Florida remains atop the leaderboard after Day 3 of the SEC Women’s Championship, despite not one team shooting under par in a difficult day at the Greystone Golf & Country Club.
The Gators women’s golf team finished the day as the only school under par at 1 under. South Carolina closed the six stroke deficit, finishing in second place at 1 over, while Arkansas rounded out the top three with a 4 over finish.
The Gators shot 8 over as a team.
Marta Perez entered Friday as the leader at 7 under, but had a team-worst 5 over final round to fall four strokes behind the current leader. The junior from Spain picked up an early double bogey on hole five and spiraled down from there. She carded four bogeys with just one birdie on the day, leaving her tied for second on the player leaderboard.
Freshman Clara Manzalini used the harsh course conditions to her advantage, shooting even par on the day to move into a tie for the fifth place slot. Manzalini had a relatively clean score sheet, carding a birdie on the front nine and closing out the remaining holes with two bogeys and another birdie.
Junior Sierra Brooks stayed clean on her front nine with nine straight pars before ending the streak with a birdie on hole 10. She tagged on one more birdie, along with a bogey and a double bogey to conclude her round at 1 over and a ninth-place finish.
Elin Esborn and Addison Baggarly carded a combined nine bogeys, with seven of them coming on the back nine. Esborn would finish her round at 3 over and tied for 21st, while Baggarly placed one stroke behind at 4 over in a tie for 29th.
Despite the decline in play, Florida finished with all five players inside the Top 30-- a feat the team had only accomplished one other time this season.
The Gators move on to the weekend portion of the SEC Championship as the No. 1 seed. They’ll face No. 8 Ole Miss in match play on Saturday, with four teams advancing to the final round on Sunday.
Follow Victor Prieto on Twitter @victorprieto_11 and contact him at vprieto@alligator.org.
Junior Marta Perez is tied for second on the player leaderboard in the SEC Championships.
