For Florida’s Camilla Hedberg, monotony can be a good thing.
The
freshman golfer started Sunday’s final round of the SunTrust Gator
Women’s Invitational with 11 pars. In the final holes, Hedberg’s birdie
on hole 16 and par on 18 helped the No. 20 Gators defend its team
championship and eke out a one-stroke win over No. 2 Alabama.
“It
was boring, but safe,” Hedberg said of her round, which featured two
birdies and a bogey. “I was aware we were very close, but I needed to
just take it one shot at a time.”
The
win at the Mark Bostic Golf Course capped No. 20 Florida’s 10-stroke
comeback in the second round to tie Alabama at the top of the
leaderboard Saturday.
“They
played their hearts out,” UF coach Jan Dowling said. “It was a close
match all day and knowing that we can compete with the best teams in the
country is tremendous.”
Florida’s
864 (+24) final score was eight strokes ahead of third-place Florida
State’s 872 (+32). No. 4 Auburn finished tied for sixth place, shooting
885 (+45) for the weekend.
Hedberg’s
69 (-1) tied her with South Florida’s Christina Miller for second place
individually, each with a 208 (-2) total. Florida State won its second
individual title in a row when Maria Salinas shot a tournament-low 66
(-4) to lead the field with a 206 (-4) total.
Senior Evan Jensen played to a top-10 finish for the Gators. Her 69 (-1) led to a 215 (+5) total, good for seventh place.
“The
win means a lot to me, especially after that tough first round,” Jensen
said. “We had to refocus and all come together. We got ahead of
ourselves, which is easy to do on your home course.”
With
a 219 (+9) final score, Florida’s Mia Piccolo finished tied for 15th
place, followed by Andrea Watts, who tied for 24th with a 12-over 222.
The
Gators opened a three-stroke lead toward the end of the final round.
Alabama came back to tie with about two holes remaining, but bogeyed one
of the last holes.
Men’s
golf: Florida used a final-round 282 (-6) to finish in a tie with
Auburn for third place at the Schenkel Invitational at Forest Heights
Country Club in Statesboro, Ga. For the tournament, the Gators finished
at 847 (-17), behind winner Alabama and second-place Virginia.
