Florida women’s golf coach Jill Briles-Hinton certainly figured this season would be a learning one for her team, which last year won the Southeastern Conference championship and the NCAA East Regional and finished ninth in the NCAA Championship finals.
With a lineup featuring two redshirt sophomores, a true sophomore and two freshmen, the young Gators have had their moments – finishing fourth in the Kiawah Island Classic, sixth in the UCF Challenge, third in the BYU Dixie Classic and fifth in the SunTrust Lady Gator Invitational at the university’s Mark Bostick Golf Course in early April before the SEC Championship, where they finished eighth.
What Briles-Hinton didn’t expect was that her two returning players from last year’s team – sophomore Jessica Yadloczky and redshirt sophomore Nicole Schachner – would struggle on their home course in Thursday’s opening round of this year’s NCAA East Regional.
“I’m shocked,” Briles-Hinton said after her No. 1 player Yadloczky, who finished tied for sixth in the SEC Championship and won All-SEC honors for a second straight year, opened with a shocking 9-over-par 79, which ended up being thrown out as the team’s high score of the day.
Schachner, the team’s No. 5 player, freshman Andrea Watts (No. 4) and redshirt sophomore Lauren Uzelatz (No. 3) all shot 8-over 78s to go with freshman Evan Jensen’s 1-over 71 to leave Florida with a 25-over-par 305 opening round. The Gators were tied for 14th in the 21-team field 22 strokes behind first-round leader East Carolina.
You’d figure the Gators would be at ease on their home course but perhaps that extra pressure on them to do well Thursday was part of the problem.
“We had some kids who lost their patience,” Briles-Hinton continued. “Jessica is our most experienced player and she didn’t stay on top of her mental game. She has the team on her shoulders and sometimes that’s hard.”
Yadloczky entered the regional averaging 74.2 strokes in 27 rounds, the best on the team.
“We know this course,” Briles-Hinton said. “Golf is a mental game. You have to trust what you know. We need to use our mental game to our advantage. We’re not done yet, though. No one ever wins a tournament on the first day, and all we’ve got to do to win is be one of the Top 8.”
The top eight teams and two individuals not on those teams after Saturday’s third round advance to the NCAA Championships finals at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md., May 19-22. Thursday’s top 8 teams all shot 292 or better.
“We have the talent to do it,” Briles-Hinton admitted.
Jensen showed that Thursday in her round of 1-over 71 that trailed co-leaders Ana Maria Puche and Abby Bools of East Carolina by three strokes. There were 20 golfers within three shots of the lead.
“I’m really happy because in most of our tournaments I’ve gotten off to a bad start,” Jensen said. “I just need to stay patient. This course is tough. It’s hard playing on your home course because you’re expected to do well and it’s hard to stay patient when you’re struggling.”
Jensen hit 10 fairways and 14 greens on the Bostick course designed by Donald Ross and reworked by Bobby Weed. She offset three bogeys with birdies on holes Nos. 1 and 9. But she needed 33 putts to complete her round.
“If she had putted good, she’d have shot 62,” Briles-Hinton joked.
Unranked East Carolina followed the 68s by teammates Puche and Bools with a 73 by Amber Littman and a 74 by Amy Otteson. The Pirates’ 283 total was one stroke ahead of No. 7 Alabama and three ahead of No. 18 Vanderbilt. No. 15 Denver (with matching 69s from Stephanie Sherlock and Katie Kempter) was fourth with 287, three shots ahead of No. 5 Virginia. No. 12 North Carolina shot 291 and Tennessee and Tulane totaled 292.
For today’s second round, the Gators tee off between 11:50 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. off the first tee.
“It’s going to be hotter,” Briles-Hinton joked. “We’ll get more sleep but it will be hotter.”
She hopes she can say the same thing about her team.
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP
EAST REGIONAL
Results after Thursday’s first round at par-70, 6,074-yard Mark Bostick Golf Course at the University of Florida in the NCAA East Regional. The top 8 teams and 2 individuals not on those teams advance with qualifiers from the Central and West Regionals to the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship finals May 19-22 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md. Players are listed on their teams from Nos. 1 through 5.
283 (+3): East Carolina (Ana Maria Puche 68, Colleen Estes 82, Amber Littman 73, Amy Otteson 74, Abby Bools 68).
284 (+4): Alabama (Kathleen Ekey 71, Camilla Lennarth 69, Brooke Pancake 70, Rhea Nair 74, Courtney Harter 83).
286 (+6): Vanderbilt (Marina Alex 69, Brooke Goodwin 71, Andrea Messer 69, Megan Grehan 84, Jacqui Concolino 77).
287 (+7): Denver (Stephanie Sherlock 69, Dawn Shockley 73, Katie Kempter 69, Ellie Givens 79, Sarah Faller 76).
290 (+10): Virginia (Calle Nielson 72, Whitney Neuhauser 71, Lene Krong 73, Kristen Simpson 77, Joy Kim 74).
291 (+11): North Carolina (Catherine O’Donnell 69, Allie White 74, Sydney Crane 75, Kate Thomas 76, Lauren Hunt 73).
292 (+12): Tennessee (Nathalie Mansson 69, Nicole Smith 75, Ginny Brown 73, Diana Cantu 77, Lauren Spurlock 75); Tulane (Linn Gustafsson 71, Daniela Holmqvist 76, Samantha Troyanovich 75, Janine Fellows 70, Ashley McKenney 76).
297 (+17): Georgia (Marta Silva 76, Mallory Hetzel 75, Carolina Andrade 73, Tess Fordham 73, Leigh Crosby 82).
298 (+18): Duke (Amanda Blumenherst 77, Jennie Lee 71, Alison Whitaker 75, Kimberly Donovan 76, Yu Young Lee 76).
301 (+21): Coastal Carolina (Aruka Felgueroso 76, Ann Maness 78, Jessica Vincent 70, Alicia Grier 80, Carmen Jones 77).
302 (+22): College of Charleston (Fiona Puyo 79, Steffi Kirchmayr 74, Courtney Brink 74, Emily Rapp 76, Leigh Whittaker 78).
304 (+24): Auburn (Cydney Clanton 78, Patricia Sanz 76, Candace Schepperle 71, Haley Wilson 79, Sarah Thead 79).
305 (+25): Florida (Jessica Yadloczky 79, Evan Jensen 71, Lauren Uzelatz 78, Andrea Watts 78, Nicole Schachner 78); Furman (Stefanie Kenoyar 76, Blair Lamb 73, Jackie Hilea 75, Brie Heinzler 81, Liz Wendt 84).
307 (+27): Mississippi (Dori Carter 75, Ashley Lance 81, Sara Grantham 76, Jillian Brodd 80, Haley Milsap 76); Florida State (Macarena Silva 77, Caroline Westrup 73, Whitney Wenglasz 80, Hannah Thomson 78, Lacey Agnew 79).
308 (+28): South Carolina (Benedicte Toumpsin 79, Katie Burnett 75, Corrine Carr 75, Taylor Barrett 80, Meredith Taylor 79).
309 (+29): UCF (May Tomimbang 82, Victoria Tomko 81, Elisa Aoki 80, Katie Detlefsen 75, Stephanie Connelly 73); Stetson (Danielle Jackson 78, Lauren Cate 73, Lauren Darnell 76, Christine Fraser 82, Alex Banham 83).
324 (+44): Jackson State (Mirielle LaBlanc 77, Jennifer Sells 82, Cammrynn Stith 76, Erica Payton 84, Amy Breakwell 94).
Individuals: Susannah Aboff (Princeton) 70 (E), Julia Potter (Missouri) 72 (+2), Jessica Hollandsworth (Maryland) 76 (+6).
INDIVIDUAL TOP 15
T1. Abby Bools (East Carolina) 68 (-2)
T1. Ana Maria Puche (East Carolina) 68 (-2)
T3. Katie Kempter (Denver) 69 (-1)
T3. Stephanie Sherlock (Denver) 69 (-1)
T3. Catherine O’Donnell (North Carolina) 69 (-1)
T3. Nathalie Mansson (Tennessee) 69 (-1)
T3. Andrea Messer (Vanderbilt) 69 (-1)
T3. Marina Alex (Vanderbilt) 69 (-1)
T3. Camilla Lennarth (Alabama) 69 (-1)
T10. Brooke Pancake (Alabama) 70 (E)
T10. Janine Fellows (Tulane) 70 (E)
T10. Susannah Aboff (Princeton) 70 (E)
T10. Jessica Vincent (Coastal Carolina) 70 (E)
T14. Whitney Neuhauser (Virginia) 71 (+1)
T14. Brooke Goodwin (Vanderbilt) 71 (+1)
T14. Candace Schepperle (Auburn) 71 (+1)
T14. Kathleen Ekey (Alabama) 71 (+1)
T14. Linn Gustafsson (Tulane) 71 (+1)
T14. Evan Jensen (Florida) 71 (+1)
T14. Jennie Lee (Duke) 71 (+1)