A tough start is a hard thing to overcome.
The No. 8 UF women's golf team limped out of the gates Sunday at the Preview Invitational. After two rounds, the team shot a combined 620, which dropped them into 13th place.
The five-woman rotation that made the trip to Caves Valley Golf Club in Maryland consisted of Jessica Yadloczky, Brittany Nelson, Lauren Uzelatz, and freshmen Evan Jensen and Andrea Watts.
Despite playing in her first collegiate tournament, Jensen managed to shoot a 3-over 75 in her first round and then lower that score to a 2-over 74 in the second round.
"I am really impressed with Evan," coach Jill Briles-Hinton said in a press release. "She had an amazing first day of collegiate golf. I am very happy with her performance, especially without having a practice round."
After a disappointing first round that saw Yodloczky bogey five holes, including back-to-back the 8th and 9th holes, she roared back in the second round with a 2-under 70. The 2-under performance was the Gators' lone under-par score. She shot a 3-over 147 for both rounds, which tied her for 16th overall.
Lauren Uzelatz had the toughest go of all with a 20-over 92 in the first round. She trimmed her score in the second round by 11 strokes, yielding a 9-over 81.
Nelson and Watts rounded out the rotation by going a combined 40-over in both rounds of play.
"I think that today was a good starting point for our team," Briles-Hinton said. "The team is going to move forward and work on the areas that are needed. I know that this team is better than what we shot and that we will see improvements in their games. Overall, today was a wonderful growing opportunity."
Georgia leads all schools with a team-total 579 (+3).
Virginia's Jennie Arseneault commands the individual leaderboard however. Arseneault shot a 6-under 138 over both rounds with rounds of 68 and 70, respectively.
