Georgia Wins 2005 USGA Women's State Team Championship

Laura Coble, 41, of Augusta shot a final-round 1-over-par 74 and was her team’s low scorer for the third consecutive day in leading Georgia to a two-stroke victory over late-charging Alabama at the USGA Women’s State Team Championship held on the North Course at Berkeley Hall in Bluffton, S.C. Georgia finished with a 54-hole total of 4-under 434. Texas and Maryland shared third place at 450. New York, which was in third place after each of the first two rounds, slipped back into a tie for fifth with Florida (453).

Coble, an eight-time Women’s Player of the Year in Georgia and the head women’s golf coach at Augusta State, teamed with 21-year-old Jean Reynolds of Newnan, whose 75 counted toward the team’s third-round score, and Korean-born Kyu Ri Ban, 19, of Duluth, for the win. The best two scores from the team’s three players count for the total.

“This is a national championship,” said Coble, who added rounds of 68 and 72. “It’s something I’ve always dreamed of. This is special for us and for Georgia. I’m enjoying this as much as if I had done it individually.”

Alabama, which won the title in 1997, made a late charge behind Candace Schepperle of Hoover and 2002 U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Kathy Hartwiger of Hoover, who played on the ’97 title team. Schepperle, a home-schooled high school senior who had committed to attend Auburn University in the fall of 2006, carded a final-round 70 to edge Coble by a stroke for low overall individual honors at 6-under 213. 

But Coble’s opening-round 68 was the low round of the competition. She also made two birdies over her second nine in the final round to help quiet the Alabama rally.

“She’s our leader,” said Reynolds, a junior at the University of Georgia, where she no longer competes on the school’s golf team. College players are not eligible to play in the State Team Championship due to NCAA rules. “You have to look up to her because she’s such an excellent player.”