Maria Torres and one of her playing partners, UCF's Ashley Holder, joked with each other as they made the walk from the third hole to the fourth tee on the opening day of the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Saturday.
On the par-5 third hole they had just finished, shouts of “sit!” and “get down!” and “bam!” erupted from both the players and the crowd that had gathered to watch Torres, the reigning SEC Player of the Year.
She and Holder both birdied the hole, but they took very different routes to the finish.
“That really keeps you going,” Torres said of the chatting between holes. “It’s just competitive.”
That competitiveness helped Torres lead UF to an 8-stroke victory over Duke. It also helped her set several Gators records along the way.
Torres posted a 4-under-par second round and shot 5 under for the tournament, both good for first in the tournament’s 45-year history. Overall, the Gators shot an 847, the best non-rain-shortened score since 1974. Marta Perez and Taylor Tomlinson helped the cause, placing in ties for fourth and ninth, respectively.
Coach Emily Glaser said she was proud of the way her team and staff controlled things that they could and of the outcome it produced.
“I think the biggest difference maker was that we managed our emotions very well this week,” Glaser said. “This is probably the most at-ease I’ve seen our team before teeing it up at a home event.”
That easy-going attitude shined through after a weather delay forced all teams off the course for 45 minutes. While some teams stood under the awning at the Mark Bostick Golf Course, the Gators made their way inside, joked with each other and shared their experiences from playing on the course earlier in the day.
After a grueling 36-hole day on a warm Saturday that gave UF a 7-stroke lead over Duke, the Gators didn’t let up, posting a 2-over-par team score on Sunday. Torres did the bulk of that work, hitting three consecutive birdies to start the back nine to finish off her 5-birdie second day.
“She’s very steady,” Glaser said of her senior golfer. “In that back nine (Sunday), she just put the hammer down…she hits a lot of greens, she’s always very steady, and when she gets the putter rolling, she can be a very good putter.”
On the 18th hole at Mark Bostick stands a giant white scoreboard with the individual and team leaders facing out towards the fairway. It’s updated constantly by staffers who get updates radioed in every three holes. As Torres approached the green of the 18th on Day 2, her ball lying in the rough just to the left of the hole, she couldn’t help but look up at it.
“I like to see it,” Torres said. “You don’t get to see it by every single hole. You feel comfortable (when you see it), but you still want to finish good.”
Torres missed the putt for par after she chipped the ball within 10 yards of the hole. But at that point, the bogie didn’t matter. She’d already won.
Results
1. Maria Torres -5 (205)
3. Karolina Vlckova* +1 (211)
T4. Marta Perez +3 (213)
T9. Taylor Tomlinson +6 (216)
T11. Kelly Grassel +7 (217)
T11. Sam Wagner +7 (217)
Up Next: Briar’s Creek Invitational, Kiawah Island, South Carolina. March 20-21.
* Denotes individual competition
Contact Morgan McMullen at mmcmullen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @morganmcmuffin.
Maria Torres tees off during the 2015 SunTrust Gator Invitational at UF's Mark Bostick Golf Course.
