It was more of the same for the Florida women’s golf team during Round 3 of the SEC Tournament on Friday: not terrible, but certainly left a lot to be desired.
The team started the day in fifth place and ended it there too, going 9 over on the afternoon to secure a tie with Auburn at 32 over.
The first part of the tournament — stroke play — is now over, and the top eight teams on the leaderboard are moving into match play starting Saturday morning.
South Carolina was the top team in the field through three rounds, shooting a 3 under to close stroke play with a score of 3 over.
In addition to South Carolina, the Gators also trailed Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia. Alabama finished stroke play at 8 over, Arkansas closed at 11 over, and Georgia carded a 31 over. Although the Gators tied Auburn for fifth place at 32 over, they will be the sixth seed going into the second half of the tournament and will face Arkansas in the first round on Saturday.
Sophomore Marta Perez led the Gators’ charge for the second straight day, shooting 1 under to drop her final score of stroke play to even par. She closed in a tie for fourth place on the individual leaderboard, marking three straight years that a Gator has finished in the top five of the tournament.
“We weren't surprised because she has been trending towards this,” head coach Emily Glaser said.
Sierra Brooks followed Perez. The Sorrento, Florida, native dropped a 3 over on Friday, bringing her overall score up to 9 over and her overall place to a tie for 24th.
Trailing Brooks was redshirt freshman Elin Esborn. Esborn went 3 over on the day to close in a tie for 31st at 13 over.
Freshman Addie Baggarly and senior Taylor Tomlinson brought up the rear for Florida. Baggarly shot a 4 over in round three and finished at 16 over for a tie of 47th. Tomlinson, in her final SEC Tournament, struggled, finishing the day at 5 over. That brought her score up to 19 over and her place down to a tie for 55th.
Going into the next round, Glaser is optimistic.
"There are so many good schools in this league that you are going to have play a powerhouse school at some point,” she said in a release. “We just happen to be playing one of the best in the quarterfinals.”
Florida will face off with Arkansas on Saturday starting at 8 a.m. Esborn is matched up senior Alana Uriell, Perez is matched up with junior Dylan Kim, Brooks is matched up with junior Cara Gorlei, Baggarly is matched up with junior Kaylee Benton and Tomlinson is matched up with junior Mari Fassi.
Follow Chris O'Brien on Twitter @THEChrisOB and contact him at cobrien@alligator.org.
Sophomore Marta Perez led the Florida women's golf team in stroke play at the SEC Tournament on Friday, shooting a 1 under to drop her final score over three rounds to even par.
