Coming off four straight top-five finishes; the Gators women’s golf team saw a dramatic increase in their confidence level heading into this weekends Southeastern Conference championship in Birmingham, Alabama.
But after the second round of the event, the Gators are on the outside looking in as a 7-over-par team score dropped them four spots in the standings, where they currently sit in eighth place.
“We just couldn't get anything going,” coach Emily Glaser said in a release, “birdies were tough to come by and on a day like today where the course was very scorable, you are going to lose some ground.”
Freshman Taylor Tomlinson, who entered the day in a tie for second in the individual leaderboards; was unable to duplicate her 2-under-par Day 1 score, as the Gainesville native finished the round with a score of 2-over.
Although her score dropped her back to even – and out of the top-10 – it was far from a discouraging performance. Tomlinson only had two bogeys on the day – holes 9 and 12 – shooting par on the other 16. She sits just seven strokes out of first place.
While the freshman was unable to lead for consecutive days, senior Anna Young, who is playing in her first career SEC championship and for just the fourth time in ten events this season, stepped up.
Heading into the tournament, Young knew she needed to improve the mental aspect of her game.
“The last tournament I felt like I needed to work on my confidence,” Young said Tuesday. “This week I just worked on reacting to shots instead of thinking about it so much, because if I think too much, sometimes I can overthink it.”
Young’s improvements were visible as she had three bogeys and two birdies, which gave her a team-low 1-over-par on the day. Despite her respectable play, Young moved back two spots in the leaderboards, putting her in a tie for 25.
The high performer of the day for Florida was sophomore Maria Torres. Torres, who suffered from an illness in the days leading up to the event, nearly duplicated her Round 1 score of 6-over-par, shooting three bogeys and two double-bogeys to give her a score of 7-over. She is in a tie for 54 in the individual leaderboards.
Heading into the final round, the Gators have a lot of work to do. With a tournament victory unlikely, the team must come out with their heads high, as they cannot afford a drop in confidence before the NCAA Regionals, which will take place in nearly three weeks.
“Tomorrow is about playing fearless and leaving it all out there,” Glaser said.
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Taylor Tomlinson putts during the 2015 SunTrust Gator Invitational at UF's Mark Bostick Golf Course.
