Florida Gators
NCAA Championship Round 2
Three Gator Women Improve on Day 2 of NCAA Women's Golf Championship
Wednesday, May 22, 2013 | Women's Golf
The No. 9 University of Florida women's golf team got improved scores from its bottom three players on Wednesday at the NCAA Women's Golf Championship. Freshman Ursa Orehek (Domzale, Slovenia), sophomore Anna Young (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) and junior Elcin Ulu (Istanbul, Turkey) carded second round scores of two strokes or better to lead the Gators on day two. All three players are playing in their first NCAA Championships of their collegiate careers and helped bring Florida's overall score to 21-over (597) for the tournament.
The second round of the NCAA Championship was left unfinished on Wednesday as a few of the afternoon wave of groups had trouble finishing their rounds with lightning in the area. No announcement has been made yet on the completion of round two and the start of round three. Florida currently sits in 19th place as play was halted.
Unfortunately, Florida's top two players added strokes with their second rounds and were part of a UF second round that combined for a 10-over (298). The score is a one-stroke improvement on yesterday's team score and could still move Florida up the leaderboard as nearly half of the field is still finishing their second rounds.
“I'm happy with the way Ursa (Orehek) played,” Florida head coach Emily Bastel said. “She hung pretty tough after a slow start. Overall, we had it going for a few stretches. We just haven't quite been able to put it together for an entire day and that's what we'll be trying to do for the next couple of days and keep moving up. Each player has something different they can improve on as the week moves on. I think the jitters for Ursa, Anna (Young) and Elcin (Ulu) are dying down and they are realizing that this is just golf. It's the same game we've been playing all year and they're starting to feel and act accordingly.”
Coming out of the gates with today's best UF round was Orehek with her one-over (73). The three-stroke improvement was the best for any Gator today and pushed her to five-over (149) for the tournament. The 73 ties for her second-best round of the year, but didn't quite have the start she had in mind. After bogeying her first hole and then double-bogeying the par three, 3rd hole, Orehek strung together two birdies on her next five holes to get back to one-over for the day. A bogey on nine dropped her back to two-over, but she seemed to have momentum going to the back side. Sure enough, Orehek went one-under on the back nine, birdieing two of her final four holes.
Much like Orehek, Ulu also had a slow start with three bogeys on her first four holes. From there it was steady as she goes as she parred out her final 14 holes for the three-over (75), improving by two shots from yesterday. Counting this year's regional also, the 75 was Ulu's third-lowest round of her NCAA postseason play. She'll go into tomorrow's third round at eight-over (152).
The third improvement of the day for Florida came from Young, who was looking to break into the 70s after a first round 80. The sophomore had more of an up-and-down day with a double-bogey along with two bogeys and a birdie on the front nine. The back nine wasn't less of a rollercoaster for the sophomore with five bogeys, but she was able to birdie No. 12 and No. 15 to finish with a six-over (78). Young currently sits at 14-over (158) for the tournament.
As for Florida's top two players, senior Mia Piccio (Bacolod City, Philippines) and sophomore Camilla Hedberg (Sitges, Spain) both shot identical scores for the second-straight day. However, their rounds of two-over (75) were two shots higher than on Tuesday as only three birdies were scored between both players. Both Piccio and Hedberg will be at four-over (148) with two rounds to play and are still the Gators' two lowest scorers for the tournament.
“We've gotten some momentum going, but then something will happen that kills it,” Bastel said. “This golf course will do that to you. It requires a lot of patience, but there are some unforced errors too. It's not so much we need them to hit perfect shots every time, but your misses have to be smart. That's the sign of a good player.”
Current top ten individuals along with the current placement of all 24 teams before play was halted are listed below. Tee times for Thursday's third round will not be known until the second round is completed. To see a full list of individual placements as it stands right now, you can check GolfStat.com.
Be sure to keep up with the official Gator women's golf Twitter account, @GatorZoneGolf, for any and all updates including when third round tee times are known.
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.
2013 NCAA Championships Team Scores After Round 2
Place Team Score
1 Southern Cal 284-276 (-16)
2 Alabama 288-284 (-4)
3 Duke 286-289 (-1)
4 UCLA 289-287 (E)
T5 Purdue 289-289 (+2)
T5 Stanford 290-288 (+2)
7 Arizona St. 293-287 (+4)
8 Oklahoma 291-291 (+6)
9 Tulane 295-289 (+8)
T10 San Jose St. 284- (+12)
T10 Vanderbilt 299-289 (+12)
T12 Arkansas 296-293- (+13)
T12 Northwestern 298- (+13)
14 Michigan St. 298- (+10)
T15 Texas 299-295 (+18)
T15 Arizona 298- (+18)
T17 UC Davis 299- (+20)
T17 Oregon 301-295 (+20)
19 Florida 299-298 (+21)
20 Auburn 305- (+13)
21 Mississippi St. 300-302 (+26)
22 Oklahoma St. 303-300 (+27)
23 South Carolina 304-305 (+33)
24 Wisconsin 301-309 (+34)
Italics indicates an unfinished second round
2013 NCAA Championships Current Top 10 Individual Scores With Round 2 Unfinished
Place Name Score
1 Stephanie Meadow (Alabama) 69-67 (-8)
2 Annie Park (Southern Cal) 70-67 (-7)
3 Jenny Hahn (Vanderbilt) 71-67 (-6)
4 Ally McDonald (Miss. St.) 70-69 (-5)
5 Mariah Stackhouse (Stanford) 72-68 (-4)
T6 Noemi Jimenez (Arizona St.) 73-68 (-3)
T6 Erynne Lee (UCLA) 71-70 (-3)
T6 Rachel Morris (Southern Cal) 71-70 (-3)
T6 Sophia Popov (Southern Cal) 71-70 (-3)
T10 Celine Boutier (Duke) 69-73 (-2)
T10 Aurora Kan (Purdue) 71-71 (-2)
T10 Lee Lopez (UCLA) 73-69 (-2)
T10 Emma Talley (Alabama) 71-71 (-2)
T10 Suchaya Tangkamolprasert (NW) 71- (-1)
Italics indicates unfinished second round
Florida PlayerScores After Round 2
(Final placements will not be known until all 2nd round scores are final)
Place Name Score
T45 Mia Piccio 73-75 (+4)
T45 Camilla Hedberg 73-75 (+4)
T57 Ursa Orehek 76-73 (+5)
T89 Elcin Ulu 77-75 (+8)
T120 Anna Young 80-78 (+14)
