Florida Gators
Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge
Yadloczky Leads First-Round Charge as No. 6 Women's Golf Ties For Second in Palos Verdes
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 | Women's Golf
Palos Verdes, Calif. – Freshman Jessica Yadloczky (Casselberry, Fla.) fired a round of even par to lead the No. 6 Florida women's golf team during the first day of the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge Monday. The Lady Gators were resilient against the challenging and hilly par-71, 5,912-yard Palos Verdes Golf Course, carding a team total of 298 to sit in a four-way tie for second place going into Tuesday's round.
Yadloczky is tied with UCLA's Sydnee Michaels and Glory Yang along with USC's Lizette Salas for a share of third place. TCU's Valentine Derrey and Pepperdine's Taylore Karle dropped to 1-under par on their last three holes of the day to lead the hunt for medalist honors. The Bruins will take a 10-stroke lead going into second-round action over Florida, BYU, USC and defending Regional Challenge champion Pepperdine.
The course proved to be a test to the nations' best on the first day as fifth-ranked Denver sat last in a 15-team field and Pac-10 Conference powers Arizona and Arizona State found themselves on the bubble in the top 10, ending eighth and finishing 12th at the conclusion of Monday's round.
Yadloczky picked up right where she left off in the fall season, opening up the spring campaign with a 71. She was able to avoid trouble on the back nine where many other players fell victim to and registered three birdies on the day, including one on her first hole. Listed at No. 27 in the latest Golfweek rankings, the rookie's even round marked the sixth time this year she finished at par or under.
Senior Whitney Myers (East Berlin, Pa.) is tied for 10th after recording a two-over par 73. Like Yadloczky, Myers avoided trouble on the back nine and had a streak of eight pars from holes one through eight.
Senior Tiffany Chudy (Miramar, Fla.) was stellar on the front nine, finishing even, but ran into trouble on the back nine and was hurt by back-to-back double bogeys on holes 13 and 14. She still had three birdies on the day and finished with a 77 to sit in a tie for 38th.
Making her Florida debut in the rotation was freshman Hannah Yun (Bradenton, Fla.), who equaled Chudy's score of 77 to help the Lady Gators' cause. Yun also carded three birdies on the day, two on long par-5's.
Rounding out the team scoring was redshirt junior Ornella Jouven (La Ciotat, France) who finished with a first-round tally of 80. Seeing the course for the third straight year, Jouven put together a streak of seven pars to finish two-over par on the front nine. Redshirt sophomore Brittany Nelson (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) put an 84 on the scorecard, competing as an individual.
Action resumes tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. Live scoring can be followed on the web at www.golfstat.com.
Team Scoring
1 – UCLA – 288
T2 – Florida – 298
T2 – USC – 298
T2 – BYU – 298
T2 – Pepperdine - 298
6 – Stanford – 300
7 – Wake Forest – 301
8 – Arizona State – 302
9 – Oklahoma State - 303
10 – Texas A&M – 304
11 – TCU - 306
12 – Arizona – 308
13 – Ohio State – 309
14 – Michigan State - 312
15 – Denver - 316
Florida Scores
T3 – Jessica Yadloczky – 71
T10 – Whitney Myers – 73
T38 – Tiffany Chudy – 77
T38 – Hannah Yun – 77
T65 – Ornella Jouven – 80
T81 – Brittany Nelson – 84*
*competing as an individual
