After placing fourth in the Fall season’s opening tournament last week, the UF women’s golf team will tee off in the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship today.
No. 9 Tennessee will be hosting the tournament at the Cherokee Country Club in Knoxville and are the highest ranked team in the field, followed by No. 22 Florida and No. 23 UNLV.
Despite the Gators’ top-five finish at the Cougar Classic last week, head coach Emily Glaser knows the team will have to make some improvements to remain competitive.
Glaser said the team’s problems in the last tournament consisted of “ . . . a couple things that you might describe as being a little rusty from not having played competition in a while . . . just a few mental mistakes, a couple course management mistakes, little things like that.”
One player who won’t have to change much is Taylor Tomlinson. The sophomore had her first collegiate win last week after tying for first place as an individual at the Cougar Classic in Charleston, South Carolina.
When asked about Tomlinson’s performance at the Classic, Glaser credited the Gainesville native’s improved putting to securing the victory.
“Taylor made a real commitment to work on her putting over the summer and I saw a noticeable improvement in that,” Glaser said. “Obviously, she made a lot of birdies last week, which you can’t make if you’re not rolling the putter well.”
Tomlinson, herself, echoed Glaser’s statement.
“I would say, at least at the moment, putting is definitely my strong suit,” she said. “It makes golf a lot easier when you’re putting well.”
However, Tomlinson admitted there were some weaknesses in her last outing that she’ll have to address.
“I was a little inconsistent with my approach shots this past tournament,” Tomlinson said. “So just dialing those in, giving myself more opportunities for birdies, and allowing my putting to do the work, I think that’s where I’m going to improve.”
Coach Glaser emphasized that one of Florida’s biggest strengths this year is their depth.
Freshman Sam Wagner is a big part of how deep the roster is. Although it’s her first year, she started in the Cougar Classic and will be one of the five players representing the Gators in Knoxville.
“She’s a very seasoned player, she’s had a lot of high level junior golf experience, high level amateur experience .” Glaser said of Wagner. “Certainly, when you see a player go through those things prior to getting to college, you know that they’re going to be able to contend for lineup spots and even play well individually in events.”
Along with Tomlinson and Wagner, the Gators will also be taking junior Maria Torres, senior Ursa Orehek, and junior Karolina Vlckova. Junior Kelly Grassel will also play in the tournament, but will compete as an individual.
UF hasn’t competed at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship in more than five years, so the team will be playing an unfamiliar course in the Cherokee Country Club.
“For our girls, this place will be new, and we’ll have to do a good job on sunday of learning the course as best we can and then each subsequent round we’ll learn a little bit more about the golf course,” Glaser said, embracing the challenge.
“It’s fun and exciting to have those new experiences … go to new places, and we’ll make the most of it.”
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Taylor Tomlinson putts during the 2015 SunTrust Gator Invitational at UF's Mark Bostick Golf Course.
