Coming into the Gator Invitational on Sunday, the Florida women’s
golf team knew it had to prove itself.
The memory of their embarrassing 3rd place finish last
year was not one the team wanted to repeat. Winning its home
tournament this time around was “one of our main goals coming into
the spring season,” said head coach Jan Dowling.
The Gators exercised their demons and accomplished one of their
goals Monday, securing an 18-stroke victory over second place
Florida State at the Gator Invitational.
Florida didn’t play up to its record-tying standards of Sunday, but
Monday’s 13-over-par final round showed coach Dowling another side
or her team.
“We got off to a really tough start, but I was really proud the way
we stayed poised and maintained a high level of play,” she
explained.
Evan Jensen, Mia Piccio, and Isabelle Lendl all finished tied for
seventh, shooting 7-over. Jessica Yadloczky was close behind
shooting 10-over for the tournament.
If not for a 3-over score in her final five holes, the junior
Jensen would have been in contention for the individual crown won
by FSU’s Hannah Thompson, who shot even par.
“I’ve really had a tough start to the spring season, but my game’s
definitely gotten better,” said Jensen, “my ball-striking wasn’t
great on the last few holes, and that’s what I have to work at
going forward.”
Probably the top development for Florida from the Gator
Invitational was consistency shown by all of the Gators. To begin
the season, Florida had to rely on one or two players to carry the
team because of poor showings from its teammates, but this
certainly wasn’t the case over the last two days. The Gators had
four golfers in the top-15, and another, Andrea Watts, in the
top-25.
Jensen summed up the importance of Florida receiving contributions
from all of its golfers by saying “that’s how we won the
tournament.”
