The Gators women’s golf team looks to carry over their recent regular season success to Birmingham, Alabama, this weekend as they seek their first Southeastern Conference Championship since the 2007-08 season.
Heading into the tournament, Florida is coming off of four consecutive top-5 finishes, placing fourth in the leaderboards in their most recent event after earning their first win of the season at the Briar’s Creek Invitational.
As the No. 21 team in the country, the Gators join the likes of South Carolina and LSU as one of eight SEC teams ranked in the top 25 heading into the conference tournament.
"The chemistry of the team is very good," coach Emily Glaser said.
"They believe in each other, we’ve had a lot of people have individual successes this year. I think that gives them all confidence in each other."
One golfer who looks to turn things around is freshman Taylor Tomlinson.
The Gainesville native had 15 bogeys and four double-bogeys in three rounds at last week’s Bryan National Collegiate, which moved her cumulative score to 18-over-par and put her in a tie for 48 in the individual leaderboards.
"Taylor has very high expectations for herself and I think sometimes those can get in the way a little bit, especially being a freshman," Glaser said.
In six Spring tournaments, Tomlinson has finished in the top-25 a team-high five times.
Hoping her freshman returns to form, Glaser has been giving Tomlinson advice heading into the tournament.
"Just make sure that she keeps believing and goes out there and gives it her all this weekend which I know she will," Glaser said.
Outside of Glaser’s resounding belief in Tomlinson, the team itself believes in each other, which will be crucial in determining their success in the tournament.
"We talked a lot this year about some of the intangibles things that make great teams great and we really focused on those things," Glaser said, "and I have a group of girls that really believes in that."
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Taylor Tomlinson putts during the 2015 SunTrust Gator Invitational at UF's Mark Bostick Golf Course.
