The No. 9 University of Florida women’s golf team got improved
scores from its bottom three players on Wednesday at the NCAA Women’s Golf
Championship. Freshman Ursa Orehek (Domzale, Slovenia), sophomore Anna
Young (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada) and junior Elcin Ulu (Istanbul,
Turkey) carded second round scores of two strokes or better to lead the Gators
on day two. All three players are playing in their first NCAA Championships of
their collegiate careers and helped bring Florida’s overall score to 21-over
(597) for the tournament.
The second round of the NCAA Championship was left unfinished on
Wednesday as a few of the afternoon wave of groups had trouble finishing their
rounds with lightning in the area. No announcement has been made yet on the
completion of round two and the start of round three. Florida currently sits in
19th place as play was halted.
Unfortunately, Florida’s top two players added strokes with their
second rounds and were part of a UF second round that combined for a 10-over
(298). The score is a one-stroke improvement on yesterday’s team score and
could still move Florida up the leaderboard as nearly half of the field is
still finishing their second rounds.
“I’m happy with the way Ursa (Orehek) played,” Florida head coach Emily
Bastel said. “She hung pretty tough after a slow start. Overall, we had it
going for a few stretches. We just haven’t quite been able to put it together
for an entire day and that’s what we’ll be trying to do for the next couple of
days and keep moving up. Each player has something different they can improve
on as the week moves on. I think the jitters for Ursa, Anna (Young) and Elcin
(Ulu) are dying down and they are realizing that this is just golf. It’s the
same game we’ve been playing all year and they’re starting to feel and act
accordingly.”
Coming out of the gates with today’s best UF round was Orehek with
her one-over (73). The three-stroke improvement was the best for any Gator today
and pushed her to five-over (149) for the tournament. The 73 ties for her
second-best round of the year, but didn’t quite have the start she had in mind.
After bogeying her first hole and then double-bogeying the par three, 3rd
hole, Orehek strung together two birdies on her next five holes to get back to
one-over for the day. A bogey on nine dropped her back to two-over, but she
seemed to have momentum going to the back side. Sure enough, Orehek went
one-under on the back nine, birdieing two of her final four holes.
Much like Orehek, Ulu also had a slow start with three bogeys on
her first four holes. From there it was steady as she goes as she parred out
her final 14 holes for the three-over (75), improving by two shots from
yesterday. Counting this year’s regional also, the 75 was Ulu’s third-lowest
round of her NCAA postseason play. She’ll go into tomorrow’s third round at
eight-over (152).
The third improvement of the day for Florida came from Young, who
was looking to break into the 70s after a first round 80. The sophomore had
more of an up-and-down day with a double-bogey along with two bogeys and a
birdie on the front nine. The back nine wasn’t less of a rollercoaster for the
sophomore with five bogeys, but she was able to birdie No. 12 and No. 15 to
finish with a six-over (78). Young currently sits at 14-over (158) for the
tournament.
As for Florida’s top two players, senior Mia Piccio (Bacolod
City, Philippines) and sophomore Camilla Hedberg (Sitges, Spain) both
shot identical scores for the second-straight day. However, their rounds of
two-over (75) were two shots higher than on Tuesday as only three birdies were
scored between both players. Both Piccio and Hedberg will be at four-over (148)
with two rounds to play and are still the Gators’ two lowest scorers for the
tournament.
“We’ve gotten some momentum going, but then something will happen
that kills it,” Bastel said. “This golf course will do that to you. It requires
a lot of patience, but there are some unforced errors too. It’s not so much we
need them to hit perfect shots every time, but your misses have to be smart.
That’s the sign of a good player.”
