Marta Perez was in a difficult situation.
Her approach shot on the decisive playoff hole against Ole Miss landed short of the green and in the bunker.
Her opponent, Macy Somoskey, pitched it out of the sand trap and landed within two feet of the hole. Perez’s answer was a botched attempt to land on the green. Perez double bogeyed while Somoskey sunk her putt to eliminate the Florida women’s golf team 3-2 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Women’s Golf Championship.
“This one stings for sure,” coach Emily Glaser said in a release. “In my opinion, based on stroke play and even how we played today, it’s hard to argue we aren’t one of the best teams here. But everyone who knows golf knows match play is a different animal, and we weren’t able to get it done today.”
The Gators entered the first round of match play at the Greystone Golf & Country Club as the top seed after they finished 1 under in the first three days of stroke play.
They matched up against the No. 8 Rebels, with the winner advancing to the semifinal round on Sunday.
Elin Esborn was the first to fall for Florida, losing to Kennedy Swann on the 16th hole 3 and 2 after trailing for 15 of the 16 holes.
Clara Manzalini quickly answered back for the Gators, though, putting their first point on the board with her victory over Conner Beth Ball. The freshman from Italy needed just 15 holes to put the match away, defeating Ball 4 and 3 after winning three of the final six holes.
Sierra Brooks also added a tally to the victory column for Florida, defeating Ellen Hutchinson-Key 5 and 3 after dominating from start to finish. Brooks didn’t trail Hutchinson-Key once, finishing the match in 15 holes by also winning three of her last six holes.
Addison Baggarly had the opportunity to claim the victory for Florida, but trailed early to Julia Johnson. She entered the back nine down two holes and played her way back into it by trailing by just one entering the final hole. She dropped the hole and the match, giving the Rebels their second point.
Perez and Somoskey had a back-and-forth affair. Their scores were even 11 times throughout the 19 holes — two more times than all the other matches combined.
Somoskey entered the playoff hole after leading for just one hole the entire match, compared to Perez’s six. She held a slight lead after carding a birdie on 14, but Perez bogeyed on the 17th to reopen the door for Ole Miss and Somoskey. Perez’s sand shot hurt the Gators’ chance of a first place finish, as her up-and-down effort following the blunder wasn’t enough to defeat Somoskey.
The Gators dropped the match to the eventual SEC women’s champions, as Ole Miss went on to defeat Georgia in the semifinal round and beat No. 2 South Carolina in the final to claim the SEC Tournament title.
“As hard as it is to see the good in today’s outcome, we have to think big picture and allow this to motivate us for the rest of the season,” Glaser said.
Follow Victor Prieto on Twitter @victorprieto_11 and contact him at vprieto@alligator.org.
Sierra Brooks won her match over Ole Miss’ Ellen Hutchinson-Key 5 and 3 at the SEC Women’s Golf Championship on Saturday. She never trailed in the match.
