It’s not often that Florida’s golf team heads into a tournament without any knowledge of the course, but that’s the exact problem the women’s team will face this weekend.
As the Gators head to Fayetteville, Ark., in hopes of winning their ninth Southeastern Conference title, they will be competing at Blessings Golf Club, a course that nobody on the team, not even coach Jan Dowling, has played before.
“It’s a very difficult golf course I’ve heard, I’ve never been there. No one on our team has been there. So that makes our practice round as important as any practice round can be,” Dowling said. “We’ve got to learn a lot of information in just 18 holes of golf.”
In addition to the practice round, Dowling believes that her team’s reduction in high scores will be a key factor in having a good performance this weekend.
During the Allstate Sugar Bowl Collegiate Classic at the end of February, Florida was the only team that went two out of three rounds without any players carding a double-bogey, according to Dowling.
“That to me was very significant despite the fact that we finished 10th at the event,” Dowling said. “It meant that we’re managing the golf course very well, it meant that our short games were very good [and] it meant that our team was making very good decisions out there.”
Playing well of late, freshman Camilla Hedberg leads the team in hitting 90.7 percent of fairways and 73.8 percent of greens in regulation.
Florida has improved its finishes from the beginning of the spring season. After having a 12th-place finish and a 10th-place finish in its first two tournaments, the women were able to win their home tournament and place third at the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic.
“They should feel very confident heading into the postseason, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Dowling said.
“We’ve had a nice little break heading into our SEC Championship, and we’ve been working hard and preparing very well. I know this is going to be a great beginning to our post season.”
In addition to the women, the men will also be playing in their SEC Championship tournament Friday through Sunday in St. Simons Island, Ga. T.J. Vogel, Tyler McCumber, J.D. Tomlinson, Eric Banks and Michael Furci will all be looking to defend the men’s SEC title and bring home the Gators’ 16th win in this tournament.
