Olarra, South Carolina ahead of the pack in SEC Championship

   Many of the 14 teams teeing it up in the Southeast Conference Championship that got under way Wednesday will receive NCAA regional berths no matter what happens this weekend.

   Does that make the gathering at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala. meaningless? Hardly. The SEC is one of those conferences with its own TV network. The rivalries that make SEC football so entertaining run deep.

   Oh yeah, and the field features some of the best teams in the country and several of the top 25 amateur players in the world. So yeah, it matters.

   Adopting the format the SEC men used last spring with a layer of match play to determine the champion, a format that resulted in some stupendous golf for the men, the women finished their second round Thursday with South Carolina, No. 10 in the latest Golfstat rankings, holding an eight-shot advantage over No. 2 Alabama. 

   Mirroring the match-play format utilized at the NCAA Championship only makes sense since some of the SEC teams may very well find themselves earning spots in the final eight next month at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla.

   An individual champion will be crowned at the end of 54 holes of stroke play Friday and South Carolina’s Ainhoa Olarra, a senior from Spain and the No. 22 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), holds a one-shot lead over Arkansas’ Maria Fassi, a junior from Mexico and No. 20 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Olarra will try to match the feat of her old teammate Katelyn Dambaugh, who put an exclamation point on her fantastic career with the Gamecocks by claiming the SEC individual title a year ago.

   The wind came up Thursday after a relatively benign opening round Wednesday and Olarra handled it better than most with the low round of the day, a 3-under-par 69 over the 6,242-yard, par-72 Greystone layout. Combined with an opening round of 2-under 70, it left Olarra at 5-under 138.

   Fassi, who has been one of the best players in Division I women’s golf since the season began late last summer, carded a second straight 2-under 70 and trails Olarra by a shot bat 4-under 140.

   Olarra led the Gamecocks to the top of the leaderboard as they carded a second straight 3-over 291 for a 6-over 582 total.

   Alabama, coming off a solid team win in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, had grabbed the team lead with a 2-under 286 Wednesday. The Crimson Tide posted an uncharacteristic 304 Thursday, but are still holding second, eight shots behind South Carolina at 14-over 590.

   No. 3 Arkansas, which added a 5-over 293 to its opening-round 299, is two shots behind Alabama in third at 16-over 592. Georgia, a much better team than its No. 44 ranking would indicate, had the low round of the day, a 2-over 290, to take over fourth place at 20-ovetr 596. No. 13 Florida, the defending SEC champion, is fifth at 23-over 599 after adding a 301 to its opening-round 298.

   The top eight teams after Friday’s third round will advance to the match-play quarterfinals Saturday morning. The match-play semifinals will be Saturday with the championship match scheduled for Sunday. And the battle for the last couple of those eight slots in match play Friday will be more interesting than what’s going on at the top of the leaderboard.

   No. 24 Vanderbilt is in pretty good shape in sixth at 602, three shots behind Florida. Then it starts getting interesting. No. 20 Auburn and No. 62 Kentucky have the last two spots in match play after two rounds, the Tigers in seventh at 607 and the Wildcats in eighth at 610.

   But No. 63 Missouri is only two shots behind Kentucky in ninth at 612, No. 70 Mississippi State is another shot behind Missouri in 10^th at 613 and No. 43 Tennessee is certainly in with a chance in 11^th at 614.

   Backing up Olarra for South Carolina is Lois Kaye Go, a sophomore from the Philippines, and Marion Veysseyre, a junior from France. Go is tied for 10^th at 3-over 147 after adding a 75 to her opening round of even-par 72 and Veysseyre is tied for 12^th at 4-over 148 after adding a 76 to the even-par 72 she shot in the opening round.

   South Carolina’s second-best round of the day, behind Olarra’s 69, was the even-par 72 posted by Anita Uwadia, a sophomore who lists the United Kingdom as her home, although she is native of Nigeria. Uwadia opened with a 77 and is in the group tied for 18^th at 5-over 149.

   Rounding out the South Carolina lineup is Ana Pelaez, a sophomore from Spain who is tied for 27^th at 152, although her second-round 75 was a counter for the Gamecocks.

   There is also the not-small matter of determining an individual champion Friday.

   Fassi’s teammate Dylan Kim, a junior from Plano, Texas, is alone in third place at 1-under 143, joining Olarra and Fassi as the only players under par after two rounds. Kim, a transfer from Baylor, added a 1-over 73 to her opening round of 2-under 70.

   Another shot back alone in fourth is Alabama’s Kristen Gillman, a sophomore from Austin, Texas and No. 13 in the Women’s WAGR. Gillman, who was named to the 2018 U.S. Curtis Cup team Tuesday, grabbed the opening-round lead with a 3-under 69 before falling back with a 3-over 75 Thursday.

   Georgia’s Jillian Hollis, a junior from Rocky River, Ohio and No. 24 in the Women’s WAGR, leads a group of three players tied for fifth at 1-over 145. Knight added a 75 to her opening round of 1-under 71.

   Joining Hollis at that figure were Missouri’s Jess Yuen, a sophomore from Bolingbrook, Ill. who fired a 1-under 71 after opening up with a 74, and Florida’s Marta Perez, a sophomore from Spain who also bettered par Thursday with a 2-under 70 after opening with a 75.

   Gillman’s teammate, Cheyenne Knight, a junior from Aledo, Texas and No. 10 in the Women’s WAGR, is tied for eighth at 2-over 146. Knight added a 75 to an opening round of 1-under 71.   Joining Knight at that figure was Kentucky’s Sarah Shipley, a sophomore from Hastings, Mich. who added a solid 1-under 71 to her opening-round 75.

   And I didn’t even get to the most highly-rated Alabama player in the Women’s WAGR. That would be Lauren Stephenson, a junior from Lexington, S.C. who is the sixth best amateur player on the planet. Stephenson struggled to a 4-over 76 Thursday after opening with an even-par 72 and is in the group tied for 12^th at 4-over 148.

   Oh yeah, and Stephenson will be joining Gillman on the U.S. team when the 2018 Curtis Cup Match is contested in June at Quaker Ridge Golf Club in Scarsdale, N.Y. So yeah, there’s some pretty good players in this field.