After dominating Monday in South Carolina, the Florida women’s golf team did not let up on the competition Tuesday afternoon.
The Gators secured their third straight victory in the Briar’s Creek Invitational in convincing fashion, posting a tournament-record 15-under par score on the strength of seniors Maria Torres, Kelly Grassel and Karolina Vlckova.
Torres wound up taking the individual title with a 7-under 209, topping her own collegiate-best score set last week at the SunTrust Gator Invitational by two strokes. Grassel and Vlckova tied for third and eighth, respectively, with scores of 3 under and 1 under.
Coach Emily Glaser said she was satisfied with the way Torres played on Tuesday.
“Maria played really solid,” Glaser said in a release. “Two bogey-free rounds in this tournament is a real accomplishment.”
After bogeys on three of her last six holes to close out the second round, Torres climbed back up the leaderboard with three birdies in the decisive third round.
The Gators ultimately won the tournament by 18 strokes over second-place Campbell University, but Glaser said she wasn’t entirely happy with the round her team played Monday.
“Our goal today was to win the day, and we came close to that,” Glaser said. “We just gave a few shots away at the end to keep us (from) having the day’s low round.”
Vlckova finished with a bogey and double bogey on two of her last three holes, and junior Taylor Tomlinson carded bogeys on two of her last four, as did Grassel.
Despite the lackluster finish, there were plenty of positives for the Gators. Along with Torres’ collegiate-best tournament score and second straight individual victory, UF shot 849 over two days, tying the Gators’ record for lowest total tournament score and securing its third team victory of the Spring season.
But Glaser said even with the different victories during the week, there are still opportunities to learn.
“(Tuesday), we started a little slow, but I was really impressed with how we hung tough and stayed patient and waited for our opportunities,” Glaser said. “Patience is going to be a really important factor for us these next few months, so I’m happy we got a chance to work on that.”
The Gators have the next week and a half off until they head back up to South Carolina to participate in the Clemson Invitational from March 31 to April 2.
Contact Morgan McMullen at mmcmullen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @morganmcmuffin.
Individual performance chart:
Player Place Score
Maria Torres 1 -7 (209)
Kelly Grassel T3 -3 (213)
Karolina Vlckova T8 -1 (215)
Taylor Tomlinson T18 +2 (218)
Marta Perez T22 +3 (219)
Maria Torres watches her shot during the SunTrust Gator Women's Golf Invitational on Saturday, March 11, 2017 at the Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville.
