Rose Posts Another Top-20 Finish at Florida State Match-Up
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Senior Grace Rose posted her third top-20 finish of the season, the Kentucky women’s golf team placed eighth in the team competition, and the Wildcats teamed up with Notre Dame for a fifth-place showing in the match-up play portion of the Florida State Match-Up this weekend.
UK finished at 21-over par for the tournament after a 12-over 300 on Saturday to conclude the three-round tournament at Don Veller Seminole Golf Course in Tallahassee, Florida. UK and its partner for the tournament, Notre Dame, had ground to make up after Friday’s 36-hole start, but the combination of No. 7 South Carolina and No. 16 Virginia was just too much for the rest of the field as the two teams combined to win the match-up portion at 21-under par.
South Carolina won the individual team competition at 16-under par and the Gamecocks’ Ainhoa Olarra won the individual crown at 10-under par.
As she’s been all season, Rose was Kentucky’s top player this weekend and tied for 12th at 1-under par. After back-to-back rounds in red numbers Friday, she posted a 2-over-par 74 on Saturday to finish at 215 overall. It’s the sixth top-20 finish of her career.
“We had a disappointing finish to this tournament today,” UK head coach Golda Borst said. “The girls got off to a fast start but weren’t able to continue their momentum throughout the round. We will learn from our mistakes, take the positives and move forward. Our team is better than this and our best golf is ahead of us.”
Rose and senior Isabelle Johansson contributed to the combined scoring for the match-up portion of the event for the third round in a row. Scores for the match-up portion were 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.
Traditional scoring was used as well this weekend to determine the individual team champions (lowest four scores each round) and individual champion.
Rose started the day in the top 10 on the individual leaderboard at 3-under par. Although she couldn’t sustain the momentum from Friday’s two rounds, she rolled in another four birdies to boost her total to 11 for the tournament.
Johansson carded a 2-over 74 Saturday to finish at 2-over par overall, a 218. She made a run at the 11th top-20 finish of her career with an eagle on the par-5 fourth hole – her second nine of the day – and parred the final five holes.
Junior Leonie Bettel and Sarah Shipley shot identical scores for the third straight round. After back-to-back 75s on Friday, the Wildcats each shot 76s Saturday to finish in a tie for 39th at 10-over par (226).
Junior Claire Carlin fired her best round of the weekend with a 77 in the finale and finished at 18-over par (234) and in a tie for 57th.
The tournament was originally scheduled over three days, but incoming inclement weather forecasted for Sunday altered the format and the teams played 36 holes on Friday.
The field featured 12 teams, including three in Golfstat’s top 20. Each team was paired up with a partner of their choosing for the match-up portion of the competition.
Don Veller Seminole Golf Course hosted this weekend’s event. Renovated by golf course architect Robert C. Walker in 2004, the course is situated in natural rolling hills and played as a par 72 at 6,212 yards.
The Wildcats, ranked No. 50 in Golfstat heading into this weekend, will return to competition March 5-7 at the Hurricane Invitational in Coral Gables, Florida. It will be Kentucky’s third straight tournament in Florida.
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.
