No. 5 UF Women's Golf Aims For Eighth SEC Championship Title This Weekend
Friday, April 18, 2008 | Women's Golf
The fifth-ranked University of Florida women's golf team opens postseason play and seeks its eighth overall Southeastern Conference Championship, April 18-20, at the Tennessee National Golf Club in Loudon, Tenn.
Tee times begin at 9 a.m. ET Friday. Florida tee times open at 9:50 a.m. ET and follow in 10-minute intervals. The Lady Gators are paired with Georgia and Tennessee. Eighteen holes will be played on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Live scoring is available at www.Gatorzone.com and through www.Golfstat.com.
The 12-team field features seven teams ranked in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index Top 25. Three of those squads are ranked in the top 10 led by No. 5 Florida. Auburn is ranked ninth and Georgia is seventh. The Bulldogs are the defending tournament champions after posting a 1-over total of 865 last season at Old Waverly Golf Course in West Point, Miss.
The Tennessee National Golf Club will play to a par-72 at 6,310 yards. The course, which is playing host to its first SEC Championship, is situated between the Smokey Mountains and the Tennessee River and will provide several elevation changes. Tennessee National is a Greg Norman design that opened in Sept. 2006.
“The course really incorporates the environment, similar to a European style course,” UF head coach Jill Briles-Hinton said. “It is open, and we have prepared the girls to play the course properly. It should fit their game well.”
Florida took second at last year's event after firing a three-day score of 17-over 881. The Lady Gators enjoyed a successful regular season that featured three tournament wins, including a first-place finish in their last competition on March 30 at the Bryan National Collegiate in Browns Summitt, N.C. UF overtook No. 1 Duke and defeated the Blue Devils by two shots with a 54-hole tally of 42-over 906.
“The girls pulled it off with a victory against some quality teams,” Briles-Hinton said. “They proved they can persevere through bad weather conditions. I am very proud of them. The girls are looking forward to now competing against the rest of the teams in the SEC. We are playing well and it has helped our confidence. We are going to the SEC (Championship) to prove that we can do it and get the job done.”
Three players in the 2007 SEC Championship rotation return to the event this season. Senior Whitney Myers (East Berlin, Pa.), who claimed sole possession of fourth overall in 2007, headlines the list of Lady Gators participating this weekend. Myers leads the team in stroke average at 73.65. That figure also ranks as the fourth-best mark in the SEC.
Freshman Jessica Yadloczky (Casselberry, Fla.) enters her first postseason tournament after a tie for fifth at the Bryan National Collegiate. Yadloczky provided the only under-par round of that tournament with a final-round 71 that earned her National Player of the Week honors by Golf World. She is ranked 15th in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Individual Ratings.
Redshirt junior Ornella Jouven (La Ciotat, France) is competing in her third SEC Championship. Jouven placed in a tie for 25th last season at 11-over 227. Senior Tiffany Chudy (Miramar, Fla.) is making her third appearance as well at the conference tournament. Freshman Hannah Yun (Bradenton, Fla.) will be making her sixth straight start.
Florida's seven SEC Championship titles are the second-most in league history, trailing only Georgia with 11. The Lady Gators are seeking their first conference championship since winning the 1995 title by a remarkable 29 shots.
