Somoskey's extra effort delivers an SEC crown for Ole Miss; Fassi claims individual title

   The Southeastern Conference Championship went to a format that mimics the NCAA Championship a few years ago, adding a tier of match play after crowning an individual champion after three rounds of stroke-play qualifying for eight spots in match play.

   And on Easter Sunday at Greystone Golf & Country Club’s Legends Course in Birmingham, the outcome was very much like last spring’s NCAA Championship.

   Mississippi, No. 35 in the latest Golfstat rankings, grabbed the eighth and final spot in match play and then proceeded to stun top-seeded Florida, ranked 12^th, 3-2 in the quarterfinals, fifth-seeded Georgia, ranked 40^th, 3-2 in the semifinals and in that Easter finale it was second-seeded South Carolina, ranked 11^th and the only one of the top four seeds to survive the quarterfinals, that went down, 3-2.

   It was the first SEC championship in the history of the program and it was the ultimate cautionary tale for any of eight teams that end up in match play when the NCAA Championship concludes next month at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.

   It was a similar scenario last spring at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Okla. when Arizona snagged the final berth in match play in the NCAA Championship – in a playoff no less after a bomb of an eagle putt on the 18^th hole got the Wildcats into the playoff in the first place – and ripped off wins over UCLA, Stanford and Alabama to capture the national championship.

   There’s a long way to go before we get to match play in this year’s NCAA Championship, so let’s give credit where credit is due. Sometimes match play has more to do with grit and toughness than it does with pure talent and Ole Miss displayed all kinds of that intangible stuff.

   There also seems to be a common theme in these match-play upset scenarios: The fearless freshman who keeps pulling out the most crucial of match wins. For Ole Miss, that was Macy Somoskey of Sanford, Fla., seemingly oblivious to the importance of the moment, just out there trying to win holes.

   When the Rebels’ semifinal match with Georgia was halted by darkness Saturday evening, Somoskey was all square in the 18^th fairway with a Bulldogs veteran, Rinko Mitsunaga, a senior from Roswell, Ga. It quickly became apparent Sunday morning that the outcome of the match would determine the winner.

   Somoskey won the third extra hole, the 21^st of the match, with a par and Ole Miss was in the final. The Rebels’ other match wins against Georgia came from Kennedy Swann, a junior from Austin, Texas, and Julia Johnson, a sophomore from St. Gabriel, La.

   In the final, it all came down to, guess who, Somoskey, sending her match with South Carolina’s Lois Kaye Go, a junior from the Philippines, to extra holes by draining a bomb of a putt on the 18^th green.

   Somoskey and Go would visit the 18^th hole twice more and the second time, Go’s approach to the par-5 found the water. A par would be good enough to give Somoskey the win on the 22^nd hole of the match and Ole Miss an SEC title to cherish.

   Swann defeated Emily Price, a freshman from England, 2-up, and Johnson also had to go the distance to edge Marion Veysseyre, a senior from France, 2-up, for the Rebels’ other match wins.

   South Carolina’s Ana Pelaez, a junior from Spain, rolled to a 6 and 5 victory over Ellen Hutchinson-Kay, a freshman from Sweden, and Anita Uwadia, a junior from the United Kingdom, claimed a 1-up decision over Conner Beth Ball, a sophomore from Starkville, Miss., for the Gamecocks’ two match wins.

   It was the second straight year South Carolina has reached the final, the Gamecocks falling to Arkansas a year ago.

   South Carolina reached the final with a 3.5-1.5 victory over sixth-seeded Auburn, ranked 14th, in the other semifinal. The Gamecocks got match wins from Uwadia, Price and Go.

   South Carolina was the only team from the top half of the bracket to survive all the upsets in Saturday morning’s quarterfinals. Price, Pelaez, Uwadia and Veysseyre were all outright winners in the Gamecocks’ 4.5-.5 victory over seventh-seeded Mississippi State, ranked 47^th.

   The biggest upset of the day, of course, was Ole Miss knocking off top-seeded Florida, ranked 12^th, 3-2. The Gators were impressive winners of the 54 holes of stroke play that had concluded Friday, posting a 1-under-par total of 863 over the 6,274-yard, par-72 Legends Course layout to finish two shots ahead of South Carolina.

   The deciding win came from, who else, Somoskey, who edged Florida’s Marta Perez, a junior from Spain, in 19 holes. It proved to be a foreshadowing of the rest of the weekend during which Somoskey would win three deciding matches, all in extra holes. Pressure? What pressure.

   Swann and Johnson won all their matches as they, too, went 3-0 in match play.

  At least as surprising was Auburn’s 3.5-1.5 victory over third-seeded Arkansas, ranked sixth, in another quarterfinal match. The Tigers got a huge 1-up decision by Elena Hualde Zuniga, a junior from Spain, over Kaylee Benton, a senior from Buckeye, Ariz. who was a semifinalist in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Golf Club of Tennesssee.

   Auburn also got match wins from Julie McCarthy, a sophomore from Ireland, and Mychael O’Berry, a sophomore from Hoover, Ala.

   The Razorbacks are hosting the NCAA Championship at the Blessings Golf Club. They’re planning to finish among the top eight in stroke play and get into match play in the NCAA Championship. They got a nice reminder that match play is a whole different ballgame from Auburn.

   Georgia’s 3-2 win over fourth-seeded Vanderbilt was pretty significant as well as the Commodores were the highest-ranked team in the field at No. 4.

   The Bulldogs got match wins from Jenny Bae, a freshman from Suwanee, Ga., Harmie Constantino, a freshman from the Philippines, and Jo Hua Hung, a freshman from Taipei. More fearless freshmen coming up big in match play.

   The 54 holes of stroke play that concluded Friday was a little more formful, particularly when it came to the identity of the SEC individual champion. Arkansas’ Maria Fassi, a senior from Mexico and the No. 7 player in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), sandwiched a 4-under 68 in Thursday’s second round with a pair of 1-under 71s for a 6-under 210 total and a four-shot victory over a trio of golfers tied for second.

   The reigning Annika Award winner, Fassi was riding the momentum from her wonderful back-nine duel with the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR, Wake Forest senior Jennifer Kupcho, in the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur Championship. Kupcho won the title, but Fassi won a lot of fans with both her golf and her sportsmanship.

   Like Kupcho, Fassi earned an LPGA Tour card in last fall’s LPGA Q-Series at the Pinehurst Resort and, like Kupcho, she came back for the second half of her senior season. Fassi is Arkansas’ third SEC individual champion. The other two are both named Stacy Lewis, who captured the title in 2005 and 2008.

   Florida, with three finishers in the top 10, claimed the top seed in match play with its 1-under 863 total. The Gators opened with a solid 4-under 284 and added a 5-under 283 before holding off South Carolina with a final round of 8-over 296.

   The Gamecocks closed with a 4-over 292 to finish two shots behind Florida at 1-over 865. It was another three shots back to Arkansas in third place at 4-over 868 after a final round of 2-over 290.

   Vanderbilt was nine shots behind the Razorbacks in fourth place at 13-over 877 after the Commodores finished up with a 5-over 293.

  Georgia, with a final-round 303, and Auburn, which closed with a 300, finished in a tie for fifth at 18-over 882, five shots behind Vanderbilt. Mississippi State was another nine shots behind Georgia and Auburn in seventh place at 27-over 891 after a final-round 299.

   And then, of course, grabbing that final spot in match play was Ole Miss, the Rebels finishing up with a 304 to end up in eighth place, a shot behind their cross-state rival in eighth place. Turns out, they were just getting started.

   Florida was led by Perez, who finished in a tie for second with Ole Miss’ Johnson and Arkansas’ Benton at 1-under 214, four shots behind Fassi.

   Perez led Fassi by two shots after the Gator junior fired respective rounds of 69 and 68 Wednesday and Thursday for a 7-under 137 total before falling back in the final round with a 77.

   Backing up Perez for the Gators was Clara Manzalini, a freshman from Italy who landed in a group of five players tied for fifth at 1-under 215, a shot behind Perez, Johnson and Benton. Manzalini added a pair of even-par 72s to her opening round of 1-under 71.

   Sierra Brooks, a junior from Orlando, Fla. and No. 23 in the Women’s WAGR, finished alone in ninth at even-par 216 after opening with a 2-over 74 and firing a 3-under 69 before closing with a 1-over 73.

   Elin Esborn, a redshirt sophomore from Sweden, finished in the group tied for 21^st at 5-over 221 after she added a pair of 75s to her opening round of 1-under 71.

   Rounding out the Florida lineup was Addie Baggarly, a sophomore from Jonesborough, Tenn. who finished among the group tied for 29^th at 7-over 223 after closing with a 76.

   Ole Miss’ Johnson opened with a 3-under 69 and matched par with a 72 before finishing up with a 1-over 73 to earn her share of second. Benton closed with a 3-under 69 to join Johnson and Perez in second place.

   Joining Florida’s Manzilini in the quartet tied for fifth at 1-under 215 were South Carolina’s Go and Price and Alabama’s Jiwon Jeon, a junior from South Korea and No. 8 in the Women’s WAGR.

   Go matched par in the final round and Price, who had posted a pair of 71s in the first two rounds, closed with a 1-over 73. Jeon, who lost in the final of last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur to former Alabama standout Kristen Gillman, finished up with a 2-under 70.

   Many of those top-eight teams from the SEC Championship will hear their names called in the NCAA Selection Show, which gets under way Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. EDT. If they can survive three rounds of stroke play at an NCAA regional and four more rounds of stroke-play qualifying in the NCAA Championship, they’ll get another shot at match play. And they’ll be ready for it.