Florida’s women’s golf team wrapped up the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge Wednesday with another tough round.
“Overall it was a disappointing week; it was frustrating,” coach Jan Dowling said. “However, that is a part of athletics.”
Senior Evan Jensen started the final round in 14th, and first among Gators, before recording a par and back-to-back birdies on the first three holes. After she parred 13, her round went downhill.
Jensen went on to card four bogeys, two double bogeys and a triple bogey for the remainder of her round. She ended the day with an 80 (+9), which caused her finish the tournament tied for 31st.
“That really just came down to a couple holes. She had two bad swings out there today and it definitely cost her a double and a triple,” Dowling said. “Take those two bad swings away and it was really a much better round, but unfortunately those two holes happened.”
Jensen’s disappointing round was not without company. Andrea Watts, a senior, and Isabelle Lendl, a junior, continued to shoot in the eighties Wednesday, bringing their tournament totals to 246 (+33) and 255 (+42).
Camilla Hedberg’s 75 (+4) round was good enough to keep her top-20 standing. She finished the day where she started: tied for 19th. This was Hedberg’s second-best finish of the season — she tied for third at the Cougar Classic presented by Piggly Wiggly — and a huge improvement from being tied for 35th at the end of the first day.
Despite improving from Tuesday’s round, Mia Piccio also finished the day where she started: tied for 35th. Her final round of 77 (+6) consisted of two birdies, four bogeys and two double bogeys.
“I think she feels like she made mistakes out there every day that cost her from having a really good finish,” Dowling said.
Florida’s final-day rounds kept it from moving into the top 10 and led to a 12th-place finish. They posted a tournament total of 922 (+70), 52 strokes behind first-place UCLA’s tournament total.
Despite her frustration with the team’s performance Wednesday, Dowling wants the Gators to grow from this tournament and use it to help them get better.
“They reflect on it, learn from it and make the needed adjustments in order to improve,” Dowling said. “I hope my team uses this as motivation to do that.”
