When No. 12 Florida wrapped up the first nine at the
Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, Camilla Hedberg and Mia Piccio
were both at even par, with the rest of the team not too far
behind.
However, as UF headed into the second half of the
day, its descent to eighth place began.
“Our team let the greens get to us a little bit on
the back nine,” said coach Jan Dowling. “The greens … are the
toughest part about this golf course.”
Hedberg, a freshman, is one of the Gators whose
scores suffered on the back nine. She shot a 40 (+5), which was a
significant drop from her even front nine which consisted of a
bogey and a birdie that balanced each other out.
Piccio and Jensen, on the other hand, finished strong
with a 36 (+1) and a 35 (E); both carded a 73 (+1) for the
day.
“Evans, Camilla and Mia played a very tough stretch
of holes on our front nine, which was the back nine, very, very
well,” Dowling said.
Isabelle Lendl and Andrea Watts finished the day with
82 (+11) and 84 (+13). Their combined rounds consisted of four
double bogeys, 17 bogeys and only two birdies.
Both will need to improve their scores for the next
round to help put UF back in the top three where it began the back
nine.
Florida will start the second day of the tournament
18 strokes behind first place UCLA. Piccio and Jensen are both tied
for 11th, five strokes out of first.
“We didn’t do the little things that we normally do
the way that we would like,” Dowling said. “(But) there’s a lot of
promise being shown.”
