Following its best performance of the season two weeks ago at the 2014 Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Championship, No. 17 Florida looks to continue its success at its only home tournament of the season.
The Gators host 13 teams, including No. 8 Oklahoma and No. 10 Arizona, at the SunTrust Gator Women’s Golf Invitational this weekend at the Mark Bostick Golf Course. The three-day tournament begins Friday morning after a practice round Thursday evening and continues through Sunday.
“We get to play at home only once a year, so it’s a big week for us,” coach Emily Glaser said. “I know the girls are really excited, getting to play a golf course we’re familiar with and that we play week in and week out.”
The Gators finished third last season and won the tournament in 2011 and 2012.
Despite previous success, Glaser said the team is avoiding placing additional emphasis on this tournament.
“Obviously, the girls want to play well, and we’ll talk this week about expectations,” Glaser said.
“There’s always a little more pressure playing at home — especially for us, since we only do it once a year.
“The girls have to understand that it’s just golf. It’s the same at home as it would be if we go anywhere else. You still have to make the right shots, you just have to get into that one-shot-at-a-time mentality that you would whether you were playing at home or not.”
After finishing in the bottom half of the leaderboard in the first two tournaments of the season, Glaser saw the team’s performance in New Orleans as an encouraging sign for the rest of the spring season.
“Finishing third in New Orleans was big for us,” Glaser said. “We played the last day with the No. 1 and 2 teams in the country, and I was really proud of the way the girls responded.
“In golf, you sort of measure yourself by how good are your mistakes, and I think that’s what they saw with playing with a couple of the top teams.”
Freshman Maria Torres took first place in the Gators lineup for the weekend after tying for third in New Orleans with the lowest score of her collegiate career. Junior Sarah Schober and redshirt sophomore Katie Mitchell also made the lineup after successful performances in New Orleans.
Junior Camilla Hedberg and senior Elcin Ulu, the only two players to have previously competed in the tournament, will also compete this weekend.
“It’s a big week for us,” Glaser said. “We’re excited and we’re just ready to get started.”
Follow Emily Cochrane on Twitter @EmilySCochrane
