GSU Women's Golf Falls Short of Three-Peat

While the two-time defending champions failed to three-peat as Colonial Athletic Association champs, the Georgia State women’s golf team finished as the runner up.

But one of their own did finish top dog.

GSU junior Charlotte Guilleux took top honors at the CAA Championship as she scored an even par-72 in the final round of play on Sunday, which was the lowest score of the tournament. She finished the three-day event at six-over 222, and became the third Panther in four years to capture the CAA individual medal. She bested Nicole Sakamoto of James Madison by just one stroke.

“Charlotte is a great player,” said head coach Cathy Mant. “She’s a real talented player. It was great to see her talent come to the forefront like that, especially in the conference tournament. She hasn’t put up the scores she’s wanted to this year, so it was great to see her succeed like that.”

Meanwhile the Panthers just missed claiming an at-large bid to make the NCAA tournament. They’ve played on the national stage seven of the past eight years, but the young team just missed the boat this year. However, last year’s CAA champion, junior Charlotte Lentzen, will also represent Georgia State in the NCAA tournament. The No. 1 player on the team was selected by the NCAA as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Region, which starts play in Daytona Beach on May 18.

“She’s our No. 1 player,” Mant said. “She had a phenomenal 64 at the University of Florida’s course, which I think is a course record. That’s phenomenal golf, and that’s what she’s been able to do all year. She struggled in the conference championship, so that was sad for her.”

Despite having to fight crazy weather conditions with downpours all day, the Panthers were on the top of the leader board at the end of day one of at the par 72, 6,002-yard Pinehurst No. 6 in Pinehurst, N.C. Friday. But at the end of day two, the Panthers were two strokes back and never regained that lead, falling to second place, just five strokes short of the champion, UNC Wilmington, which jumped from fourth to first with a tournament best 299 team score. The Panthers finished with a team score of 922 (+58) while UNCW finished the tournament with a total score of 917 (+53).

“I have a really young team,” Gant said. “Lentzen is our only returning player. We had a brand new team. We set a goal of winning a conference champ at the beginning of the season, so that was always there. I thought we had a great opportunity to get it done, we just fell a little short.”

Individually Solveig Helgesen and Laura Sanchez, both freshmen, finished 11th and 13th, respectively, for the Panthers. Helgesen carded a 231 (+15) and Sanchez notched a 232 (+16). Last year’s champion, Lorentzen finished 24^th at 237 (+21).

“We did no like finishing second,” Gant said. “I left a bad taste in our mouths. So maybe it was a good thing it happened. It will be added motivation for us to try and win it all again next year.”