No. 6 Women's Golf Opens Spring at Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge
Friday, February 8, 2008 | Women's Golf
The Lady Gators will challenge the Palos Verdes Golf Course in the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge for the eighth consecutive year. Florida struggled its first four years in the event, placing no higher than 10th, but a UF third-place effort in 2007 at the Regional Challenge catalyzed what became a strong spring season.
Freshman Jessica Yadloczky (Casselberry, Fla.) is coming off a winter layover that included a runner-up finish at the South Atlantic Ladies Amateur, better known as the Sally, in Ormond Beach, Fla. The Casselberry native put together a string of four consecutive top-20 performances and is aiming to build on immediate success she had in the fall. In qualifying rounds this week, she set the Mark Bostick Golf Course record with a 66, one stroke better than her career-low 67 at the Ann Rhoads Intercollegiate.
Senior Whitney Myers (East Berlin, Pa.) comes into the spring ranked 27th in the Golfweek individual rankings and was second on the team in scoring average during the fall only to Gal. She put together back-to- back top-10 efforts in the fall and has a history of stellar outings at the SEC Championship. She finished 23rd and 16th in the last two Regional Challenges she has appeared in.
Senior Tiffany Chudy (Miramar, Fla.) will take the top spot in the rotation heading into the weekend and redshirt sophomore Brittany Nelson (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) will compete as an individual. Freshman Hannah Yun (Bradenton, Fla.) will make her UF debut in the No. 3 slot with redshirt junior Ornella Jouven (La Ciotat, France) competing in the fifth spot.
Florida held their own in the fall and finished the season with one of the best halves in school history, finishing no lower than fifth in four stroke-play tournaments and placed third in its only match event on the calendar. Yadloczky and Myers tied the school's lowest round with a 67 and UF and Sandra Gal claimed medalist honors at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Classic.
The Lady Gators proved they could shine without Gal at the Wildcat Fall Invitational in Lexington and fought inclement weather and battled back from an uncharacteristic first round to finish third at the Ann Rhoads Intercollegiate. Florida stormed Tennessee's home course and prevented the Lady Volunteers to become back-to-back champions in Knoxville.
In her 10th season at Florida, head coach Jill Briles-Hinton has molded a combination of youth and experience into a national contender as the season culminates to a climax with the NCAA Championships in Albuquerque, N.M. May 20-23. Under Briles-Hinton's tutelage in the fall, Myers qualified for a one-year exemption in the Duramed Futures Tour and Gal declared she would forego the remainder of her senior year after earning her LPGA Tour card after making it through several stages of Q- School.
The spring poses a different look for Florida, heading into a new year without Gal but remains strong with the presence of Yadloczky, one of the nation's top freshmen and Myers. A highly-anticipated arrival to Gainesville is Yun, a 15-year old rookie from Bradenton. Nelson defeated three opponents from Georgia, Louisville and Tennessee in UF's third-place quest at the Hooter's Match Play Championship to close out 2007. Add to the mix experienced seniors Chudy, Eleanor Tucker (Wilson, N.C.) and the left-handed redshirt junior Jouven and Florida will continue to challenge at the top of the leaderboard in every event it competes in.
On the slate for the spring includes the UF-hosted 36th annual SunTrust Lady Gator Invitational at the Mark Bostick Golf Course at the University of Florida. The Lady Gators are two-time defending champions and are seeking their third consecutive title while hosting 14 schools. UF makes the short venture to Orlando for the UCF Challenge and will take on some of the premier Big 12 Conference programs in the country at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas. Florida is a regular contestant at the Bryan National Collegiate and the spring calendar will prime this battle-tested Florida squad heading into postseason play in May.
Florida Rotation
1 – Tiffany Chudy
2 – Jessica Yadloczky
3 – Hannah Yun
4 – Whitney Myers
5 – Ornella Jouven
Ind. – Brittany Nelson
