When the Florida women’s golf team completed its first round at the NCAA Championship on Wednesday, there were still more than 12 teams on the course.
As players sought out lunch, it was unclear how the No. 19 Gators’ 6-over round of 294 would stack up against the competition. But at the end of the day, UF sits in fifth place, trailing four teams ranked in the top 10.
Coach Jan Dowling said she was pleased with her team’s result in round one, as the Gators didn’t record a score higher than bogey.
“That’s a testament to the way they played,” Dowling said. “If they missed [a green] they took their medicine and were obviously making some smart decisions out there.”
Leading up to the tournament, Dowling said she emphasized a conservative approach on the difficult Traditions Golf Course in Bryan, Texas. Designed by Jack Nicklaus, the course punishes missed shots and makes scoring difficult.
“[A conservative approach] will actually give you more opportunities for birdies than if you were pin-seeking on every hole,” Dowling said. “It’s very penal to be missing on the short side of greens on this golf course.”
Junior Andrea Watts must have been paying attention. She carded an even-par 72 on Wednesday with an astonishing 18 straight pars.
“That’s pretty impressive isn’t it,” Dowling said. “We were kind of laughing. That’s not something that happens very often.”
Dowling said Watts’ ball-striking consistently kept her ball in the fairway and on the green in regulation. But it was her lack of a three-putt that helped keep the round together, the coach said.
Playing out of the No. 1 spot in the rotation, sophomore Mia Piccio also fired an even-par 72. Piccio made the turn at 1-over and bogeyed her 10th hole before making two birdies to pull back to even.
Starting at the par-5 10th, sophomore Isabelle Lendl began her round with a birdie, but it would be her only red number on the day. She added three bogeys on the back nine to shoot a 2-over 74.
Junior Evan Jensen had 14 pars and four bogeys on the day, carding a 4-over 76. The team’s only senior Jessica Yadloczky, whose round didn’t count toward the team total Wednesday, struggled to a 9-over 81.
Wind gusts blew at 20 mph constantly from the start of the round, Dowling said, but she also added that her team didn’t seem to be fazed.
“We knew that was going to happen and we prepared for it,” the coach said. “Hopefully that hard work that they’ve put in is going to continue to pay off the next few days.”
