Jaguar women finish sixth in Georgia Southern tournament
By Jackson Hoffman | Sports writer
The Augusta University women’s golf team finished sixth with a 26-over-par score on Monday, Sept. 8, at The Southern at the Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Ga.
Augusta was coming off their first tournament, the Tiger Classic, where Marine Legentil led the team with an overall score of two over par over two rounds.
“I had a bit of trouble adjusting at first, especially as I was returning to tournaments after the summer break,” said AU’s Sofia Valera. “So the first tournament at the Tiger Classic wasn’t very good, with difficulties in several areas. In the last tournament, I adopted a different approach and managed to correct some errors in my long game. On the other hand, my putting didn’t show any improvement on the previous tournament,”
The Lady Jags were in the middle of the pack, eighth, after rounds 1 and 2. Puntita Pawichai led the team with rounds of 74-75. Legentil and Valera both were 7 over par, Sara Adams at 9 over and Jessica Pilgrim’s opening round 78 did not count for the team score, but her second round 78 did. Competing as an individual Danielle Higbee was at 8 over par.
Heading into the final round, the team was looking to make a big push on day two to finish inside the top 5.
The Jaguars just missed that mark, as Augusta finished sixth with a score of 50 over par.
Leading Augusta was Velera, who finished tied for 15th with a 10-over-par score.
Pawichai tied for 17th at 11 over par, Higbee tied for 26th at 14 over, Marine Legentil tied for 29th at 15 over, Adams tied for 35th at 16 over and Pilgrim tied for 43rd at 19 over.
Even though they did not play their best, the Jaguars finished just outside the top five.
The players are looking to make some adjustments as they head into their next tournament.
“My main approach for the next tournament will be to work on my short game, because that’s really where I have a lot of room for improvement and where the difference with the other players is made,” said Valera. “I also intend to take the time to get to grips with the rules.”
Eastern Michigan won the tournament with an 11-over-par total.
The AU team will compete on Sept. 19-21 at the Lady Paladin Invitational in Greenville, S.C., hosted by Furman.
“The Lady Paladin is a fun tournament, so we are going in there with a positive mindset and just ready to compete on a great course against a great field,” Adams said. “We have a week between events to just putting in a lot of work and time on the course is helping us bring our best to Furman.”
Contact Jackson Hoffman at jahoffman@augusta.edu.
AU’s Marine Legentil shows her wedge form; she finished tied for 29th in The Southern in Statesboro. At the top of the page, Sara Adams tees off; she would finish 35th. (photos by Paula Toole/AU Athletics)
