No. 10 Florida Host 52nd Gators Invitational

Friday, March 1

Gainesville, Fla.

10:30 a.m. (Round 1 and Half of Round 2)

Florida Gators

Gators Invitational

No. 10 Florida Host 52nd Gators Invitational

Thursday, February 29, 2024 | Women's Golf

Live Scoring

Play begins on Friday at 10:30 a.m.

By: Matthew Hutchison

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Dates: Friday, March 1 - Saturday, March 2
Location: Mark Bostick Golf Course - Gainesville, Fla.
Host: University of Florida
Course Par/Yardage: Par 70 - 6,002 yards
Format: Stroke play - 36 holes Friday and 18 on Saturday
Tee Times: 10:30 a.m. shotgun start on Friday and TBD on Saturday
Live Scoring: Golf Stat
Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

FLORIDA LINE UP:
No. 1 - Maisie Filler
No. 2- Inès Archer
No. 3 - Jackie Lucena
No. 4 - Paula Francisco
No. 5 - Marina Escobar
Individual - Taylor Roberts
Individual - Sophie Stevens
Individual - Sarunchana Rattanasin

TEE OFF
The No. 10 Florida women's golf team hosts the 52nd Gators Invitational this weekend at Mark Bostick Golf Course.

Due to expected weather in the area, the tournament will start on Friday with a shotgun start at 10:30 a.m.

The final round/remainder of the tournament is set to take place on Saturday with a start time of TBD.

THE FIELD (Ranking)
No. 17 Arizona, Campbell, Charleston, No. 15 Clemson, FAU, FIU, No. 10 Florida, Miami, Michigan, North Carolina, Notre Dame, No. 13 Ole Miss, Toledo and No. 16 UCF.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Gators home tournament celebrates its 52nd year as the event began in 1973 and was hosted twice both in the fall and spring in Gainesville.

Florida aims to win the event for the ninth time in a row and 27th overall.

Under head coach Emily Glaser, the Gators have won the home event nine times in her 13 years for the Gators; assistant coach in the 2011-12 season

NO. 1
Florida women's golfer Maisie Filler is the No. 1 ranked player in the country by the NCAA Rankings.

Entering last weekend, ranked No. 2, Filler won her third tournament title of the season on Tuesday at the Moon Golf Invitational, in a field that featured 12 top-25 teams. Currently, her three wins are tied for the most in the nation. She is also the eighth Gator all-time to win three medalist honors in a season with Sierra Brooks being the most recent in 2018.

The victory was Filler's third consecutive in stroke play tournaments as the spring opener was altered to match play only. She went 3-0 in the event with wins against three ranked teams; No. 4 UCLA, No. 8 Texas and No. 20 Pepperdine.

She shot a 54-hole score of 207 (-9) for a three-shot victory. Filler recorded all three rounds (66-69-72) of par or better with an opening round of 66 (-6). Over her 54 holes, she made 35 pars and 14 birdies. She averaged 2.83 on par3s, 3.90 on par4s and 4.67 on par5s.

A native of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Filler owns a stroke average of 69.5 and out of 15 total rounds this season, only two have been over par. Outside of her three victories, she has a runner-up finish a the Glass City Invitational.

FALL RECAP
Florida dominated the fall season with three consecutive victories behind back-to-back individual victories from Filler. A combined 25 strokes marked the margin of victory by UF along with 17 individual top-25 finishes. The team victories totaled 31 by head coach Emily Glaser; 32 total as she was an assistant coach for a win in 2011-12 at UF. This is the fifth time under Glaser that Florida has won three events in a season with the last being in 2019-20. It is also the seventh occurrence of multiple victories in a season with Glaser at the helm.

Maisie Filler's fall play earned her two medalist honors and a spot on the ANNIKA Award Watch List and a two-time SEC Golfer of the Week recipient. She currently leads the Gators in nearly every statistical category and ranks second in stroke average in the SEC with a 69.67. She is one of two golfers in the SEC (LSU's Ingrid Lindblad) who has two solo victories this season, which is also tied for second-most in Division I. The senior has finished 1-1-T2 in the last three events and under par for three of the four

AUGUSTA BOUND
Maisie Filler received her second invitation to play in the Augusta National Women's Amateur (ANWA). She marks a Gator representative every year of the tournament, including the inaugural event with three (Sierra Brooks, Annabell Fuller and Marta Perez). Filler is the second UF golfer to play in the event twice, joining Fuller (2019, 2021, 2022).

Beginning the week prior to the 88th Masters Tournament, the international field will compete across 54 holes of stroke play, with a cut to 30 players taking place after 36 holes. The first two rounds will take place on the Island and Bluff nines at Champions Retreat Golf Club on Wednesday, April 3 and Thursday, April 4. The entire field will then play Augusta National for an official practice round on Friday, April 5. The final round will take place at Augusta National on Saturday, April 6 and will feature the competitors who made the cut.

STRONG DEBUT
Freshman Sophie Stevens had a collegiate debut to remember as the Highland, Michigan native finished a team-best T15. In her first round she posted a bogey-free 66 (-5) and later added a 69 (-2) in round three to end 5-under overall.

In her second tournament she placed T7 and finishing with a 54-hole score 216 (E) en route to being named SEC Freshman of the Week.

ONE LAST TIME
The duo Marina Escobar and Jackie Lucena returned for their fifth and final collegiate season heading into the 2023-24 campaign. This will be their third season together as Lucena joined the program in 2021 as a transfer from UC Davis.

NEW FACES IN THE ORANGE & BLUE
Five new Gators joined the program this year in Georgia Southern transfer Sarunchana Rattanasin and freshmen Ines Archer, Paula Francisco, Addison Klonowski and Sophie Stevens.

THE TURN
The Gators begin to wrap up the regular season with the Briar's Creek Invitational (March 11-12) and the Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic (March 29-30).