Addison Klonowski secured her second match-clinching point today as Florida will face the No. 1-seed South Carolina tomorrow for the SEC Title at 10 a.m. live on SEC Network.
BELLEAIR, Fla. – It came down to the final match on the 18th hole in the SEC Championship Semifinals between No. 7-seed Florida Gators and No. 6-seed Arkansas Razorbacks, and once again Addison Klonowski secured the match-clinching point for UF, sending the Gators to the finals with a 3-2 victory.
Earlier in the day, Klonowski won the match-clinching point in Florida’s 5-0 rout of No. 2- seed LSU in the quarterfinals. After falling two-down at the turn, she flipped her match winning on holes 10, 14 and 16. Sitting 1Up on the 18th, playing the second hardest hole of the tournament, Klonowski found her tee shot in the pine straw. She smacked an incredible shot onto the green and then clinched the final point with a par putt.
The Gators reach the SEC Championship Finals for the second time in program history since the format was added to the conference tournament in 2018. UF last reached the finals in 2022, a 4-1 setback to LSU. The win over the No. 2 ranked Razorbacks moves Florida’s all-time record to 2-0 in the conference semifinals, 4-4 in the conference tournament and 1-1 vs. Arkansas in conference championship match play.
Tomorrow Florida will play for its 10th SEC Conference Title, last winning in 2017 under head coach Emily Glaser. The Gators will face No. 1-seed South Carolina in the finals beginning at 10 a.m. with live coverage on SEC Network. The Gamecocks reached the finals after beating No. 8-seed Tennessee 3-2 in the quarterfinals and 4-0-1 vs. No. 4-seed Ole Miss.
Florida continued its quick start from this morning as once all five matches teed off, they led in three of them as Inès Archer, Paula Francisco and Karoline Tuttle were all 1Up. The other two matches featured one tied and one down. As the pairings entered through holes 3-5, Florida led in three matches as Francisco made par to win on hole six as Archer and Tuttle were both 2Up. Then approaching the turn, the match was tied 2-2-1 with Francisco 2Up thru 8 and Archer 3Up thru 8 while Tuttle was tied thru 9.
Once all five made the turn to the back nine Florida led in three of the five matches as Tuttle went 1Up thru 12 with Archer 3Up and Francisco 2Up both thru 10.
Arkansas quickly gained momentum on the course and took a 3-2 lead as they were in front by multiple shots in two matches before securing the first point 2&1 between Tuttle and Kendall Todd. The No. 2 ranked Razorbacks then went up 2-0 after Maria Jose Marin won 3&2 over Guiser.
The Orange and Blue didn’t back down while Arkansas searched for their final point, and tied the match 2-2 after Archer won 2&1, a match she led for 15 of the 16 holes she played today. Francisco squared the match in dramatic fashion sinking a birdie putt on the 18th hole winning 1Up after being two-down with five holes to play.
Florida 3, Arkansas 2
Kendall Todd 2&1 vs. Karoline Tuttle
Paula Francisco 1Up vs. Abbey Schutte
Inès Archer 2&1 vs. Clarisa Temelo
Maria Jose Marin 3&2 vs. Jessica Guiser
Addison Klonowski 1Up vs. Reagan Zibilski
Pairings vs. No. 1 South Carolina
10 a.m. | Karoline Tuttle vts. Sophia Burnett
10:10 a.m. | Paula Francisco vs. Hannah Darling
10:20 a.m. | Inès Archer vs. Eila Galitsky
10:30 a.m. | Jessica Guiser vs. Maylis Lamoure
10:40 a.m. | Addison Klonowski vs. Louise Rydqvist
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