The Florida women’s golf team rebounded after a disastrous first round to finish in fifth place at the Bryan National Collegiate over the weekend.
The Gators shot poorly in the first round, nearly eliminating themselves from contention, but saw improvements in the second and third round that allowed the team to register its fourth top-five finish in the spring.
“Our play was solid today,” coach Emily Bastel said in the release. “We continued to move up the leaderboard all day, which is positive. Our start was shaky, but we did a great job of hanging in there until the end and I’m proud of the girls for that.”
The top finisher for Florida turned out to be freshman Ursa Orehek, who improved in each round. Orehek shot a 71 (-1) in the third round to tie for 17th in just her second tournament back from injury.
“Ursa had a great round today,” Bastel said. “We discussed after round one that she was having trouble finishing her rounds, so we made some adjustments over the last few days. It was nice to see that work for her and her birdie, birdie finish today is proof of that.”
Coming in next for Florida was junior transfer Elcin Ulu and senior Isabelle Lendl. Both tied for 32nd after Ulu shot a 75 (+3) and Lendl shot a 72 (+1).
Lendl participated in the final regular-season tournament of her Gators career and improved by nine strokes from her first round 81 (+9).
The most surprising result in the tournament was the play of sophomore Camilla Hedberg. Hedberg had the second-worst finish in her career, behind only last season’s NCAA Regionals, after shooting a 76 (+4) in the final round.
Senior Mia Piccio also tied for 40th with Hedberg despite improving by two strokes each day and finishing the third round with a solid 73 (+2.)
“Overall, we take a lot of positives away from this week,” Bastel said. “Our first round put us behind the eight ball, but we rebounded well and have some momentum heading into the SEC Tournament.”
It’s all playoff golf from here on out for Florida as their next tournament is the SEC Championship on April 19 – 21.
Senior Isabelle Lendl chips a shot onto the green. Lendl finished tied for 32nd at the Bryan National Collegiate this weekend.
