The Gators won by four shots as Maisie Filler recorded her third second place finish.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida women’s golf team defended Mark Bostick Golf Course for the eighth straight time with a victory at the VyStar Credit Union Gators Invitational on Sunday.
After the tournament was altered to 36-holes due to heavy rain on Saturday, Florida trailed a stroke back from SEC foe Mississippi State at the end of round one that was completed this morning. The Gators started hot out of the gates in the final round with a 279 (-1) to win by four strokes over the No. 7 Bulldogs and No. 25 UCF.
The victory marks the 26th time in program history for Florida at the VyStar Gators Invitational. It also was the eighth time under head coach Emily Glaser and the ninth time overall in her 12 years for the Gators; assistant coach in the 2011-12 season. UF has now won 28 tournament titles with Glaser at the helm.
Three Gators placed three in the top-10 with Maisie Filler finishing runner-up for the third time in her career. The junior shot both rounds in the 60s and tied her career-low in round three with a bogey-free 65 (-5) to finish 7-under. Her one of four birdies on the back nine at 15 (par-3, 166 yards) moved her one shot back from the lead then her final birdie on 17 (par-4, 320 yards) moved her into the solo lead.
Filler entered a playoff with UCF’s Pimpisa Sisutham after she fired a 62 (-8) to sit tied for the lead. They both shot par on the first two playoffs holes and returned to one for a third where Sisutham made par to secure medalist honors.
Both Marina Escobar and Jackie Lucena tied for eighth. Escobar improved from her first round by three strokes to post a 69 (-1) in the final round. The rest of the lineup featured Taylor Roberts tied for 35th and Annabell Fuller in T46.
Playing in her final home event, Jenny Kim (I) used a late birdie on 12 (par-5, 475 yards) to crack the top-25 at T21. On the flip side, Karoline Tuttle who was playing in her first home event, was just a stroke back at T27.
UF wraps the regular season in the state of Georgia with two tournaments – Valspar Augusta Invitational (March 11-12) and Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic (March 24-26). The SEC Championship starts on April 13th at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Birmingham, Ala.
Quotable
Head Coach Emily Glaser…
On defending home turn and winning eight times in a row…
“It’s really special. Although it is eight in a row, it’s not easy. I’m just really happy for the team. We came up with some good momentum last week, which I think certainly helped our competence going into this week and we do know this golf course very well. You know, sometimes that works in your favor, sometimes that can actually get in your way and I think there were stretches where we kind of were a little loose and gave a few more back, but overall they hung in there, and we’re able to get the job done.”
On Maisie Filler and her development…
“She just keeps getting better and better. The most rewarding thing is the type of player she is and she hasn’t had a great spring up into this point. She’s kept her nose down working, pushing and really being patient and so to have that pay off for this week, you know, and at home is really exciting for her and hopefully she can continue to just do those little things that got her to this point, because she’s a great player.”
On momentum into the next tournament…
“We should be really excited and optimistic because we haven’t played our best golf the whole year, but we’ve had different people play really well at times and we haven’t had that matchup yet. Even this week, us winning, we didn’t have it match up, but it will at some point and that’s where we should be really excited and optimistic about the team that we can be if we just keep working and believing, because we’ve got really a lot of talented players on our team. And like I said, we haven’t put it all together yet, but there’s a lot of golf left this spring, so I’m excited.”
