The Florida women’s golf team entered 2011 wondering just how good they really are.
After an inconsistent fall campaign that yielded a No. 26 ranking and a 15-week layoff, the team opened the spring season Monday at the Northrup Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes, Calif., in unspectacular fashion.
The Gators tried to prove their ranking against top-25 foes UCLA, Southern California, Michigan State, Wake Forest and Ohio State.
Earlier in the week, coach Jan Dowling was confident about Florida’s chances in the event, held at the Palos Verdes Golf Club. She felt the course offered many of the same challenges as the Gators’ home course.
Dowling noted the small, fast greens in California are an aspect of the course they have had the chance to prepare for at home.
Dowling has also done her best to get her golfers to focus on things other than winning the tournament.
“I want to focus more on individual performances,” Dowling said. “This is a great chance to see how we compare to one of the best teams in the nation (UCLA) on a course that they play regularly.”
While the Gators certainly didn’t embarrass themselves, they aren’t quite on par with teams like UCLA just yet.
After Monday’s opening round of play, they are stuck in 5th place with a 21-over-par score. This places them 15 strokes behind the tournament-leading Trojans, who turned in a 6-over-par 290 score, and nine behind the Bruins, who are in third.
The best individual performance for the Gators came from their No. 3 position, where sophomore Mia Piccio shot a 3-over-par 74 to end the day tied for ninth place. Senior Jessica Yadloczky turned in a 5-over-par 76 and is tied for 20th.
Junior Evan Jensen is tied for 29th after a 6-over-par round of 77, and sophomore Isabelle Lendl scored a 7-over-par 78 to tie for 31st. Junior Andrea Watts’ 8-over-par 79 did not count toward the team’s total.
Despite the struggles of many of her golfers, Dowling was pleased with certain aspects of the team’s play.
“I like the fight of our team,” Dowling said. “The scores do not reflect ball-striking as well as they could have.”
Dowling was also impressed by the 3-over-par performance of Piccio and noted that without a couple of unfortunate mistakes late in her round, she would be sitting near the top of the leaderboard.
“Her round was really better than a 74,” Dowling said. “She doubled 18 where she got stuck in a bunker and hit a wrong club on No. 8, but besides that, she played really solid.”
The Gators will begin their second round today at various tee times. They will again have a chance to show that they can compete with some of the nation’s top teams in an event that can go a long way toward proving just how good they can be.
