The No. 21 Gators women’s golf team entered Birmingham, Alabama, with one goal: win their second Southeastern Conference championship in program history.
With Round 1 of the three day tournament in the books, the Gators are sitting in a tie for fourth place after shooting a team score of 11-over-par, six strokes behind clubhouse leaders Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
However, the team’s most challenging opponent was not another school, but instead was Mother Nature.
“The conditions were terrible,” coach Emily Glaser said in a release. “It rained all day and towards the end it was hard to find a dry spot anywhere.”
Even with the inclement weather, freshman and Gainesville native Taylor Tomlinson stepped up in a big way for the Gators. Tomlinson used birdies on holes 3, 16 and 18 to give her a team-low score of 2-under-par. Her play was responsible for a surge in the leaderboards, which at one point positioned them in 13th place.
She is tied for second place individually with three other golfers.
While Tomlinson’s performance on the course was impressive, her mental toughness was just as encouraging.
In her last tournament - the Bryan National Collegiate - Tomlinson finished in a tie for 48th, her second worst finish as a collegiate golfer. During the three days, Tomlinson shot 15 bogeys and four double-bogeys, giving her a tournament score of 18-over-par.
“I’m happy for Taylor to play like she did,” Glaser said. “She’s a hard worker… she was focused and it paid off.”
But despite Tomlinson’s success on Friday, the team as a whole must make improvements heading into Saturday’s second round.
One of those golfers is senior Camilla Hedberg.
Hedberg, who has struggled to find her game this Spring after she returned from tendonitis in her shoulder which sidelined her for the Fall season, continued to play below her standards.
The native of Sitges, Spain, capped off her Round 1 performance with a stretch of eight bogeys from Holes 4 to 13.
Heading into Saturday, Hedberg must improve her score as she is currently 7-over-par and in a tie for 48 place.
“The girls battled today,” Glaser said. “We will get rested tonight and get in a good frame of mind to go and play tough tomorrow.”
Follow Justen Rosenberg on Twitter @JustenRosenberg
