BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Vanderbilt women’s golf team saved its best round of stroke play for last and fired an 8-under-par 280 on Friday at the SEC Championships.
The Commodores (-15) moved into a tie for fifth place with Mississippi State and advanced with seven other teams into Saturday’s match play portion of the tournament at the Greystone Golf and Country Club. Vandy will face Auburn starting at 7 a.m. Saturday.
“The goal was just to get a Saturday tee time and we were able to do that,” Vanderbilt head coach Greg Allen said. “The girls like our matchups and I like our matchups. It’ll be fun. Just got to come out Saturday fighting.
Celina Sattelkau continued her torrid pace Friday with another round at 5-under-par – her second of the week. The German finished stroke play in third place at 13-under-par and two shots back of South Carolina’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard.
Sattelkau carded 16 birdies in her first three rounds.
“Celina, my goodness, was that girl impressive all week,” Allen said. “Lipped out for birdie on the last hole, but three solid rounds. So proud of her and the season she has put together.”
Vandy senior Louise Yu (E, T-36) also came out strong Friday and carded a 69 – her best round of the week. Tess Davenport played even-par to finish stroke play 6-under-par and tied for 17th.
Auston Kim (+7, T-56) and Morgan Baxendale (+11, T-63) rounded out Vanderbilt’s scorecard.
“I thought I really thought we got off to a solid start,” Allen said. “Mo opened up with a birdie on her first hole and then what Celina and Auston did on 3, 4 and 5, both of them making three birdies in a row – then Lou getting under par. We just got off to a great start.
“I felt really comfortable, which is saying a lot for me to be comfortable, by holes 11 and 12. And I wasn’t looking at the team scores I was only looking at what we were doing and then all of a sudden Auston got sideways on 13 and 14 and then Lou on 16 but my goodness did they overcome adversity and made some birdies coming in. Tess was really solid. Just played so great this week and was so steady for us. Made some key birdies for us on the back nine.”
LSU took the top spot after stroke play with a 46-under-par. South Carolina (-37) was second followed by Auburn (-25) and Ole Miss (-21). Alabama came in seventh (-14) while Arkansas was eighth (-12).
Tennessee, Florida, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Missouri and Georgia were eliminated after Friday’s action.
Live scoring for Saturday’s match play can be found HERE. Allen said the Commodores will dine as a team Friday before getting plenty rest ahead of Saturday’s early tee time.
“We’ll be ready for a whole-day battle,” Allen added. “We just got to keep making putts.”
