Florida fell short of its goal Tuesday but left South Carolina with a sense of encouragement.
And a new school record.
The Gators shot even-par to close out their final round at the Cougar Classic in Hanahan, S.C., finishing in third place at 856 (284-284-288, -8). Freshman Camilla Hedberg led UF with a score of 2-under 70 to tie for third place individually and walk away with the lowest tournament total in school history (71-67-70, -8).
Hedberg’s total of 208 bests Jessica Yadloczky’s previous 54-hole school record of 209 at the 2009 UCF Challenge.
“I’m very happy for Camilla,” coach Jan Dowling said. “To come out in her first event at the University of Florida and shoot 8-under for three rounds is pretty impressive.”
LSU won the tournament with a team score of 848 (280-291-277, -16), capped by a dynamic 11-under third round. North Carolina finished in second place, three shots ahead of Florida.
The Tigers’ Austin Ernst finished with the top individual score at 13-under par.
Dowling said the Gators’ finish to the tournament was strong, despite the team dropping a spot on the leaderboard.
“I’m happy with the way they pulled through [Tuesday],” she said. “It was a really solid tournament and we had the chance to win, which was exactly what we were asking for. They did a great job this week with their consistent play.”
UF made 17 birdies on Tuesday and 54 in all.
Senior Andrea Watts bounced back from a poor second round with three birdies and 12 pars to finish at even-par. Dowling said she wasn’t too worried about Watts heading into the final round.
“She worked on her golf swing after her round [Monday] and made a couple little adjustments,” Dowling said. “She really wanted to contribute to the team [Tuesday].”
The Gators’ next tournament is Sept. 23-25 at the Mason Rudolph Fall Preview hosted by Vanderbilt at the Legends Club, the location of the 2012 NCAA Championships.
“We’re really excited for next [weekend],” Dowling said. “Our team should definitely build some confidence from this week we just had.”
