GREENVILLE, N.C. — A pair of freshmen led the way as the No. 22-seeded Florida women’s golf team finished fifth after the first day of the 54-hole NCAA East Regional at Ironwood Golf Club. Paced by 3-under-par rounds of 69 by Isabelle Lendl and Mia Piccio, coach Jan Dowling’s Gators totaled 4-under-par 284, four shots behind first-round leader Auburn.
“We have been talking about staying patient and staying on an even keel as far as emotions,” Dowling said, “and I think that the entire team accomplished that very well today. Isabelle has been working really hard lately and it came together for her today. She was able to go out and play free without really working about anything and I think that paid off for her. Mia has been working on her putting and has been practicing very well recently, which I think is showing in her play out here. Overall, I’m really proud of the team. Obviously there is a lot of golf to play but it feels good to get off to a strong start.”
The tournament, hosted by East Carolina University, is being held at the par-72, 6,321-yard Ironwood course designed by PGA Tour Hall of Fame member Lee Trevino. The second round is scheduled for Friday with the final round on Saturday. The top eight teams and top two individuals not on those teams advance to the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships at the Country Club of Landfall, hosted by North Carolina, Wilmington, on May 18-21.
Isabelle Lendl began her round with a bogey on the first hole but made the turn in even par after another bogey and two birdies. Lendl then made three birdies on her final four holes on the back nine. Piccio also turned in even par with a birdie and bogey in her first nine holes. She, too, had three birdies on the back nine at holes 13, 15 and 16.
Lendl’s sister Marika and fellow Bradenton sophomore Andrea Watts each finished with rounds of 1-over-par 73, tied for 43rd place. The Lendls are two of the five daughters of Hall of Fame tennis great Ivan Lendl and wife Samantha. Rounding out the Florida lineup was sophomore Evan Jensen, who shot a 2-over-par 74. Marika Lendl was 2-under-par after her first nine holes thanks to three birdies and one bogey. She made three bogeys on the back nine. Watts made the turn in 1-over-par after carding three bogeys and two birdies in her first nine holes. She bogeyed the 10th hole, made five straight pars and birdied the 16th hole to close out her round.
Jensen was even par through 14 holes before making bogeys at Nos. 15 and 17 to conclude her round.
Fourth-ranked Auburn had an 8-under-par total of 280 to grab the first-round lead. That put the Tigers one shot up on Pepperdine and three shots up on SEC powerhouses South Carolina and Tennessee. The Gators were one shot ahead of three teams—Tulane, Texas Tech and East Tennessee State—with Texas Christian holding down ninth place at 1-under 287. Tenth place is shared by Georgia State and No. 3 Duke at 2-over-par 290.
Isabelle Lendl and Piccio are tied for sixth after the first round with Tennessee’s Diana Cantu and TCU’s Valentine Derrey. East Tennessee State’s Nina Muehl shot an 8-under-par 64 to grab a 3-stroke lead over Pepperdine’s Danielle Kang and Jessica Wallace and South Carolina’s Katie Burnett. In fifth place after the first round is Auburn freshman Carlie Yadloczky, who had a 4-under-par 68. Yadloczky is the younger sister of Florida junior Jessica Yadloczky.
Florida is paired with North Carolina and Texas Christian and the three teams begin play Friday afternoon at 12:20 p.m.
EAST REGIONAL / Greenwood, N.C. / Ironwood Country Club / Par 72, 6,321 yards / Thursday, May 6 first round
Team scores: 1. (4) Auburn 280 (-8); 2. (11) Pepperdine 281 (-7); T3. (29) South Carolina 283 (-5) and (18) Tennessee 283 (-5); 5. (22) Florida 284 (-4); T6. (33) Tulane 285 (-3), (43) Texas Tech 285 (-3) and (48) East Tennessee State 285 (-3); 9. (19) Texas Christian 287 (-1); T10. (44) Georgia State 290 (+2) and (3) Duke 290 (+2); 12. (15) Vanderbilt 292 (+4); T13. East Carolina 293 (+5) and (37) Chattanooga 293 (+5); 15. (27) North Carolina 294 (+6); 16. (9) Wake Forest 296 (+8); T17. (47) Campbell 297 (+9) and Charleston Southern 297 (+9); 19. Stetson 298 (+10); T20. (38) Washington 305 (+17) and Furman 305 (+17); 22. Coastal Carolina 307 (+19); 23. Charleston Southern 315 (+27); 24. Fairleigh Dickinson 327 (+39).
Top 25 (and ties) individuals: 1. Nina Muehl (East Tennessee State) 64 (-8); T2. (67) Katie Burnett (South Carolina) 67 (-5), Danielle Kang (Pepperdine) 67 (-5) and Jessica Wallace (Pepperdine) 67 (-5); 5. (72) Carlie Yadloczky (Auburn) 68 (-4); T6. (76) Diana Cantu (Tennessee) 69 (-3), (87) Valentine Derrey (Texas Christian) 69 (-3), (71) Isabelle Lendl (Florida) 69 (-3) and Mia Piccio (Florida) 69 (-3);
T10. Rosalyn Kim (Texas Tech) 70 (-2), Louise Kristersson (Texas Christian) 70 (-2), Charlotte Lorentzen (Georgia State) 70 (-2), (34) Lisa McCloskey (Pepperdine) 70 (-2), Beverly Mendoza (Texas Tech) 70 (-2), Sara Monberg (Tennessee) 70 (-2), Amy Otteson (East Carolina) 70 (-2), Amanda Strang (South Carolina) 70 (-2), Haley Wilson (Auburn) 70 (-2) and Iliska Verwey (Georgia State) (-2);
T20. (1) Cydney Clanton (Auburn) 71 (-1), (37) Emma de Groot (Chattanooga) 71 (-1), (82) Kim Donovan (Duke) 71 (-1), Courtney Gunter (North Carolina) 71 (-1), Linn Gustafsson (Tulane) 71 (-1), Laura Jansone (East Tennessee State) 71 (-1), Maribel Lopez (Tulane) 71 (-1), Nicole Sakamoto (James Madison) 71 (-1), (27) Candace Schepperle (Auburn) 71 (-1) and Samantha Troyanovich (Tulane) 71 (-1).
5. Florida 284 (-4): T6. Mia Piccio 69 (-3) and Isabelle Lendl 69 (-3); T43. Andrea Watts 73 (+1) and Marika Lendl 73 (+1); T54. Evan Jensen 74 (+2).
CENTRAL REGIONAL / Columbus, Ind. / Otter Creek Golf Course / Par 72, 6,417 yards / Thursday, May 6 first round
Team scores: 1. (2) Arizona State 297 (+9); 2. (5) Southern California 299 (+11); 3. (8) Purdue 303 (+15); T4. (31) Oregon 305 (+17) and (26) Oklahoma State 305 (+17); 6. (21) New Mexico 306 (+18); 7. (23) Florida State 308 (+20); T8. (49) Mississippi 309 (+21) and (34) Kent State 309 (+21); 10. (10) Michigan State 310 (+22); T11. (16) Denver 312 (+24) and (14) Georgia 312 (+24); 13. (28) Louisville 315 (+27); 14. Baylor 316 (+28); 15. Illinois State 317 (+29); 16. Indiana 318 (+30); 17. (46) San Diego State 319 (+31); 18. (40) Northwestern 321 (+33); 19. Tulsa 324 (+36); T20. North Carolina State 328 (+40) and (42) Notre Dame 328 (+40); 22. Murray State 336 (+48); 23. Detroit-Mercy 352 (+64); 24. Jackson State 357 (+69).
Top 25 (and ties) individuals: T1. (80) Thea Hoffmeister (Purdue) 70 (-2) and (50) Kendra Little (Oregon) 70 (-2); 3. (18) Juliana Murcia (Arizona State) 71 (-1); T4. Malin Enarsson (San Diego State) 72 (E), (5) Jodi Ewart (New Mexico) 72 (E), (88) Martina Gavier (Kent State) 72 (E) and (46) Victoria Park (Oklahoma State) 72 (E); T8. (36) Kimberly Kim (Denver) 73 (+1), Jessica Negron (Florida State) 73 (+1) and Inah Park (Southern California) 73 (+1).
T11. Laura Anderson (Louisville) 74 (+2), (85) Hannah Burke (Baylor) 74 (+2), (19) Sara-Maude Juneau (Louisville) 74 (+2) and Cyna Rodriguez (Southern California) 74 (+2); T15. Jillian Brodd (Mississippi) 75 (+3), (62) Becca Huffer (Notre Dame) 75 (+3), (7) Jennifer Johnson (Arizona State) 75 (+3), Kelsey Lindenschmidt (Northwestern) 75 (+3), Stacey Miller (Illinois State) 75 (+3), (66) Aimee Neff (Michigan State) 75 (+3), (12) Lizette Salas (Southern California) 75 (+3), (20) Marta Silva Zamora (Georgia) 75 (+3) and (33) Jaclyn Sweeney (Arizona State) 75 (+3);
T24. (9) Carlota Ciganda (Arizona State) 76 (+4), Courtney McKim (Oklahoma State) 76 (+4) and Julia Potter (Missouri) 76 (+4).
WEST REGIONAL / Stanford, Calif. / Stanford Golf Course / Par 71, 6,115 yards / Thursday, May 6 first round
Team scores: T1. (13) Virginia 291 (+7) and (7) Arizona 291 (+7); T3. (1) UCLA 292 (+8) and (24) California 292 (+8); 5. (32) Texas 293 (+9); T6. (6) Alabama 295 (+11) and (36) UNLV 295 (+11); 8. (12) Ohio State 296 (+12); 9. (17) Stanford 297 (+13); 10. (25) Texas A&M 299 (+15); T11. Iowa State 302 (+18), (20) Louisiana State 302 (+18) and (39) UC Irvine 302 (+18); 14. (45) San Jose State 303 (+19); 15. Colorado State 304 (+20); T16. (30) UC Davis 308 (+24) and (35) Arkansas 308 (+24); 18. Portland State 309 (+25); T19. (41) San Francisco 312 (+28) and Idaho 312 (+28); 21. Maryland 316 (+32); 22. Texas State 317 (+33); 23. Oral Roberts 319 (+35); 24. Pennsylvania 329 (+45).
Top 25 (and ties) individuals: 1. Madeleine Ziegert (San Jose State) 67 (-4); 2. Pia Halbig (California) 68 (-3); T3. (32) Brittany Altomare (Virginia) 70 (-1), Henna Cho (UC Irvine) 70 (-1) and Haley Stephens (Texas) 70 (-1); T6. Alejandra Guacaneme (UNLV) 71 (E), (99) Nikki Koller (Arizona) 71 (E), (16) Megan McChrystal (Louisiana State) 71 (E), Madison Pressel (Texas) 71 (E), (24) Margarita Ramos (Arizona) 71 (E), Kristen Schelling (UNLV) 71 (E) and Vicky Villanueva (Ohio State) 71 (E);
T13. (47) Julia Boland (Texas A&M) 72 (+1), Sarah Beth Davis (Texas A&M) 72 (+1), (35) Brianna Do (UCLA) 72 (+1), (4) Stephanie Kono (UCLA) 72 (+1), Alejandra Lianeza (Arizona) 72 (+1) and (45) Calle Nielson (Virginia) 72 (+1); T19. Nicole Agnello (Virginia) 73 (+2), (59) Rebecca Durham (Stanford) 73 (+2), (90) Angela King 73 (+2), (11) Camilla Lennarth (Alabama) 73 (+2), (10) Sydnee Michaels (UCLA) 73 (+2), Rhea Nair (Alabama) 73 (+2) and (15) Kelli Shean (Arkansas) 73 (+2).