Over the course of the three days of the Tar Heel Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C., sophomore Maria Torres emerged as the most consistent player for the Florida women’s golf team.
Torres finished the tournament in a tie for 35th place at 9-over-par, but the Gators struggled for the second consecutive day at the Finley Golf Course as they shot 22-over-par in the final round.
UF finished in 14th place out of 18 teams, after being in a tie for 6th place after the first day of play. Florida ended up shooting 48-over-par over the three days.
Coach Emily Glaser said the team didn’t play well at Chapel Hill, but the team knows what they have to improve on heading into the next tournament.
“It was not a great event for us, but we certainly are a lot more clear on what we need to improve upon moving forward,” Glaser said in a release. “There’s no doubt we had no room for error this week without a drop score, but we still could have done a better job of executing.”
No. 5 Duke finished their second round after a weather delay and was able to hang on to win the tournament, over No. 2 South Carolina by two strokes. The Blue Devils shot 2-under-par for the event and were the only team in the field to be under-par.
Freshman Taylor Tomlinson, who was the top player on the team for the first two rounds, struggled in the final round as she shot an 8-over, 80. Tomlinson had two birdies in her final round, but had 7 bogeys and one double bogey as she finished in a tie for 42nd place with a score of 10-over-par.
Sophomore Kelly Grassel was one shot behind Tomlinson as she finished the tournament at 11-over-par and in a tie for 46th place. Grassel shot a 77 (5-over-par) on the final two days of play after shooting 1-over-par in the first round.
Junior Ursa Orehek had the toughest time of all the players in the lineup as she completed the tournament at 18-over-par and in a tie for 80th place. One day after she shot an 11-over, 83, Orehek shot a 5-over, 77 on the final day to finish off her tournament.
With only a little bit of time before UF’s next tournament, Glaser said the team has to get into the right mindset to prepare themselves for the future.
“We don’t have a lot of turnaround time before our next event (The Landfall Tradition in Wilmington, N.C.), so it will be important to be focused over the next week and a half.”
Follow Luis Torres on Twitter @LFTorresIII
Maria Torres hits the ball during the SunTrust Gator Women's Golf Invitational on March 15.
