By: Amanda Barina
FRANKLIN, Tenn. – The end of the first round at the Maya Rudolph Fall Preview has concluded in Tennessee, leaving the No. 16 Florida Gators women’s golf team tied with four other teams for eighth place at +15 on Friday.
The par 72 course proved to be difficult, with only one player shooting under par for the round.
“The course set up is pretty difficult,’ Florida head coach Jan Dowling said. “It’s pretty long, and on top of that it rained last night and this morning. If you shot a score around par, you had a very good round of golf today.”
Ahead f Florida is USC in the lead at +4, followed closely by Arizona State at +5. Three schools follow tied at +8, and two at +10 on the day.
Leading the Gators is freshman Camilla Hedberg, who is tied for ninth place individually. Following a tough string of holes on the front nine, she made birdies on two out of her last three holes finishing the round at +1 for the day, only two strokes behind the leader.
“Nothing seems to faze her – it’s just one shot at a time, and she does that very well,” coach Dowling said of Hedberg.
Florida’s Mia Piccio shot a 75 on the course for a solid +3, followed by Isabelle Lendl at +5, Evan Jensen at +6, and Andrea Watts at +10.
Round 2 will begin Saturday morning with the first tee times beginning at 9.
For Dowling, it’s apparent what her team has to do in the second round of the tournament, which begins at 9 a.m., on Saturday morning.
“Just do the simple things a little bit better… limiting mistakes to pars and bogeys as opposed to doubles. I think that will really help us out.”
You can follow Gator Country reporter Amanda Barina her on Twitter at ajbarinaGC.