Getting career-low scores from senior Mia Piccio (Bacolod
City, Philippines) and junior Elcin Ulu (Istanbul, Turkey), the
fifth-ranked University of Florida women’s golf team was able to jump out to a
one-stroke lead after the first round of the NCAA Central Regional. Piccio tied
her career-best with a three-under (69), while Ulu went one stroke better to
lead UF with a four-under (68). Ulu also sits in third place on the individual
board, trailing only Emily Collins of Oklahoma while Piccio is in a six-way tie
for third.
As a team, the Gators shot a score of 282 (-6) to lead second-place
Oklahoma by one shot, its lowest first round score in an NCAA regional since
shooting 284 (-4) as a team in 2010. It’s also Florida lowest score for a first
round in any tournament this year as three Gators shot under par for the day.
Along with Piccio and Ulu, freshman Ursa Orehek (Domzale, Slovenia) was
able to card three birdies and only two bogeys en route to a one-under (71),
which ties for her season-best.
“We had a nice start to the tournament,” Florida head coach Emily
Bastel said. “The girls did a great job of managing their way around this
course and sticking to the game plan we came up with during the practice round.
It’s great to have Mia (Piccio), Elcin (Ulu) and Ursa (Orehek) all under par
and we’ll work hard to do more of the same over the next two days.”
Piccio had the first big shot of the day as she was even par
through the first three holes, but was able to hole out an eagle on the par
four, 4th. The jump in two shots not only catapulted her to the top
of the individual board, but put her team at the top of the overall board also.
She was then able to add to her score with a birdie on the par five, 8th,
and be at three-under at the turn. Looking to build on her good day, the senior
moved to four-under just two holes later with a birdie on No. 10, but a bogey
at No. 12 dropped her back to three-under, which will be her starting place on
Friday in a tie for third place. For Piccio, it’s her first under par round since
carding a 71 in the second round of the Betsy Rawls Invitational back in late
October and her eighth even or under par round this year. Thursday’s round also
marks the third time in her career that she has scored a 69 in an NCAA
regional.
Leading all Gators on Thursday was Ulu, who bested her career-low
for a round by one shot with a 68 (-4). Two birdies on the front nine with no
bogeys left her in good position heading into the back nine. She then proceeded
to play the next four holes at two-under to move to her current four-under
position. Ulu parred out the remaining five holes to cap her best round of her
collegiate career and in second place alone. The junior transfer has been up
and down since having her best tournament at the SunTrust Gator Women’s Invite
in March and shot her only sub-70 round at the Florida Challenge prior to
Thursday, However, today’s round was exactly what the Gators needed heading
into the second round on Friday.
Rounding out the top three Gator scores and not to be outdone was
Orehek, who tied her lowest score for the season with a three birdie day for a
one-under (71). It’s her lowest round since she carded a 71 in the final round
of the Bryan National Collegiate just a few weeks ago and is her second under
par round of her young collegiate career. Like her teammates, Orehek got off to
a solid start with two birdies and only one bogey to be at one-under going into
the back nine. The freshman stayed patient even after bogeying the par four, 11th,
and was able to get back to red numbers with a birdie on the par four, 14th
hole. Like Ulu and Piccio, Orehek was able to limit the bogeys and will be in a
tie for 14th going into Friday.
As for the remaining two Gators in the field, sophomore Camilla
Hedberg (Sitges, Spain) had a solid day as well going two-over (74) to be
in a tie for 56th place going into Friday. Hedberg was actually
one-under after nine holes with one birdie and no bogeys, but suffered three
setbacks on holes No. 10, 11 and 18 to drop back to two-over for the day in
only her second regional appearance in as many collegiate seasons. The 74 is
still Hedberg’s second-best regional round of her career and is her best
18-hole score since shooting a 74 in the second round of the Bryan National
Collegiate in late March. Anna Young (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada)
finished the day with a six-over (78) to be in a tie for 114th going
into Friday’s second round.
NCAA Central Regional play will continue tomorrow with the first
groups set to tee off at 8:30 a.m. The first Gator will go off of the tenth
hole at 1:56 p.m. Live scoring as well as full first round results can be found
on GolfStat.com. After tomorrow’s round is complete a full recap with complete
results of Florida players will be posted on GatorZone.com.
For complete coverage of UF’s women’s golf program visit
GatorZone.com, follow @GatorZoneGolf on Twitter and ‘like’ the University
of Florida Women’s Golf page on Facebook.
2013 NCAA Central Regional Team Scores After
Round 1
Place Team Score
1 Florida 282
(-6)
2 Oklahoma 283 (-5)
3 Duke 284 (-4)
4 TCU 290 (+2)
T5 Michigan State 291 (+3)
T5 UC Davis 291 (+3)
T7 Mississippi State 292 (+4)
T7 Arizona State 292 (+4)
T7 Wisconsin 292 (+4)
T7 Indiana 292 (+4)
11 Coastal Carolina 293 (+5)
T12 Iowa State 294 (+6)
T12 Washington 294 (+6)
T12 NC State 294 (+6)
T15 Texas Tech 296 (+8)
T15 SMU 296 (+8)
17 Wake Forest 299 (+11)
T18 Campbell 301 (+13)
T18 Illinois State 301 (+13)
20 UTSA 302 (+14)
T21 Gonzaga 303 (+15)
T21 Lamar 303 (+15)
23 Butler 305 (+17)
24 Detroit 312 (+24)
2013 NCAA Central Regional Top 10 Individual
Scores After Round 1
Place Name Score
1 Emily Collins (Oklahoma) 67 (-5)
2 Elcin Ulu (Florida) 68
(-4)
T3 Lori Beth Adams (UNCW) 69 (-3)
T3 Lindy Duncan (Duke) 69 (-3)
T3 Brittany Henderson (CCU) 69 (-3)
T3 Mia Piccio (Florida) 69
(-3)
T3 Bev Vatananugulkit (UC Davis) 69 (-3)
T3 Ally McDonald (Mississippi St.) 69 (-3)
T9 Celine Boutier (Duke) 70 (-2)
T9 Noemi Jimenez (Arizona State) 70 (-2)
T9 Jenna Peters (Butler) 70
(-2)
T9 Julia Roth (Central Arkansas) 70 (-2)
T9 Elizabeth Tong (Indiana) 70 (-2)
Florida Player Scores After Round 1
Place Name Score
2 Elcin Ulu 68 (-4)
T3 Mia Piccio 69 (-3)
T14 Ursa Orehek 71 (-1)
T49 Camilla Hedberg 74 (+2)
T106 Anna Young 78 (+6)
