SAN DIEGO STATE CLASSIC
RANCHO SANTE FE, Calif. — Led by back-to-back under-1 71s from Savannah De Bock, the Georgia women's golf team shot a combined 18-over 594 in Monday's first and second rounds of the San Diego State Classic. The Bulldogs enter Tuesday's final round at The Farm Golf Club in fourth place on the leaderboard, 11 shots back of No. 25 Virginia.
In addition to De Bock's first 71 in the morning, Georgia also counted an even-par 72 from LoraLie Cowart, a 76 from Caterina Donand a 77, the score posted by both Napat "Jenny" Lertsadwattana and Natachanok "Drive" Tunwannarux.
In the second round, the Bulldogs' counters were De Bock's 71, a 74 from Don, a 75 from Tunwannarux and a 78 from Lertsadwattana.
De Bock started the day at No. 5 with the shotgun start and was 3-over through 12 holes after recording bogeys at No. 5, No. 7 and No. 16. The freshman birdied No. 18 to regain one of those strokes and then completed her loop with a trio of birdies at Nos. 2-4 to move into red numbers.
De Bock's second round featured 15 pars, along with birdies at No. 14 and No. 15 and a lone bogey at No. 18.
No. 6 South Carolina is second in the team race, one shot behind the Cavaliers. No. 7 Oregon is third at 590, the Bulldogs are at 594 and Denver is at 598 followed by an eight-shot gap to tournament host San Diego State in sixth.
Oregon's Kiara Romero leads the individual field at 5-under 139, a stroke better than the trio of Riana Mission from San Francisco, Louise Rydqvist of South Carolina and Amanda Sambach of Virginia. De Bock is alone in sixth place, just three shots back of Romero. In addition for Georgia, Don is tied for 15th at 150, Cowart and Tunwannarux both in 24th at 152 and Lertsadwattana is tied for 36th at 155.
ATHENS, Ga. — The No. 30-ranked Georgia women's golf team fired an 8-over 296, equaling the best team tally of the day, in Tuesday's final round of the San Diego State Classic at The Farms Golf Club. The Bulldogs finished fourth in the team field at 890, a shot behind No. 7 Oregon. Freshman Savannah De Bock's fifth-place effort led Georgia individually.
"Let's start with the good," head coach Josh Brewer said. "Caterina (Don) continues to have a very special senior year for us and Savannah arrived last month and has really provided a spark for us. After those two, we need to get more consistent throughout the lineup."
De Bock shot 1-over 73 on Tuesday, representing Georgia's low loop for the third straight round in San Diego. The Bulldogs also counted a pair of 74s from LoraLie Cowart and Don and a 75 from Napat "Jenny" Lertsadwattana.
De Bock joined the Georgia roster as a mid-year enrollee last month and has now posted one top-10 and three top-20 finishes in three tournaments. Don notched her sixth top-20 individual effort in seven tourneys this season.
No. 6 South Carolina captured the team title after wrapping up play at 880. No. 24 Virginia was second at 881, with No. 7 Oregon at 889, the Bulldogs at 890 and Denver at 894 rounding out the top-5.
Oregon's Kiara Romero shot 68 on Tuesday and won medalist honors at 9-under 207, four strokes clear of the field. In addition to De Bock's 1-under 215 tally, Don tied for 13th at 224, Cowart tied for 21st at 226, Lertsadwattana tied for 30th at 230 and Natachanok "Drive" Tunwannarux tied for 32nd at 231.
The Bulldogs will return to action in three and a half weeks when they travel to Hilton Head Island, S.C., to compete in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate on March 4-6. The tournament will feature live coverage of each round from 2:30-5:30 p.m. ET on the Golf Channel.
"I'm looking forward to having a couple of weeks to work on some things," Brewer said. "We have seven rounds of competition under our belts now this spring. There's been a lot of good but realistically we need to really look at ourselves and identify the areas we need work on if we want to compete at the highest level in April and May. We'll get back to Athens and take care of a few things we should be better at and continue to try to find the right core to do that."