STANFORD, CALIFORNIA — The No. 2-ranked Georgia women's golf team wrapped up its most successful fall in a decade with a fifth-place finish at the Stanford Intercollegiate on Monday. Playing with only four golfers, the Bulldogs shot 8-over 292 and finished the 54-hole event at 870.
Harang Lee paced Georgia in the final round and overall. She shot 4-under 67 – equaling Tuesday's low round of all 89 golfers in the field – and finished tied for eighth individually at 1-over 214. Lee turned at 2-under after birdies at No. 1, No. 7 and No. 8 and then moved to 5-under with back-to-back birdies at No. 11 and No. 12. She closed with her only bogey of the day at No. 18.
Other third-round tallies included a 73 from Manuela Carbajo Ré, a 74 from Isabella Skinner and a 78 from Rinko Mitsunaga. The Bulldogs played with only four golfers after Jillian Hollis withdrew from the tournament before the final round began due to an illness.
"It's weird. This was our worst team finish of the fall, but it may have been our most important tournament so far," head coach Josh Brewer said. "This week showed us a great deal about our team. I couldn't be prouder of how every performed in tough circumstances, first with Bailey not traveling and then having to go play-four, count-four today with Jillian out."
Bailey Tardy, who leads the Bulldogs in stroke average this season, did not travel to Stanford after suffering a concussion.
Overall, Carbajo Ré tied for 11th at 2-over 215, while Mitsunaga tied for 33rd at 220 and Skinner tied for 54th at 225.
Georgia started well and was 1-under as a team following nine holes on Tuesday.
"We were hot early," Brewer said. "We didn't really play poorly on the back side. It's just when you're in a play-four, count-four situation every little mistake is doubled. One bad swing is magnified because everything counts."
No. 9 Stanford completed its wire-to-wire team victory on its home course. The Cardinal finished at 847, seven strokes ahead of No. 1 Southern Cal, followed by No. 12 UCLA at 855, No. 3 Northwestern at 869, the Bulldogs at 870, UC Davis at 875, Cal at 876, No. 21 Washington at 880, No. 4 Arizona at 882, Oregon at 884, No. 11 Arizona State at 886 and No. 14 Iowa State at 893.
This fall, Georgia won the Cardinal Kickoff Classic and tied for the team title at the Windy City Collegiate. The Bulldogs also finished second at the Cougar Classic and third at the Mason Rudolph Championship. Over its five fall competitions, Georgia was a combined 4-under as a team.
The Bulldogs will not compete again until February. Georgia will host the Lady Bulldog Individual Championship, a one-day, 36-hole event on Feb. 6 and then open team competition at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic on Feb. 14-16.
