The Florida women’s golf team’s success in the SEC Championship led it to Charlottesville, North Carolina, for the NCAA Regional Tournament. The team was ranked the No. 4 seed at the tournament, which featured 12 teams from across the country.
The team had five golfers compete Monday through Wednesday, including freshman Jessica Guiser, redshirt freshman Addison Klonowski, redshirt sophomore Karoline Tuttle and sophomores Ines Archer and Paula Francsico.
Despite being the team’s youngest competitor, Guiser is the only individual tournament winner among the group. However, Francisco was the Gators’ star player this week.
Florida ended in fourth place on day one with only Francisco and Guiser recording a score of par or better.
Francisco ended round one with a career-best score of 4-under. She tied with South Carolina senior Louise Rydqvist for best after the competition’s opening day. In 2024, Rydqvist was the European Ladies Amateur Champion, and she was one of only four amateurs to make the cut in the 2024 Women’s British Open.
Francisco competed alongside Rydqvist during round two and acquired the lower score. By the end of Tuesday’s competition, Francisco led the individual tournament at 5-under.
The Gators benefited from her success as the rest of the team began to find their footing on the course. Florida moved up to third place following the second round with Francisco, Archer and Guiser finishing in the top 25.
The team opened the third round with a birdie by both Klonowski and Tuttle on hole one. The momentum helped carry the Gators through the front nine as they tied with the University of Mississippi for second place.
To advance to the final postseason tournament, Florida had to remain in the top five teams. After the turn, the Gators were on pace to do exactly that.
Florida was 10 shots within the cut line after nine holes. Archer had a bogey-free front nine and a birdie on hole 10.
The joint efforts of the Gators allowed them to tie for third place in the tournament alongside the host-team Virginia.
At the end, Francisco carded her worst score of the tournament at 1-over. She earned a second-place finish, one stroke behind North Carolina State freshman Marie Madsen.
Although the team earned a spot in the NCAA Regional Tournament in 31 of the past 32 competitions, this marks Florida’s first NCAA Championship Tournament appearance since 2019.
Tournament play resumes May 16 and spans through May 21 at Omni La Costa in Carlsbad, California. It’s the second year in a row the NCAA Championship is being held at the site.
Contact Brooke Bastedo at bbastedo@alligator.org. Follow her on X @BrookeBastedo.
