Defending champion Julia Lopez Ramirez takes the lead at SEC Championships

April 13, 2024 | by Justin Golba of AmateurGolf.com

Julia Lopez Ramirez (Mississippi State Athletics Photo)

The Mississippi State standout is two shots ahead of the field while South Carolina leads the team competition.

Last year, Julia Lopez Ramirez of Mississippi State stood on top of the SEC, winning the 2023 SEC Women's Championships individual title.

With 18 holes left, she has a chance to do the same thing this year.

Lopez Ramirez leads the 2024 SEC Women's Championship stroke play portion at 5-under by two shots heading into the final round at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla.

Lopez Ramirez has shot rounds of 3-under 67 and 2-under 68 to get to 5-under. Through 36 holes, she has recorded five birdies, two bogeys, and an eagle. Her 2-under 68-second round was a model of consistency, shooting a bogey-free round with two birdies and 16 pars.

Lopez-Ramirez is currently ranked No. 4 in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com Women's Rankings. In 2023, she won the SEC Women's Championships and the 2023 European Ladies Amateurand, most recently, shared co-medalist honors at the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate.

Ingrid Lindblad of LSU, Laney Frye of Kentucky, and Hannah Darling of South Carolina are all chasing the leader, sitting T2 at 3-under. Lindblad is the No. 1 ranked player in the Golfweek/AmateurGolf.com Women's Rankings.

2022 ANWA champion Anna Davis of Auburn and Louise Rydqvist of South Carolina are T5 at 2-under.

In the team competition, South Carolina leads and is the only team under par through 36 holes. The first-round leader is 3-under total, leads the field by three shots, and has shot rounds of 275-282.

2023 champions Texas A&M continues its quest to repeat and is in solo second place at even par, only three shots back of the leaders, South Carolina. Auburn is in solo third place at 2-over, and 2023 runner-up Mississippi State is in solo fourth place at 8-over.

Georgia is in solo fifth place at 12-over, and Kentucky is in solo sixth place at 14-over.

The field will play 18 holes of stroke play Sunday to decide the top eight teams that will advance to match play. The quarterfinal match will be played on Monday morning, with the semifinals immediately after. It will be streamed on SECN+ at 3 p.m. The championship match on Tuesday will be broadcast on SEC Network at 9 a.m.

Results: SEC Women's Championship

Place	Player	Location	Pts	Scores
1	Julia Lopez Ramirez	, Spain	800	67-68-65=200
2	Louise Rydqvist	, Sweden	500	68-70-65=203
3	Laney Frye	Lexington, KY	400	68-69-67=204
4	Anna Davis	Spring Valley, CA	400	69-69-68=206
5	Ingrid Lindblad	, Sweden	400	68-69-70=207