldogs posted par-or-better tournament scores six times in 35 seasons and 413 tournaments. Georgia has done so three times in the past 12 days to open the 2015-16 campaign.
[su_spacer size=”40″] “It’s nice to have the second-lowest team total in school history, but we were playing to win,” Brewer said. “We know we’ve got to be able to beat teams like Alabama and Northwestern and Arkansas if we want to have a special year. We’re coming off our eighth competitive round in 12 days. This is going to help us when we’re coming down the stretch next spring and competing for SEC and national titles. I think today we learned what it’s like to try to win when we were tired. Knowing that will help us learn how we respond when the stakes are higher than the Mason Rudolph.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] A day after the Bulldogs dropped a 1-under 71, Harang Lee shot even-par 72 to lead Georgia on Sunday. Lee finished fourth on the individual leaderboard at 5-under 211. Freshmen Rinko Mitsunaga and Jillian Hollis, who shot 73 and 74, respectively, in the final round, both tied for seventh at 2-under 214. Freshman Bailey Tardy also shot 74 on Sunday and tied for 15th at 1-under 215. Manuela Carbajo Ré, who notched a 76 in the final round, tied for 36th at 221.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Alabama finished at 16-under 848 to edge Northwestern by a stroke. Rounding out the top-10 teams following the Bulldogs were Virginia and LSU both at 873, Houston at 875, Vanderbilt at 876, Auburn at 880, GRU Augusta at 883 and Louisville at 884.
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldogs will enjoy a 13-day break before competing in the Windy City Collegiate Classic on October 5-6 at Westmoreland Country Club in Chicago.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Mason Rudolph Championship
Vanderbilt Legends Club South Course
Franklin, Tenn.
Par 72; 6276 Yards
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Sunday’s Final-Round Standings
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Team Leaderboard
Alabama 282-280-286=848
Northwestern 283-281-285=849
Georgia 286-276-293=854
Virginia 286-289-298=873
LSU 288-287-298=873
Houston 300-283-292=875
Vanderbilt 296-286-294=876
Auburn 287-288-305=880
GRU Augusta 294-291-298=883
Louisville 288-292-304=884
Michigan State 295-299-293=887
Middle Tennessee 297-295-296=888
South Carolina 302-291-295=888
Baylor 298-293-297=888
UCF 293-301-295=889
Tulane 299-296-300=895
Yale 310-313-327=950
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Individual Leaderboard
Lakareber Abe, Alabama 67-68-69=204
Lauren Coughlin, Virginia 66-71-68=205
Stephanie Lau, Northwestern 68-70-68=206
Harang Lee, Georgia 70-69-72=211
Ashley Holder, UCF 70-72-70=212
Olivia Cason, Louisville 69-70-73=212
Jillian Hollis, Georgia 70-70-74=214
Rinko Mitsunaga, Georgia 74-67-73=214
Janie Jackson Alabama 72-70-72=214
Megan Thothong, Houston 74-69-71=214
Emily Penttila, Tulane 70-72-72=214
Eunice Yi, GRU Augusta 71-70-73=214
Cindy Ha, Vanderbilt 77-67-70=214
Cheyenne Knight, Alabama 69-73-72=214
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Additional Georgia Scores
T15. Bailey Tardy, Georgia 72-69-74=215
T36. Manuela Carbajo Ré, Georgia 74-71-76=221