When the Gators women’s golf team tees off this Sunday in Hanahan, S.C., in the 2012 Cougar Classic, it will be their first tournament under new Emily Bastel.
Bastel spent 10 months as an assistant at Florida before being promoted to head coach to replace Jan Dowling, who resigned at the end of the 2011-12 season for personal reasons.
In addition to having a new coach, the Gators will also welcome five newcomers, including freshmen Emma Smyser from Naples and Ursa Orehek from Domzale, Slovenia.
After losing three players to graduation, the Gators are looking to add depth with transfers Katie Mitchell from UCF, Emma Elcin Ulu from Redlands Community College and Anna Young from Tulsa.
No. 9 Florida will return its top two players — senior Mia Piccio and sophomore Camilla Hedberg — from last season’s squad, which finished 12th at the NCAA Championships. Last year, Piccio and Hedberg led the team in stroke average as well as combining for six top-10 finishes.
While the women are competing at Yeamans Hall Club, the men will follow closely behind as they head to Kiawah Island, S.C., to play in The Invitational at The Ocean Course to open their season on Sunday.
The men return all but Michael Furci and Zach Lee from last season’s squad. Furci and Lee only had 24.5 rounds combined that counted toward the Gators’ tournament total last year.
Like the women, the No. 12 Gators will return their top two players. Seniors T.J. Vogel and Tyler McCumber combined for 16 top-10 finishes during the 2011-12 campaign.
Last year, Vogel led Florida in tournaments at par or better (seven), average (71.3), birdies (132) and eagles (four), as well as recording the Gators’ only two individual wins.
Florida should feel confident as it heads into the Kiawah Invitational. The course gave the Gators its first of three wins last year.
