Gators Enjoy 10-Stroke Lead After Day One of Gator Invitational

Saturday, March 5

Gainesville, FL

Florida Gators

SunTrust Gator Women's Golf Invitational

Junior Maria Torres and Head Coach Emily Glaser

Gators Enjoy 10-Stroke Lead After Day One of Gator Invitational

Saturday, March 5, 2016 | Women's Golf

By: Dustin Ciraco

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 8 Gator women's golf team used a strong second round Saturday to cruise to a 10-stroke advantage in its only home tournament of the season, the SunTrust Gator Invitational at the Mark Bostick Golf Course. The Orange and Blue sit at +9 (569), followed by NC State at +19 (579), and Oregon at +20 (580).

Junior Maria Torres led the team, carding 2-under 68 in the second round, which was good enough to propel her into a tie for sixth place individually. NC State's Rachael Taylor is the overall leader of the Gator Invitational through day one by three strokes at -4 (136). Also placing in the top 10 for the Gators was Taylor Tomlinson with a +3 (143).

The women's golf team is seeking its fourth team title in its past five tournaments. The home victory would be Florida's first since winning back-to-back Gator Invitationals in 2011-2012 on its par-70, 6,002-yard course.

Head Coach Emily Glaser:
On the Gators' performance through two rounds:
"We made some unforced errors that we don't normally make on this golf course. We did a lot of the hard things right but just had too many mistakes overall. I was pleased that in the afternoon we were able to turn it around, make some more putts, just play a little more consistent, be a little more focused, play a little less nervously and play our game and worry about ourselves."

On individual performances at the home tournament:
"I thought Sam Wagner did a good job today, being a freshman and it being her first Gator Invitational. I think Kelly Grassel had a good round this morning, Karolina (Vlckova) bounced back great after a rough start this morning, and Maria (Torres) also had a great round this afternoon. I think there were a lot of good things from a lot of them, and that's what I'm pleased about. We showed our depth a little bit today – everybody participated, we counted everybody's score at some point in either the morning or the afternoon rounds, so I was happy with that."

Rd. 2 Florida Scores:
Team:
1.         FLORIDA                +9 (569)
2.         NC State                 +19 (579)
3.         Oregon +20 (580)
T4.      SMU +21 (581)
T4.      Florida State +21 (581)
T4.      Ohio State +21 (581)

Players:
T6.     Maria Torres           +2 (74-68—142)
T8.    Taylor Tomlinson +3 (72-71—143)
T8.    Ursa Orehek* +3 (71-72—143)
T11.    Sam Wagner +4 (73-71—144)
T11.    Kelly Grassel          +4 (71-73—144)
T25.    Karolina Vlckova +8 (79-69—148)
T29.    Sydney Needham* +9 (77-72—149)
T61.    Madison Pacheco* +16 (77-79—156)
T70.    Laura Kanouse* +21 (80-81—161)
*Playing as an Individual
Full Leaderboard

Follow the Gators: The third and final round will begin Sunday with a shotgun start at 8:15 a.m., with live scoring available on GolfStat.com.

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