Florida Gators
NCAA Championships
Women's Golf Finishes Round One at NCAA Championship
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | Women's Golf
The No. 12 University of Florida women's golf team finished the first round of the NCAA Championship in a tie for 18th place with a 14-over 302. The No. 12 Gators were led by senior Evan Jensen (Belleair, Fla.) who shot a two-over 74 during the first round at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn.
“I think it was a mixture of some team members not fully committing to every shot they hit out there and some of it was not giving the firm greens and the fast conditions enough respect,” head coach Jan Dowling “This is an NCAA Championship caliber golf course and you have to be alert and decisive on every shot you hit and that's what you want at an NCAA Championship.”
Jensen got off to a good start shooting a one-under 35 on the front nine, including birdies on both par fives on the front. Jensen, who led the team with three birdies, carded a 39 (+3) on the back nine to finish round one at +2. The senior will enter the second round in a tie for 34th.
“Evan has continued to be a great course manager. You have to thinking out there like a chess game and she did that fairly well today,” said Dowling. “Her score probably doesn't reflect how well she hit the golf ball but, again, that's a part of playing an NCAA caliber golf course.”
Senior Andrea Watts (Bradenton, Fla.), junior Mia Piccio (Bacolod City, Philippines) and freshman Camilla Hedberg (Sitges, Spain) all finished with four-over 76's on the first 18 holes.
Watts shot a team-best one-over, 37, on the back nine with one birdie on the par three 16th against two bogeys. Piccio, who started four-over through the first six holes, bounced back to shoot even on the final 12 holes.
Junior Isabelle Lendl (Goshen, Conn.) handed in a 10-over 82 to round out the Gators lineup on day one.
“The team is going to make a couple small adjustments, some minor stuff, and we're going to go out and give it our best shot the next three days. There's a lot of golf left to be played,” explained Dowling.
No. 2 Alabama claimed the top spot on the leaderboard following round one. The Tide shot a two-under 286 and lead Virginia by two strokes. Portland Rosen of Virginia leads all individuals after carding a six-under 66 after posting a 29 on the front nine.
Lendl will tee off first for the Gators in the second round at 12:53 p.m. ET. All UF members will tee off of hole No. 10 to begin the second round.
Live stats for the NCAA Championship can be found here
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.
| Team Leaderboard | |||
| PLACE | SCHOOL | TO PAR | SCORE |
| 1 | Alabama | -2 | 286 |
| 2 | Virginia | E | 288 |
| 3 | Duke | +1 | 289 |
| 4 | North Carolina | +2 | 290 |
| T5 | LSU | +4 | 292 |
| T5 | UCLA | +4 | 292 |
| T5 | Arizona State | +4 | 292 |
| 8 | Purdue | +5 | 293 |
| 9 | Oklahoma | +6 | 294 |
| 10 | Michigan State | +8 | 296 |
| T11 | Colorado | +9 | 297 |
| T11 | Southern Cal | +9 | 297 |
| T11 | Texas | +9 | 297 |
| T14 | Texas A&M | +11 | 299 |
| T14 | North Carolina State | +11 | 299 |
| 16 | Baylor | +11 | 299 |
| 17 | Tennessee | +12 | 300 |
| T18 | South Carolina | +14 | 302 |
| T18 | FLORIDA | +14 | 302 |
| T20 | Arkansas | +15 | 303 |
| T20 | Ohio State | +15 | 303 |
| T22 | Vanderbilt | +18 | 306 |
| T22 | Pepperdine | +18 | 306 |
| 24 | Stanford | +21 | 309 |
| Individual Top-10 | ||||
| PLACE | PLAYER | SCHOOL | TO PAR | SCORE |
| 1 | Portland Rosen | Virginia | -6 | 66 |
| 2 | Laura Gonzales | Purdue | -5 | 67 |
| T3 | Catherine O'Donnell | North Carolina | -4 | 68 |
| T3 | Brooke Pancake | Alabama | -4 | 68 |
| T5 | Tessa Teachman | LSU | -3 | 69 |
| T5 | Chirapat Jao-Javanil | Oklahoma | -3 | 69 |
| T5 | Stephanie Meadow | Alabama | -3 | 69 |
| T5 | Giulia Molinaro | Arizona State | -3 | 69 |
| T9 | Lindy Duncan | Duke | -2 | 70 |
| T9 | Kimberly Kaufman | Texas Tech | -2 | 70 |
| T9 | Madelene Sagstrom | LSU | -2 | 70 |
| Florida Results | |||
| PLACE | PLAYER | TO PAR | SCORE |
| T34 | Evan Jensen | +2 | 74 |
| T70 | Mia Piccio | +4 | 76 |
| T70 | Andrea Watts | +4 | 76 |
| T70 | Camilla Hedberg | +4 | 76 |
| T122 | Isabelle Lendl | +10 | 82 |
