BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – 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 on Saturday.
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.
"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 Zúñiga 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.
Senior Julie McCarthy overcame a triple bogey on the first hole Friday to shoot a 74 (+2) in the third round. At 3-over for the tournament, she placed in a tie for 48th.
LSU won the stroke play portion of the SEC Championship at 46-under par (818) and will be joined in match play by South Carolina (827), Auburn (839), Ole Miss (843), Mississippi State (849), Vanderbilt (849), Alabama (850) and Arkansas (852).
Auburn and Vanderbilt will tee off Saturday at 7 a.m. CT in the quarterfinals. The winner will move on to the semifinals later that day. Live scoring can be found on Golfstat.com.
"I think we all really enjoy match play," Telfer said. "If you look at our scorecard, we've had a few big numbers but a lot of birdies, so that's also always good for match play. Just throw out that one hole. I think we're all very excited and if we put our minds to it, we can win this."
Team Standings
1. LSU – 818 (-46)
2. South Carolina – 827 (-37)
3. Auburn – 839 (-25)
4. Ole Miss – 843 (-21)
T5. Mississippi State – 849 (-15)
T5. Vanderbilt – 849 (-15)
7. Alabama – 850 (-14)
8. Arkansas – 852 (-12)
T9. Tennessee – 853 (-11)
T9. Florida – 853 (-11)
11. Texas A&M – 864 (E)
12. Kentucky – 865 (+1)
13. Missouri – 875 (+11)
14. Georgia – 882 (+18)
Auburn Individuals
T13. Kaleigh Telfer – 69, 72, 68 (-7)
T17. Elena Hualde Zúñiga – 69, 73, 68 (-6)
T17. Mychael O'Berry – 70, 66, 74 (-6)
T23. Megan Schofill – 71, 68, 72 (-5)
T48. Julie McCarthy – 73, 72, 74 (+3)
Auburn stays low, earns No. 3 seed in SEC quarterfinals
