Cathryn Brown Fires Off Under-Par First Round at the SEC Championship
TAMPA – Two Bluegrass natives paced the University of Kentucky women’s golf team after the first round at the Southeastern Conference Women’s Golf Championship at The Pelican Golf Club (par 70) in Tampa, Florida, on Friday.
The Wildcats – as a team – turned in a 9-over-par 289 in their first lap around the golf course to find 13th place for the time being. They’re nine shots off of the top eight, which will be the cut line after three rounds of stroke play Friday through Sunday. Those top eight teams will advance to the match-play quarterfinals on Monday morning.
As veterans do, Cathryn Brown, the lineup’s lone upperclassman, led the young team in the first round, putting together a 1-under to find T16 on the individual leaderboard through just 18 holes. She assembled a low-maintenance scorecard, earning a pair of birdies on the front nine followed by a pair of bogeys and another birdie on the back nine. Of her three birdies, one was on a par-3, one was on a par-4 and one was on a par-5, a testament to her versatility.
It marked Brown’s, an Eddyville, Kentucky, native, 16th round of par-or-better through 29 rounds this season, including her 13th round under-par. She also improved her impressive streak of 33 straight rounds contributed to the team total, a stretch that dates back to last season.
Her best finish at the SEC Championship is T25 as a freshman in 2023-24.
From one Bluegrass native to another, C.A. Carter, a sophomore from Lexington, Kentucky, ended up with a 2-over in the first round to tie for 38th place. She was sitting at just 1-over before carding a bogey on her final hole of the day, the par-4 No. 18 that stumped much of the field Friday.
This week is Carter’s and Raleygh Simpson’s first time competing at the SEC Championship.
Simpson went 3-over in the opening round, sitting in a share of 46th place. She hauled in more birdies than anyone else in the lineup this morning with five, which helped make up for more than a handful of bogeys scattered across her scorecard.
The sophomore, who was averaging more than a 4-over stroke average in the fall, has shot just a 3-over-or-better in her last 11 straight rounds including this morning.
Fellow sophomore Anastasia Hekkonen checked in at 5-over in the first round, sitting tied for 66th place. Her 5-over came from the front nine this morning but she recovered nicely on the back nine, beginning with back-to-back birdies on hole Nos. 10 and 11.
While Karlie Campbell’s 6-over was dropped from the team total in the first round, she has one of the best track records on this golf course after leading the lineup on a 2-over tournament total in 2024-25.
Kentucky will look to improve its position on the team leaderboard in the second round, which will tee off Saturday beginning at 9:10 a.m. ET off the 10th tee. The Wildcats will be paired with Georgia (14th, +15) and Alabama (T15, +16).
Big Blue Nation can follow along with the stroke play live scoring here: https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/244173/scoring/team.
Scorecard
T16 Cathryn Brown 69 (-1)
T38 C.A. Carter 72 (+2)
T46 Raleygh Simpson 73 (+3)
T66 Anastasia Hekkonen 75 (+5)
T71 Karlie Campbell 76 (+6)
13 Kentucky 289 (+9)
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.
