UF WGOLF | Francisco Tied for Lead at 4-under, Florida in Fourth

Sophomore Paula Francisco tied her career-low with a 67 (-4) and is tied for the solo lead after the opening round of the Charlottesville Regional.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Florida women’s golfer Paula Francisco is tied for the solo lead after an opening round of 4-under 67 as the Gators are in 4th at the NCAA Charlottesville Regional on Monday.

The No. 21 Gators, who finished runner-up at the SEC Championship last time out, recorded a first round of 1-under 283 to mark back-to-back under par postseason rounds after a 2-under in the final round of stroke play at the conference tournament.

Following 54-holes, the top-5 teams and low individual from a non-advancing team will advance to the NCAA National Championships at Omni La Costa from May 16-21. SEC Champion South Carolina leads the field at 7-under followed by UCLA at 4-under and third-place Ole Miss at 2-under. In the final advancing spot is Virginia at +2.

Florida tees off tomorrow at 8 a.m. off hole 10 paired with fifth-place Virginia (+2) and N.C. State (+5).

Francisco’s round of 67 was the lowest by an NCAA Regional for Florida since Karolina Vickova’s 65 at the Baton Rouge Regional in 2016. The current Gator is tied with South Carolina’s Louise Ryqvist as her 67 was her second this postseason as she also began the SEC Championship with a 67. Francisco was one of 10 golfers to shoot under par today.

Once all five Gators were underway at Birdwood Golf Course, Florida was +2 in 11th as the second wave of the teams had yet to tee off.

As Florida began to approach the turn, they were +2 in T8 and only a shot back of the top-5 cut which was held in a three-way tie between BYU, Charleston and Richmond who were all 2-4 holes completed.

As the sun started to poke its way out of the overcast at Birdwood Golf Course, Florida began to shine and climb the leaderboard.

Inès Archer made birdie on 16 from 20-feet to put the Gators in 5th at +1, one shot above host and No. 11 ranked Virginia. She was followed immediately by Francisco who on hole 15, collected her second of five birdies today to go 2-under through six and move UF up to T4 (E) with Princeton.

Francisco notched back-to-back with a birdie on 16 to sit 3-under and tied for the solo lead with Ole Miss’ Filippa Sundquist and South Carolina’s Louise Rydqvist. Then Francisco made her third in a row on the par3 17th and was the outright solo leader over the next few holes and early at the turn.

When Florida made the turn, they were three shots back of leaders Ole Miss, South Carolina and UCLA as Archer moved the Gators to 2-under with a birdie to start the turn, on hole one. She finished bogey-free on the front-nine for a round of 72 (+1) and is tied for 18th.

Francisco had an eagle putt attempt after reaching the green in two on the par5 second, playing 530 yards today. She just missed it to the right to set up an easy three-foot birdie. The birdie moved her to 5-under with a two-shot lead. She nearly holed out for eagle on the par4 fourth (405 yards) as her approach shot spun right past the edge of the cup. Francisco only carded one bogey, which didn’t come until three holes left.

Making her regional debut, freshman Jessica Guiser made a late birdie on her second to last hole which moved Florida to 1-under in 4th. The SEC All-Freshman Team selection finished with a round one even-par 71 and is tied for 11th.

Karoline Tuttle had the final counting score of the lineup with a 73 (+2) as the non-final counting score was from Addison Klonowski’s 74 (+3).

Florida Leaderboard
Place

Name

Rd. 1

Par

Paula Francisco<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/paula-francisco/17008>

-4

T11

Jessica Guiser<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/jessica-guiser/17015>

T18

Inès Archer<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/ins-archer/17007>

T31