Hack Moves into Top 25 after Second Round at SEC Championship

Second-round results | Final-round tee times

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Highlighted by three straight birdies on her second nine, Kentucky women’s golfer Anna Hack continued her late-season ascension by moving into the top 25 of the Southeastern Conference Championship through two rounds.

The Wildcats fired a 312 for the second the day in a row and sit in 14th place heading into Sunday’s finale at the Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Ala. 

Led by Maria Torres’ score of 7-under par through 36 holes – six strokes better than anyone in the field – No. 7 Florida has surged into a tie for the lead with the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide at 2-over par. Twelve strokes separate Alabama and Florida from the rest of the field, shaping Sunday’s conclusion into a two-horse race.

The final 18 holes will begin at 9 a.m. ET from the Legacy Course at the Greystone Golf & Country Club. UK’s first tee time is at 9:20 a.m. ET.

The SEC Network will televise the final round of the SEC Championship starting at noon ET.

Hack, Kentucky’s promising young freshman from Paducah, Ky., has been the Wildcats’ best golfer over the last two months, recording 13 of her last 14 rounds in the 70s to go along with back-to-back top-50 finishes, including a career-best 14th-place tournament at the LSU Tiger Golf Classic.

On Saturday, Hack shot a 1-over 73 to vault her into a tie for 24th. While it wasn’t her lowest round of the season – a 71 last tournament at the Bryan National Collegiate owns that distinction – it might have been her best given the strength of the field and the way she finished the day.

Hack, who started on the back nine, was cruising along Saturday with a modest 3-over par before going birdie, birdie, birdie on holes Nos. 3, 4 and 5. That got her back to even par before a bogey on No. 8. She moved up 15 spots on the leaderboard and is six shots within the top five.

Sophomore Isabelle Johansson matched Hack with third birdies Saturday, all coming on her first nine, but a triple bogey on No. 3 prevented her from going low in the second round. The Swede shot a 78 for a second straight day and is in a tie for 51st at 12-over par.

Junior Jordan Chael had two birdies Saturday but also had three double bogeys and a triple for a second-day 81. She’s at 17-over par and in a tie for 63rd.

Senior Cylia Damerau, who has posted back-to-back top-20 finishes in the SEC Championship, is tied with Chael at 17-over par. Freshman Grace Rose is in a tie for 66th at 18-over par.

This weekend’s SEC Championship features 10 top-50 teams, six top-25 teams and four top-10 teams, once again underscoring the depth of the conference.

This is the second straight season the SEC Championship has been played at the Legacy Course at the Greystone Golf & Country Club. Playing at par 72, 6,195 yards, the Legacy Course is carved naturally from a visually dramatic landscape of placid lakes, meandering streams and the undulation of Alabama’s Appalachian foothills.

Designed by world-famous architect Rees Jones, each hole is an inviting yet demanding contest. The Zoysia fairways and Bent Grass greens found at Legacy provide golfers with surfaces that are both challenging and rewarding.