SOURCE: University of Georgia
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jillian Hollis earned medalist honors, and the Georgia women’s golf team completed its wire-to-wire victory in the 3M Augusta Invitational at Forest Hills Golf Club on Sunday.
Hollis closed with a 3-under 69 to finish the tournament at 8-under 208 and secure a 3-shot win. She paced Georgia to a 3-over 291 as a team and an even-par 864 score over the 54-hole event. That provided the Bulldogs with a 9-shot cushion over No. 21 Purdue and Augusta, who tied for second.
Georgia began the final round with a double-digit lead but watched that shrink to as few as two shots as Purdue got hot and moved to 7-under on the day at one point. The Bulldogs played extremely well late. The golfers who supplied Georgia’s counting scores on Sunday played holes Nos. 15-18 at a combined 6-under.
“On the course, from my view, we just battled all day and made a few putts at the end,” Brewer said. “I don’t think we were focusing on the lead because we were really playing pretty well all day. When Purdue made a major run at us, we responded like champions respond over those past few holes. It was almost like we needed a challenge and when that challenge came, we answered it.
“We’re just focusing on getting better individually and as a team on a day-by-day basis,” Brewer continued. “At the end of today, I know we’re better now than we were when we teed off this morning. It’s good for us to know we can handle a challenge when teams get hot.”
Hollis turned at even-par after compiling birdies at No. 6 and No. 9, bogeys at No. 1 and No. 7 and five pars on the front side of the Forest Hills Golf Club. After going birdie-bogey at No. 12 and No. 13, respectively, before birdies at No. 15, No. 17 and No. 18 to clinch her win.
“It was another great week for Jillian,” Brewer said. “You can tell she’s playing with so much confidence. Her game doesn’t have any holes, and she expects to be near the lead every time out. I’m happy she got her third victory as a Bulldog and put up one of the best scores in school history.”
The Bulldogs also counted Rinko Mitsunaga‘s 73, Gabriela Coello‘s 74 and Isabella Skinner‘s 75 on Sunday, while dropping Paula Neira Garcia‘s 76. Stephanie Carras and Elisa Yang, who were competing as individuals, also shot 76.
Overall, Coello finished alone in 14th at 219, Mitsunaga tied for 15th at 220, Skinner tied for 22nd at 223, Neira Garcia tied for 28th at 224, Carras tied for 34th at 226 and Yang tied for 44th at 230.
The victory was the Bulldogs’ second in three spring events. Georgia also won the Gold Rush in Long Beach, Calif., last month.
Hollis’ 8-under tally tied the fifth-best tournament score in school history, while the Bulldogs’ even-par finish tied the 10th-best team performance.
Georgia will return to action next weekend when the Bulldogs compete in the PING/ASU Invitational at Arizona State on Thursday-Sunday.
“We have a big challenge ahead of us,” Brewer said. “We need to show we can put this weekend behind us and battle through playing back-to-back. We’ll face most of the best teams from the West Coast in Arizona, and we need to show them that we belong among the nation’s elite.”