No. 5 Florida had a consistent showing throughout the Moon Golf Invitational. There was a glimmer of hope for the Gators after Round 1. They were tied for third place with No. 7 Wake Forest and No. 9 Texas.
However, Tennessee and Mississippi State had explosive second rounds, combining for 5-under-par.
That placed the Gators in sixth place, and it looked like they would hover around there for the remainder of the tournament. They shot +5 in the first two rounds and were one stroke better in the final round, ending the day with an 878 (+14).
Ultimately, UF finished sixth and ended 21 strokes behind No. 8 Auburn, who won the Moon Golf Invitational. The Tigers combined for a -11 score in the final two rounds.
The Florida lineup consisted of Megan Propeck, Paula Francisco, Katelyn Huber, Siuue Wu and Addison Klonowski.
Francisco was the only Gator to finish under par in Round 1 with a 71 (-1) and five birdies. Huber struggled with a quintuple bogey, double bogey and two single bogeys. The Gainesville native and freshman bounced back in Rounds 2 and 3, where she finished dead even both times.
Propeck and Francisco led the Gators both with a score of 219 (+3).
Despite having a season-worst Therese Regional Challenge, Propeck bounced back. The graduate student had a combined nine birdies.
Francisco, who won SEC Golfer of the Week, had a great opening round, accumulating a -1. Despite that, the sophomore only hit one birdie in Round 2 and had a double bogey. She went 3-over-par in the final round with three single bogeys and two birdies.
Klonowski went a combined +6 in each of the first two rounds and +1 in the final round thanks to five birdies.
Despite a phenomenal Therese Regional Challenge, Wu finished 9-over-par. In Round 2, the sophomore had a triple bogey, even after she accumulated three birdies in the first four holes.
UF hosts the Gators Invitational on March 6, with a start time still to be determined. The three-day tournament will be held at Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville.
Contact Colby Kistner at ckistner@alligator.org. Follow him on X @colbykistner22.
Colby is a junior sports journalism student in his first semester with the Alligator covering golf. He has experience covering Buchholz and Santa Fe High School sports. He also worked in UF's innovation center where he wrote and created radio content for WRUF. He is an avid hockey fan with his teams being the Seattle Kraken and Florida Panthers. He is looking to minor in business administration.
