The No. 6 UF women's golf team has been firing on all cylinders early this season.
The Gators hope to sustain that success at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Classic in Knoxville, Tenn.
The tournament begins today and will end Sunday.
Coach Jill Briles-Hinton and the Gators are full of confidence coming off a runner-up finish at the Wildcat Invitational without two-time All-American Sandra Gal.
Gal, who leads the team in scoring average at 72.3 strokes per round, will be joined by fellow seniors Whitney Myers, who tied the UF single-round record with a blistering performance in finishing fifth at the Wildcat Invitational, and Tiffany Chudy, who tied for 11th in Lexington, Ky.
The spark for much of the early-season success, freshman Jessica Yadloczky is also part of the traveling team.
Yadloczky, the No. 3 freshman in the latest Golfweek rankings, helped her case for Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year contention by tying for sixth at the Wildcat Invitational.
Junior Ornella Jouven, who tied for ninth in the tournament last year, rounds out the UF lineup.
Even outside the five-player rotation, there will be talent in orange and blue.
Redshirt freshman Nicole Schachner, who qualified for the U.S. Women?s Amateur this summer, will be competing as an individual for the Gators and seeing her first tournament action of the fall.
SEC rival and defending tournament champion No. 7 Tennessee will host a talented field.
UF, which took seventh in the event last year, No. 5 Alabama and No. 9 Auburn are the Volunteers? biggest competition.
Central Florida and the Swedish Junior National Team are also in the field.
-STAFF REPORT
