In college golf, the putter is the most important club in the bag with more than a third of players’ shots during a round coming from the flat stick.

And unfortunately for the Georgia women’s golf team, its putters didn’t want to cooperate this weekend, as it struggled on the greens of the Bryan Park Championship Course in Greensboro, N.C., to finish in a tie for 14th at the Bryan National Collegiate this weekend – Georgia’s lowest finish of the season.

“Well, we really just never quite were able to get it going,” head coach Kelley Hester said. “We just really struggled to be quite honest, mostly with the putter.”

Junior Carolina Andrade posted the top individual performance for the Dogs with a tie for 35th at 14-over-par for the tournament, which would have been far better were it not for some difficulties on the muddy greens. Senior Mallory Hetzel and freshman Marta Silva Zamora were the next highest finishers for the Dogs, finishing in a tie for 63rd at 16-over-par. Zamora struggled on the opening day with an opening-round 87 – her worst round of the year – before rallying in the final two days to rounds of 1-under-par 71 and 5-over-par 77.

“I told the girls after Marta struggled the first round that I was sure she was going to play really well the next two and the 1-under-par yesterday was just outstanding but not surprising,” Hester said.

One bright spot for the Lady Dogs was junior Leigh Crosby, who led the team in birdies.

Crosby seems to have come out of her slump with three rounds in the 70s to finish in 68th, just one stroke behind teammates Hetzel and Zamora.

“I was proud of myself,” Crosby said. “I feel like I hit the ball a lot better than I scored. Considering the past couple of tournaments, I’ve really turned things around, and I’ve showed myself this week that I can hit a lot of good shots with how many birdies I had this week.”

Following their frustrating performance this weekend, the Lady Dogs will be spending a great deal of time on the greens in preparation for the SEC Championships, which take place Feb. 17-19 at Cobblestone Park Golf Club in Columbia, S.C.

“It looks like the team was way off but the reality is everyone was a little bit off, so we can take care of that I think we’ll be in good shape heading into the SEC Championships,” Hester said.