Two days into the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Golf Championship, the Gators women’s golf team found itself in a familiar situation, heading into Tuesday’s final round in fifth place for the second straight tournament, 10 strokes behind first-place LSU.
The scene was set for Monday.
With a temperature in the 40’s and the wind blowing at an estimated 10 miles per hour, it was far from your wishful sunny, warm, round of golf.
"Today’s conditions tested our patience," coach Emily Glaser said in a release. "But I thought we did a great job of playing hard all the way to the end."
Led by sophomore Maria Torres and freshman Taylor Tomlinson, the Gators were able to improve on the team’s sixth-place standing from Round 1.
For consecutive days, Torres finished with a round score of two-over-par. That was almost put on hold, though, as the Puerto Rico native had four bogeys in the back nine. However, a birdie on hole 18 made up for a rough ending, putting her in a tie for 10th place.
Then there is Tomlinson.
In two spring tournaments, the freshman has recorded two top-25 finishes.
Heading into Tuesday’s third round, Tomlinson is in position to make it a third straight, as she is currently in a tie for 14th, with a total score of +5.
Sophomore Kelly Grassel, who finished Sunday’s first round at two-over-par, didn’t have the same fortune on Monday.
Grassel finished the second round with a score of eight-over-par, which was her second worse round performance of the spring.
Junior Ursa Orehek, who is competing as an individual, finished the day at +7, moving her cumulative score to +16. She is in a tie for 64th place.
Heading into Tuesday’s final round, the Gators have a great chance to continue to move up the leaderboards.
"As a team, I thought we hung in there pretty well," Glaser said.
"We aren’t playing great golf but we are certainly showing our depth as a team, and I see us becoming more consistent, which is positive."
Consistency will be key for the Gators, as they will look to build off of their disappointing finish at Northrop just two weeks ago, where they fell five spots on the leaderboard in the final round.
A top-five finish would be the Gators’ best finish in a tournament with a minimum of 10 teams since their third-place finish at last year’s Allstate Sugar Bowl.
Follow Justen Rosenberg on Twitter @RosenbergJusten
Maria Torres hits the ball during the SunTrust Gator Women's Golf Invitational on March 15.
