Florida Gators
Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Championship
Lendl's Career-High Eight Birdies Help Florida Start Strong at Allstate Sugar Bowl
Monday, February 28, 2011 | Women's Golf
NEW ORLEANS, La. – The University of Florida women's golf team completed day one in a tie for eighth at the end of the first round of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Golf Championship after posting a team score of 298 (+10) at the par-72, 6,105-yard English Turn Golf and Country Club. The Gators will head into the second round 10 strokes behind host Tulane, who currently lead with a 288 (E) and have two golfers—Isabelle Lendl (Goshen, Conn.) and Mia Piccio (Bacolod City, Philippines)—currently in the top 10 on the individual leaderboard.
“It was pretty windy today, probably a consistent 20 mile-per-hour wind,” Florida Head Coach Jan Dowling said in describing the challenging conditions. “You have to stay very patient and very committed. There are some small greens on the front nine. Some of them are even smaller than our greens at the Mark Bostick Golf Course (Florida's home course). The course played tough today. Overall, I am pretty happy and there are some very positive things that happened today. We are trying to get a little bit better every day and we definitely did that today.”
Lendl had her best round of the 2010-11 season, finishing with a 70 (-2) that had her in a tie for fourth on the individual leaderboard. After sitting at even through her first five holes, Lendl caught fire, making birdies on 15, 16 and 17 before a hiccup on 18 where she double bogeyed. The Connecticut native rebounded with birdies on her next two holes to get to three-under before a double bogey on No. 4 and a bogey on No. 5 dropped her back to even. She followed that with back-to-back birdies on the No. 6 and 7 and completed her round with two pars. Lendl took advantage of the par-5's all day, sinking birdies on all four of them. Her eight birdies led the field and eclipsed her previous career-high for most birdies in a round of seven in the second round of the 2010 Central District Invitational where she was the medalist .
“Obviously, it was a lot of fun watching Isabelle play today with her eight birdies,” Dowling stated. “She probably had her best ball-striking round I have seen in her practice round yesterday and she obviously carried that over. All she needed was a little confidence and nothing builds confidence like making eight birdies. This is a good confidence-builder for her for the rest of the spring.”
Piccio continued her strong start to the spring season, following up a 16th-place finish at the Northrup Grumman Regional Challenge two weeks ago by firing a 71 (-1) in Sunday's opening round that left her knotted for seventh overall. Piccio was steady throughout, managing to avoid danger while carding three birdies, 13 pars and only two bogeys.
“She is a very good wind player,” Dowling noted. “She has a good imagination and knows how to hit a lot of different shots. She had three birdies and two bogeys so a pretty consistent round for her. She stayed patient in tough conditions.”
Junior Evan Jensen (Belleair, Fla.) made par her first seven holes before a bogey on 17 and after another par on 18, reached the turn at one-over. She went bogey-par-birdie on her next three holes to stay one-over until bogeys on No. 4, No. 6 and No. 9 put her in a tie for 47th with a 76 (+4).
“Evan had a couple of three-putts that got her score up a little bit but she did not have any doubles (bogeys),” Dowling said. “On a day like today, if you do not make any doubles, then you are playing pretty consistently.”
Senior Jessica Yadloczky (Casselberry, Fla.) carded consecutive bogeys on 13 and 14 and a double bogey on 18 to head to the front nine at four-over. She was six-over through 14 until finding difficulty on holes 6, 7 and 8 where she went double bogey-bogey-bogey. However, the lone Gator senior bounced back, recording her only birdie of the day on her final hole to tally a first round score of 81 (+9) that left her deadlocked in 83rd.
“Jess did not play up to her expectations but there are still some positives for her,” Dowling shared. “She hit the ball really well today but did not putt as well as she normally does. She has been struggling to hit fairways but did a great job of that today so she needs to take some positives from that and get after it tomorrow.”
Sophomore Megan Pak (Bradenton, Fla.) in her 2010-11 debut in the Florida rotation, carded an 84 (+12) on the day. She notched nine pars, six bogeys and three double bogeys in her opening 18 holes.
The Gators are scheduled to begin play at 9 a.m. ET along with Southern California and Virginia in the second round of the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Golf Championship. Pak will be the first Florida player to tee off at 9 a.m. on Monday. Next up is Yadloczky at 9:09, followed by Jensen at 9:18, Piccio at 9:27 and Lendl at 9:36.
Fans can follow the Gators at www.golfstat.com for live scoring, on Twitter and at www.GatorZone.com for a recap and updated results after the conclusion of each round.
Team Scores After Round 1
| Place | School | Score |
| 1. | Tulane | 288 (E) |
| 2. | Duke | 290 (+2) |
| 3. | LSU | 291 (+3) |
| 4. | Arizona State | 293 (+5) |
| 5. | Vanderbilt | 294 (+6) |
| 6. | Alabama | 295 (+7) |
| 7. | Southern California | 297 (+9) |
| T8. | Florida | 298 (+10) |
| T8. | Virginia | 298 (+10) |
| 10. | Tennessee | 300 (+12) |
| T11. | Purdue | 302 (+14) |
| T11. | Auburn | 302 (+14) |
| T11. | Texas A&M | 302 (+14) |
| 14. | Mississippi | 303 (+15) |
| 15. | Kentucky | 305 (+17) |
| 16. | Denver | 306 (+18) |
| 17. | North Carolina | 307 (+19) |
Individual Top 10 Through Round 1
| Place | Player (School) | Score |
| 1. | Laetitia Beck (Duke) | 66 (-6) |
| T2. | Jacqueline Hedwall (LSU) | 69 (-3) |
| T2. | Megan McChrystal (LSU) | 69 (-3) |
| T4. | Isabelle Lendl (Florida) | 70 (-2) |
| T4. | Megan Grehan (Vanderbilt) | 70 (-2) |
| T4. | Ashley McKenney (Tulane) | 70 (-2) |
| T7. | Mia Piccio (Florida) | 71 (-1) |
| T7. | Janine Fellows (Tulane) | 71 (-1) |
| T7. | Giulia Molinaro (Arizona State) | 71 (-1) |
| T7. | Maribel Lopez Porras (Tulane) | 71 (-1) |
Florida Results After Round 1
| Place | Player | Score |
| T4. | Isabelle Lendl | 70 (-2) |
| T7. | Mia Piccio | 71 (-1) |
| T47. | Evan Jensen | 76 (+4) |
| T83. | Jessica Yadloczky | 81 (+9) |
| T92. | Megan Pak | 84 (+12) |
