DARIUS RUCKER INTERCOLLEGIATE-SOUTH CAROLINE

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. —Caterina Don shot 2-under 69 and the No. 28 Georgia women's golf team rallied late in the opening round of the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate on Monday. The Bulldogs finished the day at 6-over 290 and in 12th in a stacked field.

The competition at Long Cove Club on Hilton Head features six of the top-10 and 11 of the top-25 teams in the nation.

After playing their first 13 holes at 10-over, the Bulldogs covered the rest of the course at 4-under.

"We've got to try to figure out what went well there," head coach Josh Brewer said. "Obviously, you're not going to play every five-hole stretch at 4-under, but that did show us that the birdies are out there and we need to take advantage of them."

In addition to Don's 69, which has her tied for seventh individually, Savannah De Bock shot 1-over 72 and is tied for 38th, Isabella Holpfer fired a 74 and is tied for 56th, LoraLie Cowart posted a 75 and is tied for 67th. The Bulldogs' drop score was an 80 from Natachanok "Drive" Tunwannarux.

The Bulldogs teed off from No. 10 on Monday and played the back side of the course first. Don opened with a birdie, the lone red number by any Georgia golfer over the first nine holes. The Bulldogs turned at 5-over as a team and dropped five more shots on the first four holes of the front nine. Georgia then closed the day with seven birdies to cover Nos. 5-9 at 4-under.

"It's become a running theme that Caterina continues to play really well," Brewer said. "She played a great round of golf and some others played really well at times. We've just got to get more people to join her with birdies and make it a red number fest."

De Bock led that charge with a trio of birdies, while Don was 2-under down the stretch and Holpfer was 1-under.

No. 20 Arizona State shot 6-under 278 to grab the team lead with a 3-stroke gap between the Sun Devils and No. 18 Duke and No. 12 Northwestern. The remainder of the team leaderboard includes No. 5 South Carolina in fourth at 282; No. 4 LSU and Mississippi State tied for fifth at 283; No. 2 Wake Forest, No. 6 Arkansas, No. 7 Texas and No. 11 Auburn all tied for seventh at 284; Alabama in 11th at 289; the Bulldogs, No. 21 Vanderbilt and Kentucky tied for 12th at 290; Ohio State in 15th at 295; No. 9 Oregon in 16th at 296; and Baylor in 17th at 298.

LSU's Ingrid Lindblad and Mississippi State's Julia Lopez Ramirez are tied for first individually after shooting 4-under 67.

Georgia will again be paired with Northwestern and Baylor on Tuesday, teeing off from No. 1 9:20-10:00 a.m. ET. The Golf Channel will air live coverage from 2:30-5:30 and live scoring will be available via golfstat.com.

Darius Rucker Intercollegiate
Long Cove Club
Hilton Head Island, S.C.
Par 71; 6369 Yards