Florida defended its home course this weekend and dominated the Vystars Gators Invitational at Mark Bostick Golf Course, winning its second-straight tournament by 18 strokes.
Domination may be an understatement though, considering that out of the 72 participants, four Gators finished within the top ten of the individual leaderboard, and all nine finished within the top 30.
The leader of the great performance was senior Marta Perez, who finished the tournament in second place after a stellar final round that saw her shoot 3-under par and jump up eight spots on the individual leaderboard.
Another standout performer was freshman Annabell Fuller. She was consistent all weekend but had an amazing first round that saw her shoot 1-under par for the day. Overall, she shot 3-over par for the weekend, good enough to finish tied for third place.
Just one stroke off of Fuller was sophomore Clara Manzalini at 4-over par. Much like Fuller, her best performance also came in Round 1 as she shot an even par, finishing the tournament in sixth place.
Right behind Manzalini was junior Addie Baggarly, who shot 7-over par and finished the tournament tied for seventh place. Round one was unforgiving for Baggarly as she shot 7-over par, but a 1-under par second round redeemed the junior shortly after.
The fifth and final member of the Florida team was freshman Marina Escobar Domingo. The freshman had a solid first round that saw her shoot 1-over par, good enough to help her finish the tournament in 14th place.
Outside of the five team members, UF had four individual competitors as well. Those four included two top-21 finishers in senior Carlotta Ricolfi and sophomore Jenny Kim, who shot 10-over par and 12-over par and finished 19th and 21st, respectively.
The other two individual performers were junior Lauren Waidner and redshirt junior Elin Esborn, who shot 15-over par and 16-over par and finishing the tournament in 27th and 30th place.
All-in-all, it was clear that Florida came into the tournament as the favorite for a reason, and this top-ranked team is building momentum as it looks ahead to the SEC Championship in April.
Later this month, however, the Gators will look to win their third tournament in a row at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, hosted by Georgia, from March 20-22.
You can contact Christian Berry at cberry@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @Berry05219.
