2020 Fall Recap

Georgia was a week away from hosting the 48th annual Liz Murphey Collegiate last spring when the world came to an immediate halt with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. For months, the sports world was paused as many wondered if the 2020-21 season would take place in any form.

On August 27, just weeks after the Fall Semester began on the UGA campus, the Southeastern Conference announced that there indeed would be college golf in the fall. Shortly thereafter, dates for three SEC-heavy events – Arkansas’ Blessings Collegiate, Mississippi State’s The Ally and Georgia’s own Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic – were released for October and November. Ironically, the status of the 48th annual Liz Murphey was changed from “canceled” to “postponed.”

“Six months after it appeared the pandemic would force us to end this long tradition, it is exciting to say we will be hosting the 2020 Liz Murphey,” Georgia coach Josh Brewer said. “We owe many thanks to the leaders at UGA and the SEC who made this a reality. The event will be an SEConly tournament and will allow us to showcase many of the top golfers and teams in the country.”

The Bulldogs wrapped up their fall season ranked No. 6 by Golfstat and No. 7 by Golfweek after notching fifth-place finishes at the Blessings and Ally and placing third at the Liz Murphey.

“I’m scared somebody will pinch me and I’ll wake up and it’s really not happening,” Brewer said prior to the Blessings event, a nationally televised tournament on the Golf Channel that also included the SEC’s men’s golf teams. “I’m happy for the team and the conference. We’re excited and definitely ready to go tee it up. It’s why we coach and why student-athletes come to college instead of trying to play professional golf. There are a lot of happy people here in the Boyd Center.”

When the fall campaign ended, Brewer again was eager to state his appreciativeness.

“First of all, we made it through the fall season,” Brewer said enthusiastically after the final round of the Liz Murphey. “To make it through all three tournaments to me speaks to the discipline not only in our program but the programs throughout the SEC. There were guidelines that we all were asked to follow and were willing to do. That’s the first positive.

“As far as this weekend, we wanted to win,” Brewer continued. “That’s hard in our sport, though. This was basically an SEC Championship minus a couple of schools.”

Georgia accomplished much in the fall but did not succeed in its goal of winning. Still, Brewer saw plenty of positives. The Bulldogs’ deep roster featured no less than eight golfers featured in the final fall edition of the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, led by Jenny Bae at No. 12 and Caroline Craig at No. 19.

“We’re going to have a winning record against almost every SEC school going into the off season,” Brewer said. “That includes some teams that are top-5 in the country. There are a lot of positives, but still we have some work to do. We finished fifth, fifth and third. We want to try to win so we need to continue working and not just rest.”

GEORGIA GOLF FALL 2020 RESULTS

DATES TOURNAMENT (COURSE/LOCATION) TEAM RESULT TOP INDIVIDUAL

10/5-7 Blessings Collegiate Invitational 5th (300-298-297=895) Jenny Bae, T11th (76-71-75=222)

Blessings Golf Club (72, 6171) in Fayetteville, Ark. 10/19-21 The Ally 5th (297-285-286=868) Jenny Bae, T3rd (72-68-70=210) Old Waverley Country Club (72, 6377) in West Point, Miss. 11/6-8 Liz Murphey Fall Collegiate Classic 3rd (288-294-290=872) Caroline Craig, T7th (69-75-72=216) UGA Golf Course (72, 6302) in Athens, Ga.

GEORGIA GOLF FALL 2020 STATISTICS

Cnt. POB

Low Low Top Best Player Events Rds. Strokes Avg. Pct. Rds. 18 54 10 / 20 Finish

Caroline Craig 1 3 216 72.00 83.3 2 69 (-3) 216 (E) 1 / 1 7th-LMFCC Jenny Bae 3 9 652 72.44 100.0 6 68 (-4) 210 (-6) 1 / 3 3rd-Ally Caterina Don 3 9 662 73.56 88.9 3 68 (-4) 217 (+1) 0 / 2 16th-Ally Céleste Dao *2 6 447 74.50 66.7 2 69 (-3) 222 (+6) 0 / 0 24th-LMFCC Gaby Coello *1 3 226 75.33 0 74 (+2) 226 (+10) 0 / 0 42nd-LMFCC Jo Hua Hung 3 9 679 75.44 72.2 1 72 (E) 224 (+8) 0 / 0 33rd-LMFCC Candice Mahe *3 9 679 75.44 83.3 0 73 (+1) 224 (+8) 0 / 1 18th-BCI Isabella Holpfer 2 6 455 75.83 50.0 1 69 (-3) 220 (+4) 0 / 1 19th-LMFCC Alison Crenshaw *1 3 235 78.33 0 76 (+4) 235 (+19) 0 / 0 56th-LMFCC Zoe Walker *1 3 243 81.00 0 78 (+6) 243 (+27) 0 / 0 57th-LMFCC

Team Totals 3 9 2635 292.73 3 285 (-3) 868 (+4) 3 / 3 3rd-LMFCC Individual Totals 3 60 4494 74.90 15 68 (-4) 210 (-6) 2 / 8 3rd-Ally

* - Coello, Crenshaw, Dao, Mahe and Walker completed as Georgia’s “Black” team in the Liz Murphey Fall Collegiate Classic.

DON MAKES U.S. OPEN DEBUT

Georgia sophomoreo Caterina Don was one of 20 premier amateur golfers who were added to the field for the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open Championship in December at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas.

“It’s an amazing opportunity for me,” Don said. “You grow up looking at (the top players in the world) and now I’m going to get to play with and compete against them. It obviously will be a good test to see where I am. I’m going to use it as an opportunity to learn and see where I can improve. They’re doing things right or they wouldn’t be where they are. I’m going to watch closely because there’s definitely things I can improve upon, not only on the course but in practice and tournament management and things like that. I want to learn so I can be a better golfer.”

Don followed a 6-over 77 in the opening round with a 3-over 74 on Friday and missed the cut. There were highlights, however.

Don was not alone in Texas as she asked Josh Brewer to serve as her caddy.

“If she has a question, I want to be able to answer it right,” Brewer said. “I feel like I have a homework assignment every night, making sure her yardages – and for her it’s meters – are correct. That’s what keeps me kind of restless. She’s the boss this week. I keep asking. What time are we leaving? When do you want to go? How do you want to practice? I’m just here for her. If she tells me to be downstairs at 5:00 a.m. with a cup of coffee, I’ll be downstairs at 5:00 a.m. with a cup of coffee. I think that’s been fun for her, and it’s given her a look at what life is like as a professional.”

Caterina Don and Josh Brewer reversed roles at the U.S. Open, with Georgia’s coach serving as the Bulldog’s caddy.

Don played the Champions Club’s Cypress Creek Course on Thursday and briefly was tied for second on the leaderboard after a birdie at No. 3.

“After the first hole, Josh came up to me and said ‘At least you can say you made a par in the U.S. Open.’” Don said. “Two holes later, he said ‘Now you can say you made a birdie and were under-par at the U.S. Open.’”

THREE DOGS HEADED TO ANWA

Georgia will be well represented at the 2021 Augusta National Women’s Amateur...a year later than those Bulldogs expected to compete in the prestigious event. Caterina Don, Isabella Holpfer and Candice Mahe received invitations to the event after all three also earned bids to the 2020 tournament was canceled.

Don will be making her second trip a little under two hours east of Athens to compete in Augusta. She finished 12th at the inaugural tournament in 2019 after shooting 2-over 218.

Holpfer and Mahe, who will be making their Augusta, earned invites via their World Amateur Rankings. Holpfer has been as high as No. 25 in the world, while Mahe has ascended to No. 30.