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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Kelly Grassel lines up a shot during the 2015 SunTrust Gator Invitational at UF's Mark Bostick Golf Course.</p>

Kelly Grassel lines up a shot during the 2015 SunTrust Gator Invitational at UF's Mark Bostick Golf Course.

On the fifth hole in the first round of the SunTrust Gator Invitational two Saturdays ago, UCF senior Ashley Holder sliced her first shot into the woods to the right, just east of 34th Street.

After a bogie on the next hole and becoming visibly frustrated after ripping off her Golden Knights golf head cover and throwing it to the turf, the two-time American Athletic Conference Golfer of the Year let loose another tee shot, this time hitting her ball into the bunker on the seventh hole.

Playing with high emotion is something coach Emily Glaser has broached with her team in the past.

“I think the big difference maker was that we managed our emotions very well this week,” Glaser said after her team won the Invitational on Sunday. “We call it ‘the things that we can control.’”

That mindset sparked an offensive rally all weekend during the Invitational, and a pair of Gators golfers were well-rewarded for it on Wednesday: Senior Maria Torres was awarded SEC Women’s Golfer of the Week, and Marta Perez was named the SEC Women’s Freshman Golfer of the Week. Perez tied her low score on the season with 213 strokes through the weekend and tied for fourth overall, while Torres set several Gators records on her way to a 5-under finish, posting the best score in the NCAA so far this season.

Heading into yet another tournament during its busy spring season, the Gators women’s golf team will attempt to carry that mantra to South Carolina, where it will tee off in the Briar’s Creek Invitational today and tomorrow. Last year, UF ran away easily with the win at Briar’s Creek, beating second-place Indiana by 11 strokes and finishing 6 under. Torres posted an overall score of 1 over, tying her for 13th individually, while then-freshman Sam Wagner and then-junior Kelly Grassel carded scores of 4 under and 3 under, respectively, good for ties for fifth and seventh.

Glaser, fittingly talking about the team’s emotional and mental states during the last round of that tournament, said that the focus had to remain on the present.

“The wind picked up with about six holes left, and I thought we lost a little focus coming down the stretch,” Glaser said after last year’s win. “But we were able to close it out.”

Junior Taylor Tomlinson, who could be spotted at the Gator Invitational assessing and reassessing her shots, said that focus is something that comes and goes, and that the mental hurdles of the game are far more daunting than the physical.

“When I stand over the ball too long, or if I feel a little awkward, I’ll always reset and restart,” Tomlinson said. “I was actually telling my dad that on the last nine, my stomach kept growling when I stepped up to (the ball), and that’s why I kept stepping back.”

Contact Morgan McMullen at mmcmullen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @morganmcmuffin.

Kelly Grassel lines up a shot during the 2015 SunTrust Gator Invitational at UF's Mark Bostick Golf Course.

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