Shipley Leads UK Women’s Golf on Day One of SEC Championship
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Kentucky women’s golf team finds itself on the outside looking in for one of the coveted eight match-play spots at the Southeastern Conference Championship, but the Wildcats are still very much in the hunt to make the weekend after day one at the Greystone Golf & Country Club.
UK opened with a 16-over-par 304 in the first round in a field as talented as any conference tournament in the country. Ten teams in the field rank in the top 50 of the latest GolfStat rankings, five are in the top 25 and two are in the top 10.
The Wildcats are going head to head with all of them in hopes of finishing in the top eight in stroke play. The top eight teams move to the weekend for match play. Although Kentucky has some ground to make up in 14th place, UK is just eight shots back of that final spot with 36 holes left.
“We got off to a rough start and I think our expectations were probably a little too high,” said assistant coach Brian May, who is filling in for head coach Golda Borst this week (maternity leave). “It’s a tough golf course. We’ve got three new newcomers to the SEC Championship so I think the nerves were a little high this morning. I think they bounced back in the middle of the round for six or seven holes and did some good things. We’re not that far out of where we want to be. We just have to come back with some more confidence tomorrow and play our game.”
The Wildcats will look to make their comeback beginning Thursday at 9 a.m. ET. UK will begin teeing off at 10:10 a.m. ET off No. 10.
Live scoring will continue to be available at Golfstat.com.
Sarah Shipley was UK’s top performer in Wednesday’s opening round. She scooted around Greystone Golf and Country Club’s Legacy Course (par 72, 6,253 yards) with a 1-over-par 73. The junior from Hastings, Michigan, recorded just two bogeys on the day, both on her opening nine, and finished the day 1-under par on her closing nine.
Shipley’s performance is a repeat of last year when she tied for 13th in Birmingham, Alabama. Like last year, she’s playing her best golf down the stretch of the season. She’s in a tie for 19th after 18 holes.
“I’m really proud of Sarah and the growth she’s shown in the last couple of years,” May said. “She gets in a groove in the spring and just does some really good things ball striking. She’s had to stay patient the last couple of weeks with some putts not dropping. Her expectations are high, which they should be (because) she’s a great player. So if she stays patient and keeps doing what she’s doing, hitting the ball where she wants to it, good things will happen.”
But if UK is to make a move up the leaderboard, Shipley will need help. If this season’s results are any indication, she will likely get it from senior Leonie Bettel, UK’s top performer in 2018-19. The three-time individual champion didn’t have her normal high-quality game Wednesday with a 4-over-par 76, but another top-20 finish (she’s got seven of them this season) isn’t out of the question with her in a tie for 45th.
Freshman Casey Ott rebounded nicely from a difficult start that saw her bogey four of her first five holes. She bounced back and played the remaining 13 holes at 1-over par and is tied for 54th at 5-over par overall.
Sophomore Rikke Svejgård Nielsen is at 6-over par, in a tie for 60th, and senior Claire Carlin is at 7-over par and tied for 63rd.
“Relax was the message after the round,” May said. “We’re not in a bad spot. We’re not far out of where we want to be. We just have to execute better. If each girls finds two or three shots, we’re literally in the top five, which is not insurmountable by any means on this golf course. We just have to understand our game plan and execute.”
The Wildcats are hoping for a strong finish to lengthen their season. Currently ranked No. 61 by Golfstat, Kentucky will likely need to move up a handful of spots to earn an at-large berth when the NCAA regional field is announced next week. Getting to this weekend’s match play – all eight teams that advanced to last season’s match play made the NCAA regional field – would almost certainly help with that.
No. 12 Florida and No. 14 Auburn lead a stacked field at 4-under par. They are the only teams in red numbers. Auburn’s Julie McCarthy, the fourth-ranked player in the country, leads the 70-player field at 4-under par.
The Legacy Course lived up to its tough reputation Wednesday. Designed by world-famous architect Rees Jones, the Legacy Course is carved naturally from a visually dramatic landscape of placid lakes, meandering streams and the undulation of Alabama’s Appalachian foothills.
Kentucky has finished as high as second in the SEC Championship but has never won it. The Wildcats’ highest finish in the Borst era is fifth. UK’s 885 in in the 2017 tournament was its best 54-hole score in the event’s history.
For the latest on the Kentucky women’s golf team, follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, as well as on the web at UKathletics.com.
