Led by freshman Mia Piccio’s closing 70, the Florida women’s golf team finished in 10th place at the 2010 SEC Championship played on the NorthRiver Yacht Club course in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Gators closed with a seven-over 291 to finish with a 54-hole score of 37-over-par 889. Tournament host Alabama captured the team title by four strokes over Vanderbilt, 848-852.
“Score-wise it was a better day for us today,” Florida coach Jan Dowling said. “I’m really proud of Mia for how she finished off. Marika (Lendl) has been working really hard in staying in the present and she really did that today. Overall as a team we are going to move on and we are very clear on the things that we need to work on. We have two weeks to prepare for the regional tournament.”
Piccio, who carded the round in two of the three rounds this weekend, saved her best for last. Piccio began her final round with a birdie, which was followed by a double bogey on her second hole. She made a birdie on five and bogey on six to enter the turn at one-over. The freshman collected a birdie on her 10th and 15th holes to finish at one-under. She finished her first postseason outing in a tie for 24th with a total score of 6-over-par 219.
Sophomore Marika Lendl climbed four places on the leaderboard after entering the final round in a tie for 40th. Lendl had her best round Sunday, carding a one-over 72 for a total score of 10-over-par 223 that left her tied for 36th place.
Sophomore Evan Jensen and freshman Isabelle Lendl both finished in a tie for 38th at 11-over 224. Jensen matched her second-round score of 74 Sunday and Lendl was just one stroke away with a 75. Junior Jessica Yadloczky shot a six-over 77 in her final round to finish at 228 and tied for 48th.
Marina Alex of Vanderbilt and Erica Popson of Tennessee finished 54 holes tied for first place at 5-under-par 208. Alex then won medalist honors by beating Popson on the second hole of sudden death.
SEC WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
At par-71, 6,057-yard NorthRiver Yacht Club, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
TEAM SCORES: 1. Alabama 848 (287-278-283) (-4); 2. Vanderbilt 852 (284-281-287) (E); 3. Arkansas 859 (280-288-291) (+7); 4. Georgia 860 (280-291-289) (+8); 5. Auburn 861 (289-288-284) (+9); 6. Louisiana State 866 (284-290-292) (+14); 7. South Carolina 867 (289-290-288) (+15); 8. Mississippi 876 (284-298-294) (+24); 9. Tennessee 877 (298-291-288) (+25); 10. Florida 889 (298-300-291) (+37); 11. Kentucky 906 (302-296-308) (+54); 12. Mississippi State 925 (309-301-315) (+73).
TOP 10 (and ties) INDIVIDUAL SCORES: 1. (tie) Marina Alex (Vanderbilt) 208 (71-65-72) (-5) and Erica Popson (Tennessee) 208 (73-67-68) (-5) (Alex won medalist honors on the second sudden-death hole); 3. Marta Silva Zamora (Georgia) 209 (69-67-73) (-4); 4. Kelli Shean (Arkansas) 210 (69-71-70) (-3); 5. (tie) Sara Grantham (Mississippi) 211 (70-69-72) (-2) and Brooke Pancake (Alabama) 211 (74-66-71) (-2); 7. (tie) Helena Blomberg (Alabama) 212 (71-72-69) (-1), Cydney Clanton (Auburn) 212 (72-70-70) (-1) and Haley Wilson (Auburn) 212 (71-71-70) (-1); 10. (tie) Carolina Andrade (Georgia) 213 (73-71-69) (E), Brooke Goodwin (Vanderbilt) 213 (69-72-72) (E), Kristin Ingram (Arkansas) 213 (69-72-72) (E), Jennifer Kirby (Alabama) 213 (70-75-68) (E) and Megan McChrystal (Louisiana State) 213 (72-72-69) (E).
FLORIDA SCORES: T24. Mia Piccio 219 (73-76-70) (+6); T36. Marika Lendl 223 (75-76-72) (+10); T38. Evan Jensen 224 (76-74-74) (+11) and Isabelle Lendl 224 (75-74-75) (+11); T48. Jessica Yadloczky 228 (75-76-77) (+15).