Strong showing for host Georgia in Lady Bulldog Invitational; Auburn's Telfer claims victory

    Georgia had a disappointing showing in the Southeastern Conference Championship last spring at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala., failing to finish among the top eight teams that advanced to the match-play bracket.

   The Bulldogs, seeded fifth, proceeded to take the NCAA Columbus Regional by storm, capturing the team crown at The Ohio State University Golf Club’s tough Scarlet Course by a whopping 15 shots behind individual champion Jenny Bae.

   Georgia was unable to carry its momentum from that performance in Columbus to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. as the Bulldogs never really got themselves in position for a spot in the match-play bracket.

   The good news for Georgia head coach Josh Brewer is that all five players from the lineup in Columbus returned to Athens, Ga. for the wraparound 2021-2022 season.

   Entering the spring campaign ranked 29^th by Golfstat, Georgia decided to schedule the Lady Bulldog Invitational this past weekend at its UGA Golf Course in Athens, Ga. Georgia invited several teams to send as many players as they liked to an individual championship.

   Brewer looked at it as a more competitive atmosphere than the team qualifier the Bulldogs would have scheduled over the weekend. It would have the feel of a tournament even if there was no team competition.

   Of course, you schedule an event in late January, even in Georgia, there’s a risk of some decidedly un-springlike weather showing up and that’s exactly what happened. Brewer described the conditions for Saturday’s opening round on the Georgia website as cold without getting specific. Pretty sure, it never got out of the 30s Saturday and that’s tough for golf.

   Sunday’s second round had a delayed shotgun start at 11 a.m., probably to let some frost burn off the golf course. Originally planned as a 54-hole event, the Lady Bulldog was limited to 36 holes due to the cold weather and the still comparative lack of daylight.

   It’s not necessarily a bad thing to get a really cold round or two under your belt early in the season. There’s always a possibility you can run into one of those April days that feature drizzle and temperatures in the 40s down the road and this past weekend might prove helpful in acclimating all the players who teed it up to playing in the cold.

   Bae, a senior from Suwanee, Ga. and No. 73 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), got the weekend off. But she got in a couple of rounds two weeks ago as one of the dozen women invited to audition for the U.S. Curtis Cup team at Mountain Lake in Lake Wales, Fla.

   The Curtis Cup Match against a team of amateurs from Great Britain & Ireland will tee off in 130 days at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course and yes, I’m counting the days.

   Brewer probably got what he needed out of the weekend as all eight of his Bulldogs who teed it up finished in the top 25 among a field of 41 with Candice Mahe, a junior from France, and Caterina Don, a junior from Italy, sharing runnerup honors, each landing on 1-under-par 143 total over the 6,188-yard, par-72 UGA Golf Course layout.

   The title went to Auburn’s Kaleigh Telfer, a fifth-year player from South Africa and No. 74 in the Women’s WAGR. It appears Telfer stayed home in South Africa for the fall part of her fifth year and was making her first appearance for Auburn this season.

   Saturday’s cold weather didn’t seem to bother her one bit as she made three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the back nine of the UGA Golf Course on her way to a 5-under 67 that gave her a four-shot lead over Georgia’s Don and Isabella Holpfer, a sophomore from Austria.

   Telfer struggled a little on the front nine in Sunday’s second round, but again made three birdies on the incoming nine as she closed with a 2-over 74 that left her with a 3-under 141 total that was two shots clear of Georgia’s Mahe and Don.

   Auburn, one of Georgia’s rivals in the powerful SEC, entered the midseason break ranked 12^th by Golfstat. Telfer was in the starting lineup last spring as the Tigers qualified for the NCAA Championship out of the Louisville Regional and rallied in the final round to earn a spot in the match-play bracket at Grayhawk before falling to Oklahoma State, 4-1, in the quarterfinals.

   Mahe, who opened with a 2-over 74, had the best round of the day in Sunday’s final round with a solid 3-under 69 that earned her a share of second place with her teammate Don, who followed up her opening-round 71 by matching par Sunday with a 72.

   It was another three shots back to Texas A&M’s Jennie Park, a junior from Carrollton, Texas who finished alone in fourth place with a 2-over 146 total. After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Park added a 74 in Sunday’s final round. Park and the Aggies, also out of the SEC, entered the midseason break ranked 17^th.

   Another Georgia duo, Holpfer and Jo Hua Hung, a senior from Taipei, shared fifth place as each landed on 3-over 147, a shot behind Park. Holpfer added a 76 to her opening-round 71. Hung opened with a 76 and then moved up the leaderboard with a solid 1-under 71 in Sunday’s final round.

   In addition to Bae, the Georgia lineup that claimed the regional team title in Columbus last spring included Mahe, Don, Hung and Holpfer.

   Wake Forest’s Vanessa Knecht, a senior from Switzerland, and Kentucky’s Ryan Bender, a redshirt junior from Louisville, Ky., shared seventh place, each finishing with a 5-over 149 total, two shots behind Hung and Holpfer.

   Knecht was in the Wake Forest lineup as a freshman when the Demon Deacons suffered a 3-2 loss in the Final Match of the NCAA Championship to Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke at The Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark. After opening with a 76, Knecht closed with a solid 1-over 73.

   Wake Forest had a solid fall campaign and entered the midseason pause in the 2020-’21 season ranked sixth. The Demon Deacons, as they have been for the last few seasons, have to be considered national championship contenders.

   Kentucky’s Bender matched par in the opening round with a 72, but fell back with a 77 in Sunday’s final round to join Knecht at 5-over. Bender’s Wildcats are another SEC entry.

   Zoe Walker, a redshirt senior from Palm Desert, Calif., gave Georgia a third finisher inside the top 10 as she ended up alone in ninth place with a 6-over 150 total after adding a 2-over 74 to her opening-round 76.

   Another Wake Forest entry, Julia McLaughlin, a junior from Princeton, N.J., and another Auburn competitor, Elina Sinz, a sophomore from Katy, Texas, rounded out the top 10 as they finished in a tie for 10^th place with a 7-over 151 total. McLaughlin bounced back from an opening-round 81 with a solid 2-under 70 in Sunday’s final round while Sinz added a 3-over 75 to her opening-round 76.

   Rounding out the Georgia contingent were Celeste Dao, a junior from Canada who finished in a tie for 17^th place with a 154 total, Caroline Craig, a junior from Sautee Nacoochie, Ga. who landed in a tie for 20^th at 155 and Alison Crenshaw, a graduate student from Suwanee, Ga. who was alone in 25^th with a 157 total.

   Dao added a 78 to her opening round of 4-over 76, Craig added a 79 to her opening-round 76 and Crenshaw shaved three shots off an opening-round 80 with a final-round 77.

   Georgia will return to the UGA Golf Course to host the annual Liz Murphey Collegiate at the end of March. It will be the Bulldogs’ final tuneup before the SEC Championship, which returns to Greystone in April.

   Eight of the teams in Golfstat’s top 25 at the midseason pause in the 2021-’22 season are from the SEC, which makes it almost as hard to make the eight-team match-play bracket in the SEC Championship as it is to finish among the top eight at the NCAA Championship.