The No. 11 Texas women’s golf team traveled to Athens, Georgia, to compete in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic at the University of Georgia Golf Course, where a field of ranked teams proved to be a tough challenge for Texas. Texas faced off against accomplished teams, including No. 3 Wake Forest, No. 4 South Carolina, No. 12 Alabama, No. 13 Southern California, No. 16 Texas A&M and No. 17 Arkansas on a course of 6,317 yards with a par of 72. As the lone Big 12 team in the tournament, Texas struggled against fierce SEC competition.

On day one, graduate student Brigitte Thibault led the Longhorns with a score of 74, followed by junior Sophie Guo with a score of 75. Thibault finished the day tied for 22nd, and Guo finished tied for 26th. Guo is a junior from Orlando, Florida, and was named to the Golfweek All-America 2020 first team, the Women’s Golf Coaches Association 2020 second team and All-Big 12 in 2021. Academically, Guo was named to the Big 12 Academic Honor Roll in spring 2020 and fall 2021, and in 2021 was named to the Academic All-Big 12 first team. After one day of play, the Longhorns recorded a total score of 312, finishing tied for 14th place.

On day two of the tournament, sophomore Bentley Cotton got off to a strong start, recording five birdies for a score of 74 to push her into 50th place individually. Guo recorded a score of 79 on the second day, the third-best score of the day for the Longhorns. Cotton and Guo helped Texas move up two spots to 12th place going into the third and final day of play. After two days, the Longhorns held a total score of 624.

The third day of play showed improvement for Texas, with Guo recording a score of 72, featuring six birdies to keep herself even with par. Thibault also finished the tournament with a strong round, recording a score of 73 with five birdies. The team recorded a score of 298, for a total score of 922. The Longhorns finished tied for 11th with No. 22 Ole Miss, who recorded scores of 302, 315 and 305 on the three respective days of the tournament.

Individually, Guo had the best finish for the Longhorns, tied for 23rd place with a total score of 226. Guo moved up 17 spots in the third round for her second-best finish of the season. Thibault had the next best finish for the Longhorns, with a score of 228 to be tied for 33rd.

After scoring 82 on the first day, Cotton returned with a strong finish, scoring 74 on day two to move her up 23 spots to 50th place, and then a 76 on day three to move her up two more spots to 48th. The Longhorns will return to the course April 11 at The Bruzzy in Dallas, Texas, hosted by the University of North Texas.