Cool, calm, poised, unflappable.
Those aren't adjectives you'd expect to hear when describing a freshman's play in her first collegiate golf tournament.
Nevertheless, it was freshman Evan Jensen who led the UF women's golf team in the third round of the Preview Invitational, shooting an even-par 72.
"For my first tournament, I think I played great," Jensen said.
Asked if she was surprised about her team-leading play, "I always set high expectations for myself."
Her final round catapulted her into a tie for 17th. However, a 17th-place finish as the team's best doesn't lead to a good finish as the Gators finished 14th out of the 15 teams.
In each of the three rounds, Jensen only got better, lowering her score progressively. She went from 3-over-par in the first round, to a 2-over-par in the second round, to her even 72 to cap things off.
For the whole tournament, Jensen shot 5-over to lead the team.
"Again, I am impressed with Evan's performance during this tournament," said coach Jill Briles-Hinton. "She was 1-under par for a while and ended up shooting an even-par 72, which was really solid."
Brittany Nelson also played her best round on Monday shooting a 5-over 77. She improved by seven strokes from the previous round to end up with a 27-over.
Sophomore Jessica Yadloczky shot her worst round, a 6-over 78. The round may have come as a surprise considering she shot a 2-under in Sunday's second round. She finished 4 strokes behind Jensen in the three-day effort at a 9-over 225.
The other freshman in the rotation, Andrea Watts, mimicked her second round with an 11-over par on the day. She finished one stroke behind her teammate, Nelson, to end the tournament at 28-over.
Even with Jensen's efforts, UF finished with a team score of 928, 64 over-par. The team shot a combined 308, 20-over, on Monday to match its second round.
Arizona State claimed first in the field with a team score of 872 to win the Preview Invitational. Individually, Caroline Hedwall of Oklahoma State finished first with a tournament score of 212.
"This tournament was a really good starting point for our team," Briles-Hinton said in a press release. "Now I will start the beginning stages of coaching with some of these girls and we will begin to see improvements."
