Women's Golf Prepares for English Turn, Impressive Field at Allstate Sugar Bowl
Sunday, February 27, 2011 | Women's Golf
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida women's golf team travels to New Orleans, La. this weekend to compete in the 2011 Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Golf Championship. The three-day event, which begins on Sunday, Feb. 27, will be held at the par-72, 6,105 yard English Turn Golf and Country Club, which was designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus. Nobody on the Florida roster has played this course as a Gator.
This year's field should make for one of the most highly competitive tournaments of the spring season. The Gators will face off against 16 other teams, including nine of the past 12 national champions: Purdue (2010), Arizona State (2009), USC (2003, 2008) and Duke (1999, 2002, 2005, 2006, and 2007). Additionally, the tournament features six of the top eight teams (No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Southern California, No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Duke, No. 6 Purdue, No. 8 Virginia) in the most recent Golf World/NGCA coaches' poll, giving it the feel of an NCAA Championship event. The field is also very diverse, with seven different conferences being represented: the Atlantic Coast Conference, the Big 12 Conference, the Big Ten Conference, Conference-USA, the Pac-10, the Southeastern Conference, and the Sun Belt Conference.
Individually, the Gators will be going up against some of the best golfers in the country this week. LSU's Megan McChrystal (No. 1), Virginia's Brittany Altomare (No. 3), Duke's Lindy Duncan (No. 4), and Southern California's Lisa McCloskey (No.6) are all set to compete. There are also 19 other golfers ranked in the top 50 of the Golfweek/ Sagarin Rankings as of Feb. 20, 2011, that will participate in the tournament.
Florida head coach Jan Dowling settled on a lineup with sophomore Mia Piccio (Bacolod City, Philippines) at the front, followed by Evan Jensen (Belleair, Fla.), Isabelle Lendl (Goshen, Conn.), Megan Pak (Bradenton, Fla.) and Jessica Yadloczky (Casselberry, Fla.).
The Orange and Blue are looking to improve on an eighth-place finish at the spring-opening Northrup Grumman Regional Challenge. Yadloczky will be the first to tee off for the Florida at 8 a.m. on Sunday, followed by Pak—making her second career appearance in the rotation as a Gator and first this season—at 8:09, Lendl at 8:18, Jensen at 8:27 and Piccio—who recently entered the top 100 of the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings, checking in at No. 98—at 8:36.
Follow the team on www.golfstat.com for live scoring and on Twitter for updates.
