No. 9 Gators women’s golf finished sixth at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational at the Finley Golf Club Sunday. The 14-team tournament marked the end of a fall season where the Gators started with a win, then tied for second, then tied for fourth and fell to sixth in North Carolina.
Florida finished at plus-21, a whopping 32 strokes back from first-place Duke, who was the only school to finish under par.
Katelyn Huber led the Gators in every round of the tournament, finishing minus-2 as the only Gator to finish under par and the only Gator to have a round below par. In Round 1, Huber impressed with a minus-2 round featuring six birdies.
Huber ended in a tie for fifth in the individual standings, her third top-10 finish of the fall season. Through 11 total rounds, Huber has had nine even or better scorecards.
Jessica Guiser was the second-best player for the Gators, ending at plus-4 in a tie for 18th. Guiser had an electric start with three birdies and an eagle on the front nine during the first round. But a plus-2 performance in Round 2 and Round 3 dropped Guiser in the rankings. However, she leads the Gators with four top-25 fall finishes.
Paula Francisco finished in a tie for 37th with a plus-10 total through 54 holes. In a tie for 54th, Sophia Dyer and Perla Sól Sigurbrandsdóttir notched a plus-14.
Playing as an individual, Inès Archer scored a plus-11 for a tied 39th-place finish.
The Gators will get back to the links during the spring season Jan. 31 in the Therese Hession Regional Challenge, hosted by Ohio State. Florida will get a look at SEC opponents Texas, South Carolina and Texas A&M in the first tournament of the spring season.
Contact Bob Sager at bsager@alligator.org. Follow him on X at @bobsager808.
