Lady Gators Remain in Title Hunt at Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge

Tuesday, February 13

Palos Verdes, CA

12:00 AM

Florida Gators

Northrop Grumman Regional

Lady Gators Remain in Title Hunt at Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge

Wednesday, February 14, 2007 | Women's Golf

The University of Florida women's golf team remains in the hunt for its first title of the 2006-07 season, as the Lady Gators carded a second-round score of 304 (+20) on day two of the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes, Calif. Florida (299-304=603) will enter the final day of the 54-hole tournament in third place, trailing current leader Pepperdine (297-297=594) by nine strokes and second-place Arizona State (300-298=598) by five.

“We struggled today. The conditions were very windy, which made an already challenging course that much more difficult. We had three solid rounds out of Sandra (Gal), Tiffany (Chudy) and Whitney (Myers), but we needed four. Unfortunately, this happens every now and then in golf, and you just have to work through these challenges,” Florida head coach Jill Briles-Hinton said. “The team really held its own on the course today, and tonight we're going to focus on coming out tomorrow and winning this tournament, which we're very much in a position to do.”

Junior Sandra Gal (Leichlingen, Germany) led the Lady Gators on the par-71, 5,912-yard Palos Verdes Golf Club Tuesday afternoon with a 74 (76-74=150), and is currently in a three-way tie for 15^th place. Gal began the front nine with bogeys on three of her first five holes, but was able to make the turn at one-over after carding birdies on the seventh and ninth holes. She picked up her fourth bogey of the day on the par-4, 340-yard ninth hole, and another one-over score on the 13^th put her again at three-over. Gal sank her put on the short par-3, 150-yard 15^th hole, but an ensuing bogey on the following par-5, 450-yard 16^th hole forced her to end the round at three over.

“Sandra had to fight hard on the backside today. Her round was very up and down, but she did a good job of persevering through the inclement weather to finish nicely,” Briles-Hinton said.

Juniosr Whitney Myers (East Berlin, Pa.) and Tiffany Chudy (Miramar, Fla.) continued to play consistent golf in round two, as Myers (74-75=149) followed her opening round 74 with a 75, and Chudy carded her second-straight round of 75. Myers leads the Lady Gators individually with a two-round score of 149 and is tied for 10^th place, while Chudy (75-75=150) stands one stroke behind and is tied for 15^th with Gal.

Redshirt sophomore Ornella Jouven (La Ciotat, France) fell from the top-10 after carding an 83, and is currently tied for 40^th with a two-round total of 157 (74-83). Sophomore Mallory Blackwelder (Versailles, Ky.) enters tomorrow's final round tied for 51^st with a two-round total of 159 (79-80).

The Lady Gators will wrap up the three-day affair in the Golden State tomorrow, with the final round scheduled to being at 11:15 a.m. (ET). Live results will be available at www.golfstat.com and www.gatorzone.com.

Team Leaderboard

1	Pepperdine	+26	297	297	594
2	Arizona State	+30	300	298	598
3	Florida	+35	299	304	603
4	USC	+38	304	302	606
T5	Texas A&M University	+40	300	308	608
T5	Arizona	+40	301	307	608
7	Stanford	+44	305	307	612
8	Wake Forest	+45	307	306	613
9	Oklahoma State	+48	307	309	616
10	UCLA	+54	315	307	622
11	Michigan State	+59	314	313	627
12	California	+63	318	313	631
13	Ohio State	+64	316	316	632
14	Kent State	+67	320	315	635
15	Florida State Univ.	+81	322	327	649

Top-10 Individuals

1	Jayvie Agojo	Pepperdine	69	73	142
T2	Christa Spedding	Texas A&M University	71	75	146
T2	Adriana Zwanck	Arizona	70	76	146
T4	Paola Moreno	USC	76	71	147
T4	Belen Mozo	USC	75	72	147
T6	Mandy Goins	Wake Forest	75	73	148
T6	Allison Goodman	California	74	74	148
T6	Hannah Jun	UCLA	73	75	148
T6	Azahara Munoz	Arizona State	72	76	148
T10	Misun Cho	Pepperdine	76	73	149
T10	Ashley Knoll	Texas A&M University	78	71	149
T10	Whitney Myers	Florida	74	75	149
T10	Jennifer Tangtiphaiboontana	Stanford	72	77	149
T10	Alison Walshe	Arizona	73	76	149