Last week, the Florida Gators women’s golf team won the SunTrust Gator Invitational while setting a tournament record by shooting even par. The week before, it ran away with a win at the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Golf Championship. This week at the Evans Derby Experience in Auburn, Alabama, however, an entirely different narrative was written.
At the end of round one of three, the Gators closed in seventh place with a 4 over par, 14 strokes behind leader and in-state rival Florida State.
Florida was led by its sophomore transfer Sierra Brooks, who has been at the top of the leaderboard all year.
Brooks – recently named to the ANNIKA Award Watch List, which honors the player of the year in women’s golf – continued her stretch of solid golf. She was the only Gator to finish under par with a 2 under, good enough for a tie for ninth place.
Brooks was followed by sophomore Marta Perez, who finished tied for 22nd at even par.
Close on her heels were senior Taylor Tomlinson and freshman Addie Baggarly, who both shot 3 over par and sit tied for 46th.
Rounding out the top five for the Gators was sophomore Carlotta Ricolfi. Ricolfi struggled mightily on Sunday, scoring 15 over par and limping into 74th place in the 75-person field.
Also competing for the Gators individually was freshman Lauren Waidner. She finished Day 1 with sole possession of 70th place at 8 over par.
“I saw some toughness today, even though we didn't play our best golf,” Florida coach Emily Glaser said in a release
Two interesting developments were the presence of Wake Forest, Brooks’ former team, in the tournament and the absence of redshirt freshman Elin Esborn.
Florida and Wake Forest sit just one stroke apart, putting them in line to be paired up for Round 2 tomorrow.
When asked for comment regarding Esborn, team officials declined to comment.
The Gators resume play Monday morning at 9:30 a.m.
Follow Chris O'Brien on Twitter @THEChrisOB and contact him at cobrien@alligator.org.
A week after winning the SunTrust Gator Invitational last weekend, sophomore Sierra Brooks carded the only under-par score for Florida in the first round of the Evans Derby Experience in Auburn, Alabama.