USF women’s golf secures its second straight top-five finish and third in six events this season.
Smith registers her third top-10 finish of the season while Whitting and Dewinton-Davies place inside the top 25.
PANAMA CITY, Fla., MARCH 1, 2020 – USF women’s golf finished strong with its best round of the weekend and placed fifth in a tough field at the Florida State Match-Up on Sunday.
Improving on their previous score each windy day, the Bulls secured their second straight top-five finish and third in six events this season. Heading into the tournament, USF ranked eighth in the 10-team field and was tied for fourth near the end of the final round. Three Bulls placed in the top 25 while USF finished its second event of the spring just six shots behind No. 12 Alabama and No. 40 Clemson.
Erika Smith led the way once again, tying for 10th place in the 56-player field at 12-over and finishing three shots shy of the top five. The freshman from Orlando recorded USF’s lowest score Sunday (73) and collected her third top-10 finish of the season.
Jessica Whitting tied for 19th place at 15-over in her third top-25 finish as a Bull. The redshirt junior from Perth, Australia tied for fourth in the field with eight total birdies.
Sadie Dewinton-Davies tallied her second straight top-25 finish by tying for 22nd place at 16-over. The senior from Newtown, Wales totaled 36 pars – four short of the tournament best – and led the Bulls in par-4 scoring average (4.23).
USF Lineup Scores
| 5 | South Florida | 310 | 308 | 302 | 920 |
| T10 | Erika Smith (1) | 74 | 81 | 73 | 228 |
| T19 | Jessica Whitting (4) | 81 | 72 | 78 | 231 |
| T22 | Sadie Dewinton-Davies (3) | 74 | 80 | 78 | 232 |
| T28 | Ramya Meenakshisundaram (2) | 81 | 77 | 76 | 234 |
| 41 | Ashley Zagers (5) | 85 | 79 | 75 | 239 |
Quotable
Head coach Erika Brennan’s thoughts on the final round and solid finish:
“Today is very much an ‘and’ day. We are incredibly proud of the fight in this team and the progress we are making AND it also stings to get so close to climbing up to fourth in a field where we were ranked eighth going into the event. I think it’s OK to feel both of those things and for the girls to know that it’s OK to feel them both. We want to clean up some details, especially with short putts, but all in all the girls fought hard and proved they belong. That leaves us smiling and we are already thinking about practices leading into Gainesville next weekend.”
Assistant coach Dalton Stevens on what the Bulls’ ability to build more momentum at the Florida State Match-Up:
“This week there are a lot of positives that we can take away. Around a very tough setup, we hung in there and really battled every day. We improved on the team score each day and really got it back into a tie for fourth late in the round today. The grit and fight we showed out there around a tough layout and lots of wind really shows what this team is capable of against some of the best in the country. We picked up some big head-to-head wins in the rankings this week, which is huge for us as we continue to get where we want to go as a program. All in all, it was a solid week and we are looking forward to the quick turnaround as we head to Gainesville next week.”
Notables
- USF has posted three top-five finishes in six events this season.
- The Bulls ranked second in the 10-team field with a par-4 scoring average of 4.35 and tied for third with 28 total birdies.
- Freshman Erika Smith registered her third top-10 finish of the season. The freshman has placed inside the top 25 in four straight events.
Up Next
USF will continue its stretch of three tournaments on three straight weekends March 7-8 at the Gators Invitational in Gainesville, Fla.
About USF Women’s Golf
Veteran head coach Erika Brennan completed her first full season with USF in 2018-19 and helped the Bulls become the second-fastest rising program in the country as they climbed 75 spots in the national Golfstat rankings. The Bulls opened the 2018 fall season with a runner-up finish at the USA Intercollegiate and also placed second at the FIU Pat Bradley Invitational to wrap up their four-tournament run before the spring. In the spring opener, USF captured the program’s first tournament team title since April 11, 2017 with a two-shot victory at the Florida Challenge. USF finished up the regular season with a 22-shot win at the John Kirk Panther Intercollegiate on April 2. Freshman Ramya Meenakshisundaram became the first Bull to earn all-conference honors since 2016.
Stay up to date on the latest USF women’s golf news by following the Bulls on social media (Twitter | Facebook | Instagram).
