The Florida women’s golf team tied for seventh place with Ole Miss at the Kinderlou Forest Challenge in Valdosta, Ga.
The Gators finished with a three-round total of 913 (295-309-309, +37).
“Because we were in a shotgun this week — we played all three rounds starting on the same hole — we actually finished on the same three holes which happened to be a pretty tough stretch of golf,” UF coach Jan Dowling said. “We didn’t play them as well as we would have liked to, and it kind of killed our momentum going into the second and third rounds. But we have got to take the positives from this week and learn from it.”
The squad started off strong through the first round-and-a-half, but after the second round was rescheduled for Tuesday morning due to darkness, Florida lost its momentum.
Freshman Isabelle Lendl led the Gators in the third round, carding a one-over 74. She finished the tournament in a tie for 20th with a 54-hole score of 227 (73-80-74, +8).
Fellow freshman Mia Piccio joined Lendl in 20th with the same score (73-77-77).
Sophomore Marika Lendl trailed the freshmen by one stroke, but that meant six spots on the leaderboard. She finished in a tie for 26th, carding a 228 (74-76-78, +9).
Sophomore Evan Jensen (75-79-80, +15) and junior Jessica Yadloczky (76-77-83, +17), rounded out the Gators’ lineup, finishing 49th and 55th, respectively.
The UF men’s golf team completed the John Hayt Invitational in Ponte Vedra Beach with a seventh-place finish, jumping four spots on the leaderboard. The Gators finished with a total score of 899 (310-293-296, +35).
Senior Tim McKenney led the way by finishing in a tie for fifth. He carded a tournament total of 217 (78-70-69, +1), improving his score each round.
Next in line for Florida, senior Tyson Alexander finished in a tie for 21st, shooting 225 (80-72-73, +9).
Freshman Phillip Choi was two strokes back in a tie for 34th.
Choi had his highest round of the Invitational on Tuesday and finished with a tournament total of 227 (72-77-78, +11).
Trailing behind their fellow teammates, junior Bank Vongvanij matched his Sunday score in his last round to card a 54-hole total of 234 (80-74-80, +18), and junior Andres Echavarria ended in a tie for 79th with a 24-over par score of 240.
Playing as an individual, freshman Tyler McCumber had the best finish of his career, tying for fifth place on a 217 (75-71-71, +1) total. His performance shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the tournament was held in his hometown.
