LINEUP

No. 1 – Inès Archer 

No. 2 – Paula Francisco

No. 3 – Jessica Guiser

No. 4 – Karoline Tuttle

No. 5 – Addison Klonowski 

Substitute – Elaine Widjaja

TEE OFF

The No. 24 Florida women’s golf team tees off the first part of the postseason at the SEC Championship at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla. from April 14-18. UF enters as the No. 10 seed and will be paired with Oklahoma and Tennessee.

THE FIELD (NCAA Rankings as of April 9)

Alabama, Arkansas (No. 2), Auburn (No. 14), Florida (No. 24), Georgia (No. 23), Kentucky, LSU (No. 11), Missouri, Mississippi State (No. 20), Oklahoma, Ole Miss (No. 18), South Carolina (No. 4), Tennessee, Texas (No. 6), Texas A&M (No. 16) and Vanderbilt (No. 21).

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

From 1981 to 1987, Florida women’s golf claimed five of seven SEC titles. Also during that reign, the 1983 and 1985 teams each came in second at the conference tournament. The Gators set history and won the first-ever SEC Championship in 1981 in Opelika, Alabama with a team score of 875 as Lynn Connelly won the individual title with a score of 217. UF has also won conference titles in 1991, 1995, 2008 and 2017. The program has had seven individual Southeastern Conference titles.  

The Gators have clinched a spot in match play the last two seasons. Florida dropped its quarterfinals match 4-1 vs. Texas A&M in 2023, who went on to win the SEC title. In 2022, Gators finished runner-up and made it to finals for the first time since the format addition. The No. 5 seeded Gators knocked off the reigning conference champion and No. 1 seeded Auburn Tigers and the defending national champions, Ole Miss.

STRONG REGULAR SEASON

Behind an underclassmen lineup, Florida captured five team titles this regular season along with freshman Jessica Guiser winning the Gators Invitational becoming the second UF freshman to earn medalist honors at the home event.

Redshirt-freshman Addison Klonowski was a consistent presence in her first collegiate season, leading in stroke average at 72.2 and finishing top-25 in all eight regular season events and 10 rounds under par.

The sophomore duo of Archer and Francisco also had strong regular seasons, combining for 6 top-10s and 11 top-25s. Francisco had a stroke average of 72.4 and Archer 72.7.

Freshman Elaine Widjaja played in seven events with four top-10s, tied for team-best with six top–25s and stroke average of 73.0

LAST TIME OUT

Florida closed out the regular season with a nine-shot victory for its fifth team title of the season at the Chattanooga Classic on Saturday. 

Play was shifted today to 36-holes with expected weather on Sunday, Florida entered the day T4 and six shots back of No. 10 North Carolina. The Gators had an important round two of +4 (lowest in the round) which positioned them four shots back of the lead to start the final 18-holes before pulling away behind a final round of even par to end +16 and defeating No. 10 UNC (+26), No. 13 Virginia (+25) and No. 22 Duke (+28)

Across the last two seasons, Florida has won eight tournament titles. In the last three events the Gators have won twice and finished runner-up. The Orange and Blue finished 5th or better in every regular season event. 

The win marks back-to-back seasons of three-plus victories for the first time since 2015-16 & 2016-17. The last time UF won five events in a season was the 2016-17 season when they won the SEC Championship and NCAA Regional titles. The victory is also the 36th all-time under head coach Emily Glaser; 37th total as she was an assistant coach for a season in 2011-12. 

One of 11 golfers to shoot under par in the final round, Inès Archer (+5) recorded a 2-under 70 to finish T7, her team-best fourth top-10 of the season. In the last three tournaments, the sophomore has gone 5-5-T7, including a T4 finish in the spring opener. 

Three Gators placed T10 in Jessica Guiser, Karoline Tuttle and Elaine Widjaja (Individual) at 222 (+6). Both Guiser and Widjaja had 1-under 71 final rounds for their fifth and seven rounds under par, respectively. Tuttle has placed T10 in her first two starts this season while Widjaja collected her sixth top-25 in seven tournaments. 

FALL RECAP

Florida closed out the first leg of the season with back-to-back victories, including defending its team title at The Ally. The Gators shot a final round of 6-under to end 15-under for a six shot victory over host Mississippi State. The victory is also the 33rd all-time under head coach Emily Glaser; 34th total as she was an assistant coach for a season in 2011-12. 

Redshirt-freshman Addison Klonowski led UF with a stroke average of 71.0 and finished T18 or better in all three stroke play events. She also had a team-high six rounds and two tournaments under par. 

Seven Gators had a T20 finish or better in the fall season with freshman Elaine Widjaja and Klonowski finishing top-25 in all three three stroke play tournaments. 

BIG 3, YEAR 2

The true freshmen trio of Inès Archer, Paula Fransico and Sophie Stevens all put together strong seasons to begin their collegiate careers. 

All earned SEC Freshman Golfer of the Week honors as Archer earned a spot on the All-SEC Freshman Team. Florida’s freshman trio totaled 23 (out of 55) appearances in the lineup, including both postseason events (SEC Championship & NCAA Regionals) where the group combined for 15 rounds played with Archer posting a team-best finish of T20 at SECs. They also totaled seven top-10s and 13 top-25s finishes.

NEW FACES IN THE ORANGE & BLUE

The Gators welcomed four five new Gators in Jessica Guiser (Hartland, Wis.), Elaine Widjaja (Semarang, Indonesia), Isa Wu (Hong Kong) and Siuue Wu (Hong Kong) along with assistant coach Ashley Sease.

A SEASON AGO

The 2023-24 season, the Gators highlighted the beginning of the season with three consecutive tournament victories to end the fall season. Florida started the stretch off with a six-shot win at the Glass City Invitational, eight-shot victory in the Tar Heel Invitational and capped off by an 11-shot win in the fall finale, The Ally. 

The three wins brought it to 31 tournament wins all-time under head coach Emily Glaser; 32nd total as she was an assistant coach for a season in 2011-12. Florida last won three events in a season in 2015-16 and is the fifth occurrence under Glaser. It marks the most team titles since the 2019-20 season when the Gators last won by double-digits at the Allstate Sugar Bowl by 13.

As a team, the Gators placed top-7 in all nine regular-season tournaments with three wins, seven top-5 and six top-3 finishes. UF also ended with a 2-1 match play record with ranked victories over No. 20 Pepperdine (4-1) and No. 4 UCLA (3-2) at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge.

THE TURN

Following the conference tournament, the Gators will then learn their NCAA Regional selection on April 23, live on Golf Channel.