Sierra Brooks pumped her fist and followed her ball as it maneuvered slightly from left to right and into the hole. The 15-foot putt on the ninth green put the junior at 4 under for the competition and in the outright lead for the NCAA individual title heading into the final day of the NCAA Championships.
"Sierra (Brooks) was outstanding today,” coach Emily Glaser said in a release. “She had some momentum yesterday and it was tough to have play suspended and potentially lose that momentum, but we picked up right where she left off yesterday and had a super strong finish.”
A series of storms and small tornadoes in Fayetteville, Arkansas, forced the suspension of the second round on Saturday with Florida in 21st place and nearly one-third of the round still left to play.
The weather came at an opportune time for the Gators.
Led by Brooks, they catapulted to 13th on Sunday with a score of 31 ahead of the final day of competition.
Brooks recorded seven birdies -- four on Saturday and three on Sunday -- and only one bogey to finish with a score of 67 (-6) in the second round.
The four remaining Florida golfers finished their second rounds over par at Blessings Golf Club.
Clara Manzalini had a streaky 1-over second round finish. She picked up just one birdie and bogey on the front nine before accumulating three straight bogeys on the 11th, 12th and 13th. She made up for it by claiming birdies on holes 15, 16 and 17. Her bogey on the 18th put her at 7 over for the tournament and made her the second highest Gator in the standings at 42nd place.
Addison Baggarly also improved after her poor first round performance by shooting a 2 over in the second round. The sophomore carded five bogeys and three birdies, but still sits just within the top 100 at 98th place with a 15-over score.
Finishing 5 over for the second round was a good recovery for Elin Esborn, who started her day at 3 over after three holes,. After a bogey on the 10th hole and a double bogey on hole 12, Esborn picked up a birdie on the par-3 13th before claiming two more bogeys on the back nine. The front nine was more of the same, with just one birdie and two bogeys to put her at 18 over on the tournament and tied for 114th place overall.
Marta Perez uncharacteristically had one of the worst performances on the course for Florida on Saturday, carding an 11-over second round. The junior from Spain carded three bogeys and four double-bogeys with just one birdie the entire round. Her day began at 6 over through five holes after back-to-back bogeys on the 11th and 12th and back-to-back double-bogeys on holes 13 and 14. Florida will desperately need Perez to play to her typical standards on Monday if they are to jump within the top eight (it currently sits eight strokes behind Northwestern) and advance to match play on Tuesday.
“After our poor start, we knew we couldn’t make it all up today,” Glaser said. “But we gave ourselves a shot at the top eight for (Monday), and that was our goal for round two.”
Follow Victor Prieto on Twitter @victorprieto_11 and contact him at vprieto@alligator.org. Follow Bryan Matamoros on Twitter @bmatamoros_ and contact him at bmatamoros@alligator.org.
Sierra Brooks is in the outright lead for the NCAA individual title heading into the final day of the NCAA Championships.
