Georgia Women’s Golf prepared for spring season, opening invitational with many new faces

Wesley Branch

Carmical Sports Media Institute

Georgia Head Coach Josh Brewer during the Lady Bulldog Invitational at the UGA Golf Course in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, Jan. 27, 2024. (Kari Hodges/UGAAA)

The Georgia women’s golf team will participate in its first team event this weekend at the Guadalajara Country Club in Guadalajara, Mexico. With only three returning players from last year’s roster, there is much anticipation around the new faces of the Lady Bulldogs this season.

The group of Lady Bulldogs representing the team in Mexico consists of upperclassmen Caterina Don, LoraLie Cowart and transfer Kate Song as well as freshmen Savannah De Bock and Natachanok “Drive” Tunwannarux. Graduate-transfer Bernice Olivarez Ilas will also travel and compete in the tournament as an individual.

Head coach Josh Brewer said he’s focused on getting an opportunity to see where his team sits as the spring season ramps up. “Really, I’m kind of curious where we’re at,” said Georgia women’s golf coach Josh Brewer. “It’s been really since October since I’ve seen them compete, minus one round in a tournament. So, this will give me a good bearing of what we need to do to get ready for kind of April-May, our important time of year.”

Coach Brewer also emphasized that this weekend will give the team and its newcomers a chance to continue to gel and build chemistry for the season ahead. “This weekend is just how we gel on the road really,” Brewer said.

Fifth-year senior Caterina Don is one of the leaders of this season’s Lady Bulldogs team, both in the locker room and on the course. Finishing the fall season ranked No. 53 individually, she shared that she’s concentrated on finishing her Georgia career successfully and showing the program’s culture to her new teammates.

“I think you know, having so many new players come in, you sort of have to show them what’s the culture, what do we want to do,” said Don. “Cause you know, success is not just about going out and playing, there’s a lot of other things that come with that.”

Don continued, saying, “You know me, Isabella (Holpfer) and LoraLie (Cowart), we are the returning players, so we’re putting a lot of effort in letting the new girls know what we stand for on this team, before even playing golf.”

Junior LoraLie Cowart echoed that same sentiment, adding that the players have already bought into the culture. “They all have come in with an open mind, no matter whether they were coming in as a freshman or a transfer,” Cowart said. “They’ve definitely bought into the culture that we try to build here.”