The No. 10 Florida women’s golf team will compete in the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic in Athens, Ga., hosted by the Georgia Bulldogs.
In 2002, the Gators not only took first place at the tournament but also claimed the number one spot on the individual leaderboard with Jeanne Cho. This year’s squad is hoping to do just as well.
“There are some good memories from regionals in 2008, the team won regionals to advance to nationals and they played a round on this golf course [University of Georgia golf course],” UF coach Jan Dowling said. “It’s a great golf course. It is very challenging and you’ve really got to take care of your golf ball and control distance. If we do that and we take care of that and we putt well, we’ll never know what happens. We’re looking forward to it.”
In an attempt to bring the tournament title back to Gainesville, freshman Megan Pak has been placed in the starting lineup.
This will be Pak’s first start in Florida’s top five, but she made her collegiate debut at the JMU/Eagle Landing Invitational, where she competed as an individual. Pak was ranked the 33rd best recruit in Golfweek’s Class of 2009 when she signed with the University of Florida.
While in high school, Pak won every match she competed in and took home second place honors at the state tournament. Pak’s best finish outside of high school came during her 2007-2008 season when she finished third at the AJGA Jerry Pate/Andrews Institute Southern Junior.
“Megan has worked hard the entire season and she has posted some good scores,” Dowling said. “She did really well in our qualifier and she earned her position on the team. Every week we are trying to get the best team possible and the girls we have this week have posted low scores and we’re going to go with that lineup.”
The lineup for the Gators will be comprised of two sophomores and three freshman; sophomores Evan Jensen and Marika Lendl and freshmen Pak, Mia Piccio and Isabelle Lendl.
Both Lendls have had a strong spring season. Marika will be making her sixth-straight top five start and her younger sister Isabelle is leading the team with her season stroke average of 73.8.
