BIRMINGHAM – The University of Alabama rebounded from a tough second round on Thursday to post a 6-under par final stroke play round Friday and clinch the No. 2 seed heading into Saturday’s match play at the Southeastern Conference Women’s Golf Championships.
Alabama will meet No. 7 seed Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals at 7 a.m. on the par-72, 6,253-yard Greystone Golf and Country Club Legends Course in Birmingham. In Saturday’s other quarterfinal match-play pairings, No. 1 South Carolina will play No. 8 Missouri. No. 4 Georgia plays No. 5 Auburn, and No. 3 Arkansas goes against No. 6 Florida. Quarterfinal winners advance to the semifinals Saturday afternoon to determine Sunday’s championship pairing.
The Crimson Tide (286-304-282/872) finished stroke play at 8-over par, five shots behind first-place South Carolina (291-291-282/867), which finished at 3-over par. Arkansas (299-293-283/875) finished third at 11-over par, Georgia (306-290-299/895) fourth at 31-over par, and Auburn (306-301-289/896) and Florida (298-301-297/896) tied for fifth at 32-over par. Vanderbilt (296-306-297/899) and Missouri (304-308-295/907) finished 35- and 43-over par, respectively, to clinch the final two match play spots.
Alabama’s Kristen Gillman (69-75-70/214), Cheyenne Knight (71-75-70/216) and Lauren Stephenson (72-76-70/218) were Alabama’s low scorers on Friday with 2-under par rounds. Gillman completed stroke play at 2-under par to finish in third place as one of only three women in the field to come in under par for 54 holes. Knight tied for fourth place at even par while Stephenson tied for ninth at 2-over par. Lakareber Abe (74-78-75/227) finished 26th at 11-over par and Angelica Moresco (77-80-72/157) tied for 31st at 13-over par.
