Oak Hall’s Gros tied for second at state tourney

OCALA — Lauren Gros began her day Tuesday at the Class 1A state golf tournament with a bad break.

Literally.

Gros broke her driver while warming up on the driving range. Armed with just her 4-wood for a long, hilly day of golf at Golden Hills Golf & Turf Club, the Oak Hall eighth-grader immediately wondered if she’d be able to compete off the tee against Florida’s finest girls golfers.

Turns out it may have been a blessing in disguise.

“Maybe using my 4-wood was good,” Gros laughed, “because I kept it in play on my drives.”

It was good enough to put Gros in the hunt for a state championship.

Gros shot a two-under 70 in Tuesday’s first round, putting her in a second-place tie with St. Pete Northside Christian’s A.J. Newell, just a stroke behind pace-setter Shelby Coyle of Plantation American Heritage.

“My approach shots were really good today,” Gros said. “I was hitting them all to 10 feet so it wasn’t that hard to make birdies, and it was an easy par if I missed my birdie putt.”

Gros will tee off today’s final round from the first tee at 8:36 a.m.

“I feel like I have a shot at the lead,” she said. “I’ll try and play well (today) — and not really think about the score.”

Gros’ Oak Hall team — made up of four eighth graders and a freshman — sits in seventh place after one round with a score of 341. Taylor Tomlinson is tied for 33rd place after shooting an 83, followed by Caroline Holloway (T-54th, 93), Chandler Whitefield (T-58th, 95) and Bridget Joyner (77th, 109).

American Heritage (296) holds a two-stroke team lead over Northside Christian for the team title.