Florida Gators
Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge
No. 12 Gators Tied for Eighth After Round One of Northrop Grumman
Monday, February 13, 2012 | Women's Golf
The No.12 University of Florida women's golf team battled through round one of the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge to post a score of 302 (+18). UF will enter round two tied for eighth-place and 10 strokes back of second-place in arguably the toughest fields at one of the most difficult courses, Palos Verdes Golf Club, in Palos Verdes, California. The Gators were led by senior Evan Jensen (Belleair, Fla.) and junior Mia Piccio (Bacolod City, Philippines), who each carded a one-over 72.
“Evan, Camilla and Mia played a very tough stretch of holes very, very well. The team showed a lot of very promising things today,” head coach Jan Dowling said. “We let some simple things stop our momentum on the back nine. We did the hard things really well and the simpler things, that we know we are good at, let us down.”
Jensen and Piccio, who are both tied for 11th individually, each made three birdies against four bogeys. Jensen shot even par on the front-nine while Piccio shot even par on the back nine. Jensen and Piccio entered the tournament sitting in the No. 4 and No. 2 spots in the lineup, respectively.
“I'm very impressed with Mia and Evan's rounds. They showed a lot of enthusiasm and got tough and grinded out there,” Dowling said. “They hung tough and had great opportunities. They are becoming mature players.”
Freshman Camilla Hedberg (Sitges, Spain), who began on hole 10, started out hot, shooting even par on the back nine with one birdie against one bogey but struggled on the front recording five bogeys to give her a first round total of 76 (+5). Hedberg is tied for 35th after round one.
Junior Isabelle Lendl (Goshen, Conn.), who shot a first round 82 (+11), and senior Andrea Watts (Bradenton, Fla.), who shot an initial round 84 (+13), rounded UF's lineup on day one.
“The course is very tricky around the greens but we've got two seniors and two juniors who have played this event so we have some local knowledge,” Dowling said. “We just have to get into our routines and continue to show enthusiasm.”
No. 1 UCLA will take an eight-stroke lead over No. 14 Duke into the second round while Rachel Watton of Denver University captured the individual lead after day one of the Ohio State hosted tournament.
For complete coverage of UF's women's golf program visit GatorZone.com, follow @GatorZoneGolf on Twitter and 'like' the University of Florida Women's Golf page on Facebook.
For live scoring throughout the tournament visit golfstat.com
Complete pre-tournament notes are available here
| TEAM SCORES THROUGH ROUND 1 | |||
| PLACE | SCHOOL | TO PAR | SCORE |
| 1 | UCLA | E | 284 |
| 2 | Duke | +8 | 292 |
| 3 | Denver | +11 | 295 |
| T4 | Florida State | +12 | 296 |
| T4 | Ohio State | +12 | 296 |
| 6 | Southern Cal | +13 | 297 |
| 7 | Pepperdine | +16 | 300 |
| T8 | Arizona State | +18 | 302 |
| T8 | Michigan State | +18 | 302 |
| T8 | Florida | +18 | 302 |
| 11 | Colorado | +19 | 303 |
| 12 | Oregon | +20 | 304 |
| T13 | Wake Forest | +26 | 310 |
| T13 | Oklahoma | +26 | 310 |
| 15 | UC Davis | +28 | 312 |
| INDIVIDUAL TOP-10 THROUGH ROUND 1 | ||||
| PLACE | PLAYER | SCHOOL | TO PAR | SCORE |
| 1 | Rachel Watton | Denver | -4 | 67 |
| 2 | Lindy Duncan | Duke | -2 | 69 |
| T3 | Susana Benavides | Ohio State | -1 | 70 |
| T3 | Alejandra Cangrejo | Duke | -1 | 70 |
| T3 | Lee Lopez | UCLA | -1 | 70 |
| T3 | Maria Salinas | Florida State | -1 | 70 |
| T7 | Alina Ching | Pepperdine | E | 71 |
| T7 | Ani Gulugian | UCLA | E | 71 |
| T7 | Malin Jansson | Florida State | E | 71 |
| T7 | Tiffany Lua | UCLA | E | 71 |
| FLORIDA RESULTS AFTER ROUND 1 | |||
| PLACE | PLAYER | TO PAR | SCORE |
| T11 | Mia Piccio | 1 | 72 |
| T11 | Evan Jensen | 1 | 72 |
| T35 | Camilla Hedberg | 5 | 76 |
| T71 | Isabelle Lendl | 11 | 82 |
| 79 | Andrea Watts | 13 | 84 |
