UF Women's Golf Ready to Host 39th-Annual SunTrust Gator Women's Golf Invitational
Friday, March 4, 2011 | Women's Golf
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida women's golf team is ready to host the 39th-annual SunTrust Gator Women's Golf Invitational March 6-7. The two-day event will take place at the par-70, 6,074-yard Mark Bostick Golf Course.
Florida is looking to continue its history of success at its home tournament, as the Gators have captured the title in six of the past 11 years, with 16 overall — the most recent coming courtesy of the 2008 Southeastern Conference championship squad. Last season, the Orange and Blue finished third, 11 strokes behind 2010 champion Michigan State. Individually, Gators Mia Piccio (Bacolod City, Philippines) and Evan Jensen (Belleair, Fla.) recorded top-10 finishes while senior captain Jessica Yadloczky (Casselberry, Fla.) concluded the event just outside the top 10 as she tied for 11th.
Head coach Jan Dowling unveiled a lineup that includes Piccio at the front of the rotation. The Philippines native has been UF's top performer this spring, earning a 16th-place finish at the Northrup Grumman Regional Challenge Feb. 14-16 and earlier this week, concluding the Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate Golf Championship in a tie for 11th. She also leads the team in stroke average (74.11) and is aiming to build on last season's third-place result. Sophomore Isabelle Lendl (Goshen, Conn.) is slotted second and is coming off her best tournament of the season at the Allstate Sugar Bowl where she sank a career-high eight birdies in the first round en route to a 222 (+6), her best 54-hole score this year. Jensen is third in the lineup and has been among Florida's most consistent golfers as 94.2 percent of her rounds have counted toward Florida's team score. The Gator junior tops the squad in birdies with 50 —she has birdied 14.2 percent of the holes she has played — and is tied for the team lead in differential at 4.40. Yadloczky, the only Gator senior, will tee off in the fourth spot. The two-time First Team All-SEC selection fired a season-low 70 (-2) in the final round of the Allstate Sugar Bowl this past Tuesday and traditionally has fared well at the SunTrust Gator Women's Golf Invitational. She ended last year's event tied for 11th, tied for fourth in 2009 as a sophomore and tied for ninth in 2008 as a freshman. Junior Andrea Watts (Bradenton, Fla.) rounds out the Florida rotation. In 2010, Watts competed as an individual in her home invitational and carded a cumulative score of 222 (+12) that landed her in tie for 21st and as a freshman, tied for 11th as a member of Florida's lineup. Sophomore Megan Pak (Bradenton, Fla.) will play as an individual.
The SunTrust Gator Women's Golf Invitational features four Top-25 teams, according to the Golf World/NGCA coaches' poll as of Feb. 23: No. 13 Arkansas, No. 19 Iowa State, No. 23 Colorado and No. 24 Kent State. Four other teams in the field—Florida State, Ohio State, Coastal Carolina and Florida—received 20, eight, six and two votes respectively. Conferences represented in the tournament include the Atlantic Coast Conference, Atlantic Sun, Big South, Big Ten, Big 12, the Colonial Athletic Association, Conference USA, the Mid-American Conference, the Peach Belt Conference, the SEC and the Southern Conference.
First round play begins on Sunday with an 8 a.m. shotgun start. Florida is paired with Arkansas and Kent State for the opening day. The second round immediately follows the first as 36 holes will be played on day one. Monday's final round has a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m., followed by the awards presentation. Admission is free and open to the public.
Keep up with the Gators at www.golfstat.com for live scoring, on Twitter for team updates and at www.GatorZone.com for a recap and updated results at the conclusion of each day of the tournament.
Tournament Field: Arkansas, Augusta State, Chattanooga, Coastal Carolina, Colorado, Florida, Florida State, Georgia State, Iowa State, James Madison, Kent State, Missouri, Ohio State, Stetson, Texas Tech, UCF and UNC-Greensboro
