The Gators have won The Ally the last two consecutive seasons as the tournament is set from Oct. 20-22.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Dates: Monday, Oct. 20 – Wednesday, Oct. 22
Location: Old Waverly Golf Club – West Point, Miss.
Host: Mississippi State University
Course Par/Yardage: 72 / 6,284 yards
Format: 18 holes each day
Live Scoring: Clippd<https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/239872/scoring/participants>
Social Media: Twitter<https://twitter.com/GatorsGolf> | Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/gatorswgolf/> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/GatorsWGolf/>
TEE OFF
For the third straight season, the No. 14 Florida women’s golf team looks to defend its team title in the fall finale at The Ally at Old Waverly Golf Club from Oct. 20-22.
LINEUP
No. 1- Megan Propeck<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/megan-propeck/17807>
No. 2 – Katelyn Huber<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/katelyn-huber/17806>
No. 3 – Paula Francisco<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/paula-francisco/17800>
No. 4 – Elaine Widjaja<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/elaine-widjaja/17804>
No. 5 – Addison Klonowski<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/addison-klonowski/17802>
Individual – Sophie Stevens<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/sophie-stevens/17803>
THE FIELD
Arkansas, Cal State Fullerton, Florida, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville state, Louisiana-Monroe, Iowa, Mercer Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Sam Houston, Southern Miss, Troy, Xavier and Vanderbilt.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Gators have won The Ally the last two straight seasons as all five golfers in the lineup last year return as all finished in the to-25 led by Paula Francisco’s<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/paula-francisco/17800> T3 (-6), followed by Inès Archer<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/ins-archer/16273> in T5 (-4), Siuue Wu’s<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/siuue-wu/17805> T10 (-2) and Addison Klonowski T15 (-1).
LAST TIME OUT
Florida swept the inaugural OU Intercollegiate as Megan Propeck<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/megan-propeck/17807> collected her first collegiate win at Prairie Dunes Golf Club. UF won the tournament by seven-shots and Propeck by four.
Florida’s first victory of the season marked the 10th win and 20th top-3 outing since the 2022-23 season. In this season’s first three fall tournaments, UF has finished 3-2-1. The tournament title is also the 37th all-time under head coach Emily Glaser<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/coaches/emily-glaser/1736>; 38th total as she was an assistant coach for a season in 2011-12.
Propeck, an All-American selection last year, joined the Gators after four seasons at Virginia. She collected medalist honors by four shots behind a final round of 67 (-3), her second 67 of the season and tied for team-best. The Leawood, Kan. native made eight birdies in her final round for a tournament-leading 10. She also led the field in par4 scoring (3.88, -3) and tied in par5 scoring (4.25, -3).
Freshman Katelyn Huber<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/katelyn-huber/17806> (individual) continued her strong fall campaign with a T4 performance. She has finished T21 or better in all three fall tournaments. She was tied for tournament-best in par5 scoring (4.25, -3) and was second in birdies (8).
Improving each fall event, Paula Francisco<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/paula-francisco/17800> finished T12 as she logged a final round of 72 (+2). Her stretch of three straight birdies (holes 4-6) pushed the Gators out to an eight shot lead as the group won by seven shots over Kansas State and Eastern Michigan. Siuue Wu<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/siuue-wu/17805> also tied for 12th after a T16 finish in her season debut at the Inverness Intercollegiate.
A stroke separating from Francisco and Wu featured Elaine Widjaja<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/elaine-widjaja/17804>, who making her season debut and placed T19.
THE SILENT ASSASSIN
Playing in first collegiate season, Addison Klonowski<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/addison-klonowski/17802> was key factor in the Gators’ success last season.
Klonowski had the top finish (T24, -2) by a Gator freshman at the National Championship in 20 years. The redshirt-freshman joined the Gators in the spring of last season and redshirted before becoming a mainstay in the lineup in her first season of collegiate golf en route to earning SEC All-Freshman Team honors. Klonowski also secured both match-clinching points in the SEC Championship Quarterfinals (3&2 vs. LSU) and Semifinals (1Up vs. Arkansas). She was in the lineup for all 12 tournaments, including the No. 1 spot on three occasions and led the lineup in top-25 finishes (10) and under par rounds (13).
Off the course, she earned Academic All-American honors.
NEW FACES IN THE ORANGE & BLUE
The Gators welcomed a pair of new golfers this season in All-American Graduate transfer Megan Propeck<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/megan-propeck/17807> (Leawood, Kan.) from Virginia and Gainesville native Katelyn Huber<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/katelyn-huber/17806> (P.K. Yonge HS), who both are in the lineup this week.
NO MORE BABY GATORS
After rolling out a lineup of all underclassmen, the Gators are an experience team as the group finished won five tournaments, qualified for the NCAA National Championship for the first time in 2019 and finished runner-up at the SEC Championship. All five from the National Championship lineup return, headlined by Paula Francisco<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/paula-francisco/17800>, who was tabbed a preseason All-American by Golf Channel.
The young Gators also collected some preseason recognition by being ranked No. 10 via Golf Channel and No. 12 via Golfweek and WGCA Coach’s Poll.
A SEASON AGO
Last season a young Gators squad laid the ground work behind five tournament victories, a runner-up finish at the SEC Championship, T3 at NCAA Regionals and advancing to the NCAA National Championships for the first time since 2019. Individually, freshman Jessica Guiser<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/jessica-guiser/17801> won the Gators Invitational becoming the second UF freshman to earn medalist honors at the 53rd Gators Invitational while head coach Emily Glaser<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/coaches/emily-glaser/2131> was tabbed to the WGCA National Coach of the Year Watch List.
Closing out the successful season on a strong note and momentum into next season, redshirt-freshman Addison Klonowski<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/addison-klonowski/17802> finished T24 with a final round of 2-under for the best finish by a UF freshman golfer at the NCAA National Championships since Tiffany Chuddy (T16) in 2005.
The Gators qualified for the National Championships for the first time since 2019 behind sophomore Paula Francisco’s<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/paula-francisco/17800> runner-up finish with a 54-hole score of 4-under 209 at the Charlottesville Regional, as she was just one shot behind medalist honors. Francisco led through the first two rounds and opened her second start in regionals with a career-low 4-under 67, her second of the postseason after the same mark in round one of the SEC Championship. She was tied for a tournament-best this week with 12 birdies and one eagle. The finish is the best by a Gator at an NCAA Regional since 2017 when Kelly Grassel won medalist honors in Columbus.
Florida had a final team round of 293 (+9) for a three-round score of 864 (+12) to finish tied for 3rd with host Virginia and earn a trip to the final tournament of the season behind an all underclassmen lineup of three sophomores and two freshmen while overcoming some heart breakers at regionals over the last four years, including missing by a shot in back-to-back seasons (2021 & 2022) and leading at the turn last year.
At the SEC Championship, led by a lineup of all underclassmen (three sophomores & two freshmen). The Gators reached the match play finals for the second time in program history since the format was added in 2018 after defeating the No. 2 seed LSU Tigers 5-0 and the No. 6 seed and No. 2 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks 3-2. UF was edged in the finals 3.5-1.5 to the No. 1 seed and veteran (two seniors & graduate student) South Carolina Gamecocks.
All five in the lineup had key moments in the conference tournament as Addison Klonowski<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/addison-klonowski/17802> highlighted her first appearance with two match-clinching point victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals while firing a final stroke play round of 3-under 67 to help UF advance to match play. Paula Francisco<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-golf/roster/paula-francisco/17800> placed T11 in stroke play and went 2-0-1 in match play with two big putts on the 18th, one to clinch a point in the semifinals and another to keep Florida’s SEC title hopes alive in the finals.
Florida defended home turf and swept the 53rd Gators Invitational, winning the event for the 27th time in program history in the tournament’s 53rd occurrence, dating back to 1973. The Gators won the tournament for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons. Six UF golfers finished in top-23 led by Guiser’s first collegiate victory at 4-under 206. The last time Florida swept both the team and individual titles at the home tournament was in 2021. The win by Guiser marks the second Florida freshman to win the Gators Invitational in program history joining RikoHigashio (1996), becoming the 11th UF golfer to earn medalist honors at the home tournament and just fourth underclassmen: Annabell Fuller (2021) and Sandral Gal (2006).
In the fall portion of the season, Florida closed out the first leg of the season with back-to-back victories, including defending its team title at The Ally. The Gators shot a final round of 6-under to end 15-under for a six-shot victory over host Mississippi State.
THE TURN
The spring season begins at the Sea Best Intercollegiate (Jan. 26-27) at San Jose Country Club, an event the Orange and Blue won last season to begin the spring.
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