Florida Gators
Northrop Grumman Regional
Lady Gators Top Three Top-10 Teams at Northrop Grumman, Gal Fires Career-Best
Thursday, February 15, 2007 | Women's Golf
The No. 21 University of Florida women's golf team saved its best round for the final day of the 54-hole Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge, where it shot a 298 on Wednesday to bring its three-round total to 901 (299-304-298), good for third place in a 15-team field that featured 13 top-25 teams. Florida finished 19 strokes behind tournament champion Pepperdine, which is ranked No. 9, and 10 strokes behind second-ranked Arizona State. In all, the Lady Gators topped three top-10 teams and eight top-25 teams on the par-71, 5,912-yard Palos Verds Golf Club in Palos Verdes, Calif.
“This team really hung in there on a very difficult course and showed everyone that they're going to be a force to be reckoned with this season. They proved to themselves, too, that they're contenders for a national title,” Lady Gator head coach Jill Briles-Hinton said. “They gained some needed confidence at this tournament, and found out that whenever they 'team up,' they've got a shot at winning.”
Junior Sandra Gal (Leichlingen, Germany) also saved her best performance for the final round, as she fired a career-best 69 to propel her from 19th place after the first day to finish tied for second. Gal stayed at even throughout her first five holes of play before back-to-back birdies on the seventh and eighth holes put her at two-under. She bogeyed her first hole after the turn, a par-4, 340-yarder, but dropped back to two-under after carding her third birdie on the short par-3, 15th hole for the second day in a row. After firing a final birdie on the par-4, 316-yard 17th hole, Gal looked to finish the day at three-under, which would have tied her for medalist honors, but lost a stroke on the opening hole with her second bogey of the day.
“Sandra was frustrated and struggled at the beginning of the week, but her patience paid off because she made quite a comeback. She hasn't been in this kind of a situation too many times, but this was an excellent learning lesson for her,” Briles-Hinton said.
Juniors Tiffany Chudy (Miramar, Fla.) and Whitney Myers (East Berlin, Pa.) continued to play stroke-for-stroke, and the duo finished tied for 23rd. Chudy (75-75-77=227) shot a final-round score of 77, and Myers (74-75-78=227) carded a 78.
Sophomore Mallory Blackwelder (Versailles, Ky.) shaved five strokes off of her opening round to finish the tournament with a score of 233 (79-80-74) to tie for 39th, and redshirt sophomore Ornella Jouven (La Ciotat, France) brought her three-round score to 233 (74-83-83) and finished tied for 59th.
The Lady Gators will remain idle for the next few weeks before resuming play on the East Coast at the UCF Challenge scheduled for March 5-6 at Orlando's Grand Cypress Resort.
Team Leaderboard
| 1 | +30 | 297 | 297 | 288 | 882 | |
| 2 | +39 | 300 | 298 | 293 | 891 | |
| 3 | +49 | 299 | 304 | 298 | 901 | |
| 4 | +52 | 307 | 308 | 289 | 904 | |
| 5 | +55 | 301 | 307 | 299 | 907 | |
| T6 | +56 | 304 | 302 | 302 | 908 | |
| T6 | +56 | 300 | 308 | 300 | 908 | |
| 8 | +63 | 305 | 307 | 303 | 915 | |
| 9 | +64 | 307 | 306 | 303 | 916 | |
| 10 | +69 | 315 | 307 | 299 | 921 | |
| 11 | +81 | 314 | 313 | 306 | 933 | |
| 12 | +86 | 320 | 315 | 303 | 938 | |
| 13 | +88 | 316 | 316 | 308 | 940 | |
| 14 | +92 | 318 | 314 | 312 | 944 | |
| 15 | +97 | 322 | 327 | 300 | 949 |
Top-10 Individuals
| 1 | +5 | 76 | 73 | 69 | 218 | ||
| T2 | +6 | 69 | 73 | 77 | 219 | ||
| T2 | +6 | 76 | 74 | 69 | 219 | ||
| T2 | +6 | 78 | 73 | 68 | 219 | ||
| T2 | +6 | 72 | 76 | 71 | 219 | ||
| T2 | +6 | 71 | 75 | 73 | 219 | ||
| 7 | +7 | 70 | 76 | 74 | 220 | ||
| T8 | +8 | 77 | 74 | 70 | 221 | ||
| T8 | +8 | 73 | 75 | 73 | 221 | ||
| T8 | +8 | 75 | 72 | 74 | 221 | ||
| T8 | +8 | 73 | 77 | 71 | 221 |
Lady Gator Results
| T2 | Sandra Gal | 76 | 74 | 69 | 219 (+6) |
| T23 | Tiffany Chudy | 75 | 75 | 77 | 227 (+14) |
| T23 | Whitney Myers | 74 | 75 | 78 | 227 (+14) |
| T39 | Mallory Blackwelder | 79 | 80 | 74 | 233 (+20) |
| T59 | Ornella Jouven | 74 | 83 | 83 | 240 (+27) |
-UF-
