Cathryn Brown Hauls In Career-Best, Top-20 Finish at the SEC Championship
TAMPA – Cathryn Brown, a University of Kentucky women’s golfer and Western Kentucky native, hauled in a top-20 individual finish at the Southeastern Conference Women’s Golf Championship at The Pelican Golf Club (par 70) in Tampa, Florida. Meanwhile, the Wildcats finished with an 8-over in the final round for a 25-over tournament total to land in 14th place at the league meet Sunday.
Brown, a junior from Eddyville, Kentucky, led the lineup wire-to-wire, penciling in a 1-under in the final round to assemble an even-par 210 at the SEC Championship. She checked in at T16, which marked the best finish in her three appearances at the league tournament.
It marked Brown’s 17th round of par-or-better through 31 rounds this season, including her 14th round under-par. She also improved her impressive streak of 35 straight rounds contributed to the team total, a stretch that dates back to last season’s SEC Championship.
Brown led the ‘Cats for the fifth time through 11 events this season. Her efforts, however, weren’t enough to push the team into the top eight, a cut line that started at a 3-over tournament total.
The top eight teams, which include Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Auburn, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt, will advance to match play Monday morning.
Behind Brown, Anastasia Hekkonen scored a 2-over in the final round, piecing together a quiet scorecard on Sunday.
The sophomore – competing in her second SEC Championship – tallied 11 straight pars to kick off her final round. For Hekkonen, who started on the back nine, it wasn’t until the par-3 No. 3 that she suffered her first bogey of the day. She strung together four more pars before finding a second blemish on the par-4 No. 8.
She went 7-over at the SEC Championship, finishing in a share of 44th place. It is 11 strokes better than her performance at The Pelican a season ago.
Raleygh Simpson proved pressure is no problem when she handed over her best scorecard of the week in the final round, going just 2-over on Sunday. That was, in part, thanks to her trio of birdies on hole Nos. 13, 14 and 3, two of which were holes she hadn’t capitalized on all week.
Simpson went just 9-over through 54 holes to land in a share of 56th place. Tied with her at 9-over in 56th place is C.A. Carter.
Carter, the Lexington, Kentucky, native, held down the two-spot in the lineup Friday and Saturday but got off to a rocky start in the final round to fall behind. She recorded back-to-back bogeys in two of her first three holes to dig herself into a hole Sunday, before later tacking on a triple at the par-4 No. 2. However, she still came up with a trio of birdies to make up for some of those miscues and to turn in a 5-over in her last lap around the golf course.
Karlie Campbell just couldn’t find similar success as she experienced at The Pelican last season, coming up with an 8-over in her final round at the SEC Championship. She began the round 1-under through four holes, then suffered five bogeys and two doubles to come up short of her goals. The sophomore from Ethridge, Tennessee, put together a 19-over-par 229 altogether this week, earning a tie for 74th place.
The Wildcats will wait to hear their name called on the 2026 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Selection Show, which will air on the Golf Channel on Wednesday, April 29, at 1 p.m. ET. The show will announce the 72 teams and individual players selected for the six regional championship sites, which will determine the field for the NCAA National Championships in Carlsbad, California, in late May.
Scorecard
T16 Cathryn Brown 69, 72, 69 … 210 (E)
T44 Anastasia Hekkonen 75, 70, 72 … 217 (+7)
T56 Raleygh Simpson 73, 74, 72 … 219 (+9)
T56 C.A. Carter 72, 72, 75 … 219 (+9)
T74 Karlie Campbell 76, 75, 78 … 229 (+19)
14 Kentucky 289, 288, 288 … 865 (+25)
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