Junior Mia Piccio started the second day of the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge on Tuesday tied for 11th, and after she parred her first five holes, she moved up to sixth.
Piccio’s round then took a turn. She finished the round with seven bogeys, a double bogey and one birdie for a 79 (+8) which caused her to jump from sixth to 35th.
Evan Jensen, a senior who entered the tournament as Florida’s No. 4 player, currently leads the Gators after she carded a 75 (+4).
Although this wasn’t the greatest round for Jensen, the 72 (+1) she shot on Monday helps balance it out. She is currently tied for 14th.
Although Piccio and Jensen scored higher Tuesday than they did on Monday, freshman Camilla Hedberg had a better performance in the second round. Her five-bogey, four-birdie round of 72 (+1) pushed her up 16 spots from tied for 35th to tied for 19th.
“Evan and Camilla really grinded hard [Tuesday] and played solid golf,” coach Jan Dowling said
Despite Hedberg’s improvement Tuesday, the team continued to drop. The Gators went from tied for eighth to 12th by shooting a 308 (+24), six strokes more than Monday’s round.
“It was a pretty frustrating day for us,” Dowling said. “But we have a fresh start tomorrow, and we’re capable of a lot better.”
UCLA remains at the top of the leaderboard with a two day total of 570 (+2). This puts them 18 strokes ahead of second-place Southern Cal and 40 strokes ahead of Florida.
Andrea Watts and Isabelle Lendl both continued to have a hard time on the course shooting an 82 (+11) and an 89 (+18).
Although finishing in the top 10 is not out of reach for Florida, Piccio, Jensen and Hedberg will be counting on Watts or Lendl to break 80 in the final round.
