The
University of Florida Women’s Golf team is now ranked No. 2 in the nation
according to the latest World/WGCA Coaches’ Poll, which was released
today. It is a seven spot jump for the Gators, who started the season at No. 9.
A team win to start the year at the Cougar Classic to go along with two
individual tournament winners in sophomore Camilla Hedberg (Sitges,
Spain) and senior Isabelle Lendl (Goshen, Conn.) has put Florida near
the top of one of the major polls in college golf, all in head coach Emily
Bastel’s first season.
This
week’s poll is only the second of the young fall season, but the Gators have
shown their strength already after playing in just two tournaments. A tough
field at the Cougar Classic to start the year proved to be a good test for UF,
but the team was still able to come away with a six-stroke victory and a
four-stroke victory on the individual leaderboard for Hedberg. The win for
Hedberg was the first individual win of her career.
At
their next tournament, the Dale McNamara Invitational, the Gators almost had an
encore performance from their season opener as they finished second, only three
shots behind Arizona State, but it was the same story on the individual board
as it was Lendl who took home the solo title by three strokes. It was also
another first as it was Lendl’s first outright win of her career.
The
World/WGCA Coaches’ Poll was one of three national polls that were
released today. In the GolfWeek/Sagarin rankings, Florida is listed at
No. 6, while Hedberg and Lendl both have cracked the top 10 individually.
Hedberg is now at No. 2, while Lendl is at No. 7. In the final poll of the day,
the GolfStat Relative rankings, Florida is No. 3 and is the highest
ranked team of the Southeastern Conference.
To
see a complete list of the polls for the World/WGCA
Coaches’ Poll, the GolfWeek/Sagarin
rankings and the GolfStat Relative
rankings, just click on each of the respective hyperlinks.
The
Florida women’s golf team only has two more tournaments remaining this fall and
it will return to the course late next week for the Tar Heel Invitational in
Chapel Hill, N.C. The tournament is set to begin Oct. 12 and run through Oct.
14 at UNC’s Finley Golf Course.
