It’s not every day that you hear about a freshman leading her team to victory. However, that’s exactly what Camilla Hedberg did this weekend at home in the SunTrust Gator Women’s Invitational.
After a steady start on Sunday, Hedberg went on to make two birdies against one bogey the rest of the way, giving her a round of 69 (-1). This was her second round under par as she recorded a three-day score of 208 (-2).
“I played pretty good today. I stayed very calm,” Hedberg said. “I started with 11 pars in a row so it was kind of a boring round, but it was safe. I finished with a good par on 18 so it was quite the calm round.”
The freshman tied for second overall, which helped the Gators win their second straight home tournament with a team score of 864 (+24), beating Alabama by one stroke.
“It was a close match between Alabama all day, and we just played hard,” UF coach Jan Dowling said. “We went back and forth all day, and it was just really great we were able to finish it off at home against such a good field of teams."
Hedberg wasn’t the only Gator to have an impressive weekend. Senior Evan Jensen and junior Mia Piccio finished in the top 15.
“It’s one of the best fields we’ve played against here at our home tournament, and to beat Alabama by one down the stretch shows determination,” Jensen said. “We really prepared well and it paid off.”
While the women were busy trying to repeat last season’s win, the men were unable to bring home a win from Statesboro, Ga.
Florida finished tied for third at the Chris Schenkel Invitational after shooting 17-under (847). Alabama ran away with the tournament, finishing with four players in the top 5 en route to a 22-stroke victory.
“We played better today,” men’s coach Buddy Alexander said. “The course played a lot tougher than it did the first two days, and we did a good job of adjusting and made up some ground as a result.”
Juniors T.J. Vogel (-8, 208) and Tyler McCumber (-6, 210) shot under par all three rounds. Freshman J.D. Tomlinson finished 4-under par.
“We’re still learning and improving, although it can’t happen quick enough after seeing what Alabama did out there this week,” Alexander said. “That was an impressive display of golf.”
