Wildcats in Mix in All Three Competitions at Florida State Match-Up
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Kentucky women’s golf seniors did their part at the Florida State Match-Up on Friday where the Wildcats are teaming up with Notre Dame in a unique competition that will yield three different results: a combined team score between UK and Notre Dame, an individual team score, and individual scores.
Seniors Grace Rose and Isabelle Johansson led the Kentucky charge in Friday’s 36-hole marathon at the Don Veller Seminole Golf Course in Tallahassee, Florida, where they contributed to both the match-up competition score and Kentucky’s team score.
Rose, at 3-under par and in a tie for sixth place, continued to play the best golf of any player on the roster in 2017-18, while Johansson looks poised for another top-20 finish heading into Saturday’s conclusion at even par.
Both seniors contributed to the unique match-up scoring in this event. Scores for the match-up portion are determined by taking the best four scores from the partners (which is a total of 10 players) and the worst score to make the match-up team total. Rose and Johansson contributed to the Kentucky-Notre Dame collaboration in both rounds as the Wildcats and Fighting Irish posted a score of 9-over par, fifth place in the match-up portion but not far behind the top three.
Traditional scoring will still be used to determine the individual team champions (lowest four scores each round) and individual champion. In the individual team competition, UK is in eighth place among the 12 teams at 9-over par.
The grouping of South Carolina and Virginia, both top-20 teams, leads the match-up portion at 17-under par. South Carolina leads the team competition at 15-under par.
“We’ve got some ground to make up tomorrow and our team is ready to get back on the course,” UK head coach Golda Borst said. “This is a track that we can really be aggressive on, and I look for all of our girls to step up tomorrow and see how far up this leaderboard we can climb.”
Having already altered the format due to inclement weather in the forecast for Sunday, the final round of the tournament will tee off Saturday at 10 a.m. with a shotgun start from Seminole Golf Course. Live scoring will continue to be available at GolfStat.com.
Rose, already a co-champion at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational in the fall, is looking her second top-10 finish this season and sixth career top-20 showing. She’s six shots behind South Carolina’s Ainhoa Olarra, who leads the 66-player field at 9-under par.
The Nicholasville, Kentucky, native totaled seven birdies in the two rounds with just four bogeys in 36 holes. Rose carded a 1-under 71 in the first round and a 2-under 70 in the afternoon. Her back-to-back under-par rounds Friday gives her six rounds of par or better this season, most on the team.
Johansson opened Friday with a 2-under-par 70 in the morning thanks to five birdies, including three in a five-hole stretch to close the first 18. She rolled in three more birdies in the second round but was held back with five bogeys.
Owner of the best single-season stroke average in school history, Johansson is coming off her best outing of the season, a fifth-place finish at the Florida Challenge last month. That showing also included the individual Battle of the Bluegrass crown.
“Grace and Bella played solid all day,” Borst said. “They are both bound to have some really low rounds this season and watch out for them tomorrow as they both left a few shots out on the course today.”
Not far behind Rose and Johansson are junior Leonie Bettel and sophomore Sarah Shipley. Both are tied for 38th place with identical scorecards. Each shot 75 in both rounds, though both took different paths to get there.
Bettel was fairly consistent in the morning round with a birdie, two bogeys and a double bogey. She found more red numbers in the afternoon with four birdies, but they weren’t enough to overcome seven bogeys.
Shipley totaled five birdies in the two rounds and is in position for her best overall scoring tournament since the season-opening Minnesota Invitational.
Junior Claire Carlin, coming off a career-best 16th-place showing at the Florida Challenge, is tied for 58th at 13-over par (79-78).
The Florida State Match-Up features 12 teams, including three in Golfstat’s top 20. The field consists of Coastal Carolina, Columbia, Florida State, Kentucky, No. 14 Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Notre Dame, Princeton, No. 7 South Carolina, Texas A&M and No. 16 Virginia.
Don Veller Seminole Golf Course was renovated by golf course architect Robert C. Walker in 2004. Situated in natural rolling hills, the course will play as a par 72 at 6,212 yards.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
