Florida Gators
NCAA Championship Round 4
Piccio Closes Out Florida Career As Lowest Gator in Championship Field
Friday, May 24, 2013 | Women's Golf
Senior Mia Piccio (Bacolod City, Philippines) finished her UF career on a high note Friday in the final round of the NCAA Championship after carding three-straight birdies and a par on the final four holes for a three-over (75), her third-straight round of 75 for the week. The senior combined for a 10-over (298) in all four rounds which not only was the lowest Gator of the week, but also her second-lowest in an NCAA Championship in her career. Her previous low (294) came in 2011 where she finished tied for 19th.
As a whole, the Gator team had to contend with some high winds in the early hours, but still managed to shoot a 15-over (303), two shots better than yesterday. For the tournament, Florida finished with a 53-over (1,205), but climbed quite a few spots on the board to 18th as they finished their rounds. The Gators ended up in 17th place after all rounds were reported.
Southern California claimed this year's trophy with a score of 19-under (1,133), while their own Annie Park also claimed the medalist title with a 10-under (278)
It was a year to remember for the Gators and first-year head coach Emily Bastel. The fall season was filled with not only two team wins (Cougar Classic, Betsy Rawls Invitational), but also four-straight individual winners. That success was carried over into the spring as the Orange and Blue never finished outside of the top-ten in any tournament in the regular season. Bastel says seeing the way the year panned out altogether, she couldn't be happier to see how her players improved throughout the year and is excited to start preparing for the next season.
“It was an adventurous year,” Bastel said. “We started out super strong and had about as good of a fall season as we could have had. I know I learned a lot and this team learned a lot. Even down to the very last putt today, we're still learning and that's what this game is all about. Sometimes you learn more from the bad experiences than the good ones. I think, overall, there were a lot of positives to the year that the girls coming back can take away for next year and make sure we're a better team next year.”
Overall in the final round, Florida carded three week-best scores from Piccio, junior Elcin Ulu (Istanbul, Turkey) and sophomore Anna Young (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada). Like Piccio, Ulu matched her second-round score of three-over (75) and had a nice celebration on her second-nine with two-straight birdies at holes five and six. Those birdies were Ulu's first of the tournament. The junior finished the championship at 17-over (305), her first NCAA Championship of her career.
For Young, she probably had her best nine-hole start of the tournament after birdieing the par five, 12th hole and sitting at one-under through six holes. Her one setback was a triple-bogey at the tough par three, 16th, that brought her back to two-over for the day. The sophomore didn't let it get her down as she parred the next two holes to finish out the nine and then only had three bogeys on the back side to finished at five-over, her lowest round of the week. Young compiled a score of 25-over (313), also her first NCAA Championship of her career.
As for freshman Ursa Orehek (Domzale, Slovenia) and sophomore Camilla Hedberg (Sitges, Spain), their final rounds didn't go exactly as planned. Hedberg had a very up-and-down first nine with three birdies and five bogeys. As she mad e the turn, she was still at two-over and had nine more holes to string some good shots together. The Spaniard hung around even par for the nine for the next six holes, but then holed out two-straight birdies on No. 7 and No. 8 for a chance to tie for a week-best. Unfortunately, a double-bogey on the ninth hole dropped her back to four-over (76) for the day and 13-over (301) for the tournament. Hedberg will still place as the second-highest Gator this week.
For Orehek, her round could not get any momentum going as she completed a seven-over (79), her highest of the week. The freshman still has plenty to build on as this was her first collegiate year and first NCAA Championship where she carded a 15-over (303), third lowest for any Gator in the field.
“I think the girls that were here this week and are returning next year, learned a lot this week,” Bastel said. “We have some great additions coming to the team next year. Between that mix, I think it's going to make for a lot of exciting qualifying and exciting tournaments for us.”
This tournament closes the book on the 2012-13 for the Florida women's golf team as it finished with three team wins and six individual winners on the season. The Orange and Blue also advanced to its third-straight NCAA Championship and 24th appearance in school history. On the individual side of things, Hedberg became one of only 12 other Gators in school history to win at least three tournaments in their career and eighth Gator to win three or more tournaments in one year.
Florida will continue competing as individuals throughout the summer and come back in the fall to begin the quest for a fourth-straight NCAA Championship in September.
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 Championship Final Team Scores
Place Team Score
1 Southern Cal 284-276-285-286=1133 (-19)
2 Duke 286-289-287-292=1154 (+2)
3 Purdue 289-289-295-300=1173 (+21)
4 UCLA 289-287-297-301=1174 (+22)
5 Arizona St. 293-287-296-305=1181 (+29)
6 Auburn 305-292-285-301=1183 (+31)
7 Alabama 288-284-301-316=1189 (+37)
8 Arizona 298-295-297-300=1190 (+38)
T9 Oklahoma 291-291-300-309=1191 (+39)
T9 Michigan St. 298-291-298-304=1191 (+39)
T9 Tulane 295-289-297-310=1191 (+39)
12 Oklahoma St. 303-300-294-296=1193- (+41)
T13 Arkansas 296-293-302-309=1200 (+48)
T13 Stanford 290-288-301-321=1200 (+48)
15 Northwestern 298-293-300-310=1201 (+49)
16 UC Davis 299-297-294-313=1203 (+51)
17 Florida 299-298-305-303=1205 (+53)
18 Vanderbilt 299-289-307-311=1206 (+54)
19 San Jose St. 284-303-295-327=1209 (+57)
20 South Carolina 304-305-292-310=1211 (+59)
21 Texas 299-295-304-315=1213 (+61)
22 Oregon 301-295-297-324=1217 (+65)
23 Wisconsin 301-309-297-311=1216 (+68)
24 Mississippi St. 300-302-292-327=1221 (+69)
2013 NCAA Championships Current Final Top 10 Individual Scores
Place Name Score
1 Annie Park (Southern Cal) 70-67-70-71=278 (-10)
2 Lindy Duncan (Duke) 72-71-71-70=284 (-4)
3 Paula Reto (Purdue) 71-73-70-72=286 (-2)
T4 Celine Boutier (Duke) 69-73-71-74=287 (-1)
T4 Erynne Lee (UCLA) 71-70-73-73=287 (-1)
T6 Kyung Kim (Southern Cal) 74-69-69-77=289 (+1)
T6 Stephanie Meadow (Alabama) 69-67-73-80=289 (+1)
T6 Christine Meier (Michigan St.) 72-75-69-73=289 (+1)
T6 Sophia Popov (Southern Cal) 71-70-74-74=289 (+1)
T10 Noemi Jimenez (Arizona St.) 73-68-72-77=290 (+2)
T10 Ally McDonald (Miss. St.) 70-69-70-81=290 (+2)
T10 Marta Sanz (Auburn) 79-69-68-74=290 (+2)
T10 Andrea Villarasau (Arizona) 72-72-76-70=290 (+2)
Florida Player Final Scores of 2013 NCAA Championship
Place Name Score
T37 Mia Piccio 73-75-75-75=298 (+10)
T50 Camilla Hedberg 73-75-77-76=301 (+13)
T66 Ursa Orehek 76-73-75-79=303 (+15)
T73 Elcin Ulu 77-75-78-75=305 (+17)
T109 Anna Young 80-78-78-77=313 (+25)
