Coach Jan Dowling wanted her team to finish the fall season on the right foot.
But instead of stepping up, the No. 21 Gators stumbled in the inaugural Pac-10/SEC Women's Golf Challenge.
UF finished 18th out of 21 teams competing in the three-day event in Palo Alto, Calif.
After a first-round team score of 309 on Friday, the Gators found themselves in 16th place, 24 strokes off the lead.
It was all uphill from that point. On Saturday the team shot 11 strokes better, anchored by a pair of one over 72s from Evan Jensen and Marika Llendl, who stepped up in place of senior Jessica Yadloczky. Yadloczky was busy competing in the LPGA Futures Tour qualifying school.
Despite the improvement in round two, the Gators still found themselves well below the teams atop the leaderboard.
The weather on the final day certainly didn't help UF's cause, either. Play was suspended for two hours at the Stanford Golf Course due to the rain, and conditions were tough for the golfers Sunday.
As a result, the Gators shot their worst round of the three-day event (33-over-par 317) and finished 68 strokes behind tournament winner UCLA.
"We need to learn how to control and learn the value of a par on a tough golf course," Dowling said. "We will get better. My hope is that the team reflects on this fall and there will be good motivation for them to work hard this winter to prepare for spring."
