After Ainhoa Alarra, a senior from Spain, was finished
leading South Carolina to the top seed for the match-play portion of the
Southeast Conference Championship Friday, there was still a bit of unfinished
business.
Alarra then went out and stuck her approach to three feet on
the second playoff hole, No. 9 at Greystone Golf & Country Club’s Legacy
Course, and converted the short birdie try to outlast one of the best players
in women’s college golf, Arkansas’ Maria Fassi, a junior from Mexico, and claim
the SEC’s individual title.
It was the second straight year that a Gamecock senior
nailed down the individual title as Alarra’s old teammate, Katelyn Dambaugh,
the talented lefty who took her game to the LPGA Tour, wore the crown a year
ago.
And in previous years, the Gamecocks, No. 10 in the latest Golfstat rankings, would be taking the
SEC team trophy back to Columbia. But not this year, although that goal is still
within their grasp. The SEC women adopted what the men did last year for the
first time, adding a layer of match play, a move that makes a lot of sense
given that the NCAA Championship is decided in the same fashion.
Sure, you want to crown a conference champion this week, but
your championship tournament should also help prepare you for the road to a
possible national championship. This format attempts to do just that.
Olarra, who had grabbed a one-shot lead over Fassi with
respective rounds of 70 and 69 over the 6,253-yard, par-72 Legacy Course layout
Wednesday and Thursday, added a 2-under 70 Friday to finish at 7-under 209.
Fassi had posted a pair of 2-under 70s in the first two rounds and equaled the
low round of the day Friday with her 3-under 69 to catch Olarra at 209.
They matched pars on the first playoff hole before the
birdie at the ninth gave Olarra the title.
The Gamecocks had built a nice cushion over two formidable
chasers in No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Arkansas through two rounds. And while both
the Criimson Tide and the Razorbacks both made runs by posting sub-par rounds, so
did the Gamecocks.
South Carolina fired a 3-under 285 to finish with a 3-over
867 total. Alabama had the best round of the day, a 6-under 282, but it still
left the Tide five shots behind the Gamecocks in second at 8-over 872. Fassi
and the Razorbacks carded a 5-under 283 to take third at 11-over 875.
It was another 20 shots back to Georgia, underrated at No.
44, in fourth 31-over 895 after a final-round 299. Defending champion Florida,
ranked 13th, and No. 20 Auburn shared fifth place at 32-over 896.
The Gators carded a 297 while the Tigers surged up from seventh with a 1-over
289.
Not sure what the tiebreaker criteria was, but Auburn had
it, which means the Tigers will get Georgia in the 4-5 quarterfinal Saturday
morning. Arkansas draws Florida Saturday morning, a tough matchup to be sure.
But if you came to Birmingham looking for a championship, you knew you’d have
to win three tough matches to get it done.
Top-seeded South Carolina gets No. 63 Missouri in the
quarterfinals as the Tigers overtook Kentucky with a final-round 295 to get the
final spot in the match-play bracket with a 43-over 907 total. If Missouri
needed to pad its resume to earn an NCAA Regional ticket – and I have
absolutely no idea if it did or didn’t – making match play in the SEC
Championship should help.
Alabama’s opponent in the quarterfinals is No. 24
Vanderbilt, which finished seventh at 35-over 899 with a solid final round of
9-over 297.
Vanderbilt will be facing a lineup with three players in the
top 13 in the Women’s World Golf Amateur Ranking in No. 6 Lauren Stephenson, a
junior from Lexington, S.C., No. 10 Cheyenne Knight, a junior from Aledo,
Texas, and No. 13 Kristen Gillman, a sophomore from Austin, Texas. Oh, and
Stephenson and Gilman were named to the U.S. team for the 2018 Curtis Cup Match
earlier this week.
But hey, it’s match play and anything can happen in match
play. That’s why it’s important to get some match-play experience before you
get to the Final Eight at the NCAA Championship. It helps remind you how unfair
it is.
South Carolina will be a pretty tough out in match play right
about now.
Lois Kaye Go, a sophomore from the Philippines, backed up
Olarra by finishing among the group tied for ninth at 2-over 218 after closing
with a 1-under 71. Marion Veysseyre, a junior from France, matched par in the
final round with a 72 to join the group tied for 13th at 4-over 220.
Anita Uwadia, a sophomore from the United Kingdom, is just
starting to tap into her vast potential. She carded a 1-over 73 Friday to
finish alone in 18th at 6-over 221.
That made four Gamecocks inside the top 20 and their final
entry, Ana Pelaez, a sophomore from Spain, was just outside the top 20, ending
up in the group tied for 21st at 224 after a final-round 72. Uwadia
shot 1-over and the Gamecocks were able to toss that score.
Alabama’s Gillman, who won the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur as
a 16-year-old, was the only other player to finish under par in the individual
chase. She fired a 2-under 70 in the final round for a 2-under 214, five shots
behind Olarra and Fassi. As I mentioned in my post on the U.S. Curtis Cup team
selections, Gillman has to be a match-play nightmare. Ever play match play
against the card? Sort of like that.
Alabama’s Knight headed a talented foursome that finished
tied for fourth at even-par 144. Knight finished up with a typically strong 2-under
70.
Joining Knight at even-par were Georgia’s Jillian Hollis, a
junior from Rocky River, Ohio who posted a 1-under 71, Florida’s Marta Perez, a
sophomore from Spain who also went 1-under 71 in the final round, and Arkansas’
Dylan Kim, a junior from Plano, Texas who finished up with a 1-over 73. Perez
and Kim will be match-play opponents in
the opening round as the Gators and the Razorbacks go at it.
Mississippi’s Julia Johnson, a freshman from St. Gabriel,
La., matched Fassi for the low round of the day with a 3-under 69 to finish
alone in eighth place at 1-over 217.
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