The
No. 9 University of Florida women’s golf team did plenty of moving in the right
direction on the second day of the Cougar Classic at the Yeamans Hall Club.
After finishing round one in a tie for second in the team standings, the Gators
shot 9-under combined on day two and now hold the team lead at 11-under (565), three
strokes ahead of Southern Cal, which sits in second. UF, again, was dependent
on senior Isabelle Lendl (Goshen, Conn.) and sophomore Camilla
Hedberg (Sitges, Spain), who both shot under par for the second straight
day. Hedberg had the best round of the day for Florida as she shot a 6-under,
66, three shots better than her round one score and is a new career low.
With
one round to go, Florida also holds both top spots in the individual rankings
as Hedberg took over the top spot at 9-under (135) with Lendl right behind her
in second place at 7-under (137). Not to be outdone was senior Mia Piccio (Bacolod
City, Philippines). After struggling to get to red numbers in the first round,
Piccio vaulted herself into the Top 15 of the individual leaderboard with a
2-under, 70, in the second round. It was Piccio’s first under par round of the
year and gave Florida three players under par for the day, helping pad its team
lead to three strokes.
“Camilla
had a great round today,” Florida head coach Emily Bastel said. “She hit
the ball well and gave herself a lot of looks at birdie. I’m proud of how our
seniors have played thus far. They really have been great leaders this week.”
16
birdies were scattered throughout Hedberg, Lendl and Piccio’s rounds on Monday
with seven coming from Hedberg’s round alone. After her stellar freshman
campaign, the sophomore from Spain seems to have picked up right where she left
off, scoring four birdies on the front nine with no bogeys. Hedberg did drop
one shot at the par four 12th, but quickly made it up with birdies
on No. 13 and No. 18 to finish at 66 for the day. The 6-under score marks a
career best for Hedberg, who’s previous low round came in the same tournament
last year when she shot 67 in the second round. She now sits alone at the top
of the leaderboard at 9-under, two strokes better than her teammate, Lendl.
Trying
to follow up her 67 from Sunday, Lendl didn’t go nearly as low on Monday, but
still kept things in the red as she had two birdies on each nine and only two
bogeys throughout the 18 holes to go 2-under, 70, and sit at 7-under for the
tournament. It’s the second straight day under par for Lendl and places her in
second in the individual rankings behind Hedberg with one round to play.
As
for Piccio, she nearly had the best improvement from day one, going three shots
lower for a 2-under, 70, which now puts her at 1-under (143) for the
tournament. Starting on the 10th hole, Piccio kicked off the day
with two straight birdies and then had two more before reaching the 16th
hole. Unfortunately, the run didn’t last much longer as two straight bogeys on
No. 16 and No. 17 brought her back to 2-under for the day. The senior only had
one more bogey at the par three 3rd hole, but was able to make it up
at No. 8 to finish at 2-under, her first round under par. Piccio nearly picked
up 20 spots on the leaderboard and will be in a tie for 13th place
as she begins the final round on Tuesday.
Rounding
our the remaining Gators in the field, freshman Ursa Orehek (Domzale,
Slovenia) improved by six shots from day one, the best improvement from any
Gator so far in the tournament. Orehek had three birdies on the day and
finished at 1-over for her round. She now sits in a tie for 82nd
place at 8-over, 152. Finally, sophomore Anna Young (Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan, Canada) had two birdies en route to a 3-over for Monday’s round,
two strokes better than Sunday. She is now also in a tie for 82nd
place at 8-over, 152.
“We
had great scoring conditions in the morning,” Bastel said. “We did a good job
of taking advantage of that and then finished strong as the wind picked up in
the afternoon.”
After
the Gators in the team standings, Southern Cal sits in second at 8-under (568),
while SEC counterpart, Vanderbilt is in third at 2-under (574). Virginia and
Auburn round out the top five at even par (576) for the tournament.
