The Auburn women’s golf team shot under par for the third straight day Friday and closed out the stroke play portion of the SEC Championship in third place, advancing to match play and a quarterfinals matchup against Vanderbilt.
Friday’s round started off a little rocky, but the Tigers found their groove and made 23 combined birdies as a team to finish at 6-under for the day. Senior Julie McCarthy who overcame a triple bogey on the first hole to shoot a 74 (+2) in the third round finished at 3-over, placing in a tie for 48th on her first appearance of the season for the Tigers.
“That was not the start we wanted,” Auburn head coach Melissa Luellen said. “But the maturity of this group and the mental toughness to come back and make a ton of birdies and kind of pad it up a little for us. You just never know. The score can change so quickly in team golf.”
Seniors Kaleigh Telfer and Elena Hualde Zuniga both fired a 4-under 68 on Friday to pace the Tigers in the third round. The duo made six birdies apiece on the day, and Telfer, who overcame a double bogey on the second hole, shot a team-best 7-under for the tournament to finish in a tie for 13th on the player leaderboard.
“I knew I had to do something after that (double bogey),” Telfer said. “I just got the ball rolling nicely on the putting green and made a few putts on 6, 7 and 8, and it got me going.”
Zuniga and fellow senior Mychael O’Berry both closed the week at 6-under, tied for 17th overall. O’Berry followed her 66 (-6) from Thursday with a 2-over 74 in the third round. The duo each made a team-best 15 birdies over the three rounds of stroke play. Megan Schofill tied for 23rd, making it four Auburn players in the top 25. The sophomore carded a 72 (E) on Friday to put her at 5-under for the week.
- Full scoring HERE
Meanwhile, Castlewarden’s Lauren Walsh carded rounds of 73, 70 and 74 to help the Wake Forest Women’s golf team into the semifinals as second seeds of the match play at the 2021 ACC Championships at Sedgefield Country Club.
Walsh’s one-over 54-hole tally was good enough for a tie for 11th in the individual competition. The match play commences today where Wake Forest will face No. 3 seed Florida State and No. 1 seed’s Duke will face No. 4 Virginia. The winners of each match will advance to the championship round Sunday.
- Full scoring HERE
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