Wildcats Remain in Contention Heading into Murphey Classic Finale
ATHENS, Ga. – On Saturday at the Liz Murphey Fall Collegiate Classic, the Kentucky women’s golf team showed that when everyone is playing near their potential, this is a group that can play with anyone in the country.
Midway through Saturday’s second round in a field that features eight top-15 teams (according to the latest Golfweek rankings), the Wildcats stormed up the leaderboard and into first place with a collectively solid start.
The Wildcats ultimately could not hold on to the lead, but they remain in the mix heading into the tournament’s conclusion on Sunday at the University of Georgia Golf Course (par 72, 6,302 yards) in Athens, Georgia. With a 2-over-par 290 in the second round, tied for UK’s best round of the season, Kentucky is at 10-over par and in sixth place.
UK is 12 shots back of Auburn for the lead, but proving that anything is possible for Sunday, the Wildcats started Saturday eight shots back and had a two-shot lead at one point. There is a two-way tie for second place just five shots in front of Kentucky.
Freshman Laney Frye remains in the hunt for individual honors at even par, six shots behind Mississippi State’s Hannah Levi.
“We continued to see progress today as far as hitting greens and creating opportunities and we had a few more putts drop on the front nine,” UK head coach Golda Borst said. “We weren’t quite able to carry that momentum all the way through our back nine, but it was encouraging to take a step in the right direction.”
The third round begins Sunday at 8:30 a.m. with UK among the first tee times. Live scoring will continue to be available at Golfstat.com.
Kentucky’s best all-around effort of the season confirmed the potential of this group. The Wildcats entered the season with big expectations after a breakthrough season in 2019-20, but UK knocked itself out of contention in the first two tournaments of the season with rough starts in the first rounds of both events.
That has not been the case in Georgia. Kentucky posted a 296 in the first round to put itself in the mix, and the Wildcats applied some pressure to the Southeastern Conference-only field early in the second round.
UK got as low as 6-under par near the turn on Saturday to take a two-shot lead before the more difficult front nine (Kentucky started on the back) slowed the momentum.
Sophomore Marissa Wenzler was the best of the UK bunch in the second round. She fired a 2-under-par 70 to move from the bottom quarter of the 60-player field into a tie for 26th. She dug in to her first-round score of 6-over par with four birdies in the second round and is now at 4-over par overall. Her 70 was one off her career best.
Frye, UK’s most consistent golfer of the fall season, had at one point moved into sole possession of second place after getting as low as 2-under par in the second round and 3-under overall, but four bogeys over a nine-hole stretch set her back. She got a birdie back late and still managed a very solid 73. She is at even par overall, tied for 10th.
Sophomore Jensen Castle turned in a clean scorecard Saturday with 16 pars, one birdie and just one bogey. With the even-par 72, she remained at 5-over par and has moved up to a tie for 13th. The school’s single-season stroke average record holder is seeking her sixth career top-20 finish in nine college appearances.
Rikke Svejgård Nielsen posted a 75 for the second consecutive day. She was at 3-over par in the round after the opening nine holes but closed strongly. The senior is tied for 33rd at 6-over par.
Sophomore María Villanueva Aperribay started the day in a tied for 12th after debuting with a 73, but a tough second nine in Saturday’s round set her back. Even par on the day through the first nine, she closed at 6-over par and is at 7-over par for the tournament, tied for 38th. Villanueva Aperribay is making her Kentucky debut after transferring from Augusta.
The Liz Murphey Fall Collegiate Classic is the third and final fall tournament for the Wildcats. The conference-only competition in the fall, a requirement by the SEC to keep teams safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, has been difficult, but UK is hoping for better results after placing eighth and 12th in the first two events. The Wildcats entered the season with high expectations after returning the bulk of the breakthrough 2019-20 team that won two championships, placed second in another, set team and individual scoring records, and posted 10 top-10 and 20 top-20 individual showings a season ago.
The Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic originally began in 1973 as the Georgia Invitational and was contested as the Women’s Southern Intercollegiates from 1977-94. In 1995, the tourney was renamed in honor of Liz Murphey, UGA’s Hall of Fame golf coach and longtime senior woman administrator.
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.
