Senior Maisie Filler, the No.2 ranked golfer in the country, could see her individual victory slipping away as she recorded back-to-back bogeys to end the front nine during the third and final round of the Moon Golf Invitational.
Despite holding a four-shot lead going into the day, LSU’s Aine Donegan was quickly catching up with three birdies on the front nine. Filler did not want to give up the place she’d been holding for three days.
Filler had another bogey, unable to match Donegan’s par on hole 10, and quickly dropped back into second place. But she remained composed and clawed her way back into the lead, going bogey-less for the remaining eight holes and hitting a birdie on hole 17.
Donegan was unable to match, finishing with a bogey and double bogey on holes 15 and 16. Filler had secured her third win of the season.
Florida had a rocky start to the tournament on Saturday, struggling to get anything going in round one. The Gators recorded 14 bogeys as a team throughout the day and had three double bogeys on the front nine.
To make matters worse, the team also had two triple bogeys on the front nine to finish the day 3 over par and tied for ninth place.
Regardless of her team’s struggles, Filler remained composed, shooting an opening round 66, 6 under par for her fifth round in the 60s this season. She led the field with seven birdies while only recording one bogey on the day. This quickly earned her the lead in the tournament.
Round two was the bright spot of the tournament for UF. The team recorded eight birdies while battling harsh wind and rain. It managed to shoot 288, the low round of the day, to move up into third place.
Filler held her individual lead throughout the day and finished 3-under-par with a score of 69. She finished the day with four birdies and only one bogey to remain in first place.
Round three was less of a success for the UF. It started the day in third place but could not hold on to this position.
In round three, the team recorded 16 bogeys and five double bogeys to finish 6-over-par on the day as a team. They would ultimately finish tied for fifth with Texas A&M.
Freshman Paula Francisco finished in the top-30 for the Gators. She managed a strong second round, recording only one bogey with pars on every other hole to end the day tied for 18th. Francisco had an up-and-down round, recording two bogeys, two double bogeys and three birdies to finish tied for 28th.
The rest of the Gators lineup included fifth-year Jackie Lucena, freshman Inés Archer and freshmen Sophie Stevens. Archer had the highest finish of the three tied for 62nd while Lucena finished 74th and Stevens finished tied for 81st.
Florida is back in action on March 2 at the Gators Invitational. The team will look to secure a home victory in Gainesville.
Contact Hannah Getman at hgetman@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @hannahgetman
