Freshman Jessica Guiser is 3-under through 36-holes and UF one back to No. 14 Ole Miss.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida women’s golf team and Jessica Guiser both trail one stroke from the team and individual lead through 36-holes at the 53rd Gators Invitational on Friday.
The Gators (+4) are only behind No. 14 Ole Miss (+3), who both battled for the team lead throughout the day at Mark Bostick Golf Course. Five UF golfers are in the top-17 led by freshman Guiser in T2, who is one shot back of leader Nicole Gal (Ole Miss) at 4-under 136.
Playing in her first home tournament, Guiser shot rounds of 68 (-2) and 69 (-1) to total a two-round score of 3-under 137. In the opening round, she made eagle on the par5 12th (475 yards), which moved her into a tie for first at the time. She leads the field with 10 birdies and is playing as an individual this weekend.
The final round is set for an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start at Mark Bostick Golf Course tomorrow. Admission is free for the tournament at Mark Bostick Golf Course and additional parking will be at the UF Law School and CampusView Church.
In round one, the Gators took the team lead by two shots at 2-under par at the turn behind the performance on holes 6-9. UF went 4-under in the four-hole group led by Inès Archer (+7) who went bogey-free with three birdies. She is tied for 37th.
Florida battled back to attempt to regain the lead after finishing the opening round +2 and four shots back of leader Ole Miss in third. The deficit was as many as eight shots in the second round before UF started to chip away and used a 3-under stretch across holes 7-9, to make it a three-shot Rebels lead. The Ole Miss lead dropped to one shot after Paula Francisco’s birdie on 12. She logged a career-low 3-under 67 to end tied for 4th at 2-under overall.
Making her season-debut, Karoline Tuttle earned the start in the lineup. The redshirt-sophomore had rounds of 71 (+1) and 70 (E) to place T10. She is second in the field in birdies (9) and par5 scoring at 4.33 (-4).
Just behind Tuttle is Addison Klonowski is in T12 at 2-over and Siuue Wu in 17 at 3-over. Klonowski had a first round of 1-under 69 for her ninth round of par or better, tied for the team-high with Francisco.
Florida also features three other individuals competing outside of Guiser in Sophie Stevens (T31,+6), Sarunchana Rattanasin (T59, +13) and Isa Wu (T69, +17). The outing marked Isa Wu’s collegiate debut as she made a birdie on her first hole, the par-4 17th.
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