For a golfer, it is important to maintain a high level of confidence.
If you’re not confident in your swing, chances are you will find yourself unsuccessful on the course.
As of now, the confidence of the Gators women’s golf team is higher than it has been all season, as the team finished second place in this weekend’s SunTrust Gator Women’s Invitational, placing in the No. 2 spot for consecutive tournaments.
With another top finish for the Gators — a team compiled of mostly underclassmen — this weekend’s play will continue to serve as yet another learning curve.
"You can’t learn how to get over that hump of moving day on the last day until you go through some of those things," coach Emily Glaser said. "We learned a lot this week."
One golfer who learned a lot this weekend is sophomore Karolina Vlckova. Vlckova, who had a strong Round 2 performance on Saturday of one-over-par, continued to be the anchor for the Gators.
"I had a lot on my mind and I tried to not think about it, because I was a little nervous," Vlckova said.
But after making a bogey on the first hole, the Czech Republic native quickly shook her nerves.
"On the first hole I made a bogey and I’m like, well, you got it, so now you can start playing normal," Vlckova said.
Vlckova went on to finish Sunday’s third round matching Saturday’s score (and a spring best) of one-over-par, which put her in a tie for second place with NC State’s Lindsay McGetrick.
The Gators also saw two other top-ten finishes, as sophomore Kelly Grassel and senior Anna Young – competing as an individual – finished the day eight-over-par and two-over-par, respectively. Their cumulative scores of +14 put the two golfers in a tie with six others for the tenth spot.
Freshman Taylor Tomlinson also recorded a personal tournament-best on Sunday, shooting two-over-par. Her three round score of +16 put her in a tie for 21st, finishing in the top 25 in each spring tournament.
With the team off until March 23, there is plenty of time to continue to improve upon the little things, such as their expectations and ability to capitalize off of their drives.
"We’ll talk a little bit about how to manage expectations. I don’t know if we did that tremendously well this week," Glaser said. "We’ll continue to work on our short game. That’s what’s gotten us to this point."
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Sophomore Karolina Vlckova high fives coach Emily Glaser during the final round of the 2015 SunTrust Gator Invitational on March 8.
