Francisco wins SEC Individual Championship, Florida earns top seed for match play

Sunday, April 19

Belleair, Fla. / Pelican Golf Club

8:10 a.m. (18 holes)

Florida Gators

SEC Championship

Paula Francisco holds the 2026 SEC Individual Championship trophy.

Francisco wins SEC Individual Championship, Florida earns top seed for match play

Sunday, April 19, 2026 | Women's Golf

Team Leaderboard Player Leaderboard Live Scoring (Match Play)Photo Gallery

Paula Francisco became the eighth Gator in program history to win the conference title as Florida (No. 1) will face Vanderbilt (No. 8) in the quarterfinals tomorrow.

By: Matthew Hutchison

BELLEAIR, Fla. – Florida women's golfer Paula Francisco etched her name into history by winning the 2026 SEC Championship at 8-under 202 on Sunday at Pelican Golf Club. The Gators won the stroke play portion at 9-under and earned the No. 1 seed for match play and face No. 8-seed Vanderbilt tomorrow in the quarterfinals at 8 a.m.

The Gators shot its lowest round of stroke play and the low round of the day with a 276 (-4) to produce a 54-hole score of 831 (-9), six shots ahead of second-place Oklahoma and Texas (-3). Florida's 831 score is the program's lowest three round total by score in program history at the SEC Championship, beating the previous record (842) by 11 shots in 2017, the last time UF won the conference title. Also, the total is second-lowest by score (824-South Carolina 2025) from an SEC team at the conference tournament. The 9-under is the third-lowest in UF history at SECs and only the fourth time under par in 45 years of the SEC Championship.

Additionally, the under par team round today is the 11th consecutive under par and the 17th out of 29 total rounds this season.

Francisco became the eighth Gator to win the SEC Championship and first since Maria Torres in 2016. This is the 10th time a UF golfer has been crowned the conference champion, which leads the SEC. Florida had the individual champion the first four conference tournaments and five of the first six – Lynn Connelly (1981 & first-ever SEC Championship), Deb Richard (1982-84) and Karen Davis (1986). Other Gators to win the conference individual title are Cheryl Morley (1988), Dina Taylor (1995) and Aimee Cho (2003).

The win is the second of Francisco's collegiate career and season, joining Maisie Filler (2023) as the last Gator to win multiple individual titles in a season. Francisco becomes the 14th UF golfer to claim two medalist honors in a single season.

The Madrid native started the final 18-holes three shots back of the lead. Francisco moved up to the tie for the solo lead at the turn behind a 2-under and bogey-free back nine (Florida teed of #10 today). She moved out of the lead after a bogey on hole two, which featured a tough pin position and played the second-hardest hole of the round (+0.51) and her only of the day. She then made birdies on five and seven to regain the lead and made two pars to close out for the victory and final round of 67 (-3), her ninth straight under par round.

Francisco shot all three rounds under par this weekend for a 54-hole tournament score of 202 (-8), which the third lowest all-time by score in SEC Championship history. It is the lowest by par from a Gator since Maria Torres won the conference title in 2016 and finished 9-under. Francisco has owned the best finishes in stroke play the last two years for UF golfer, joining fellow Spanish Gators in Marina Escobar (2022-25) and Marta Perez (2018-19).

When Florida teed off the final round of stroke play, they sat four strokes inside the top-8 match play cut and finished 12 shots inside the cut which ended in a dramatic finish on the 18th hole as No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 14 Vanderbilt tied for the final advancing spots at 3-over as Missouri (+4), who shot 3-under for the second-lowest round of the day, was one shot away to force a three-for-two playoff.

The Gators reached the match play portion of the SEC Championship for the sixth time in program history, which is tied for second-most (South Carolina – 7) in the conference. Florida owns a 4-5 record overall and reached the conference finals last year for the second time (2022), tying for the second most appearances in the championship match among SEC schools.

Florida earned the No. 1 seed for the second time in program history (2019) and will face No. 8-seed Vanderbilt in the quarterfinals at 8 a.m. with the winner taking on either No. 4 Auburn or No. 5 Ole Miss in the semifinals later in the afternoon at 12:30 p.n. with live coverage starting at 3 p.m. on SECN+. Tomorrow's meeting between the Gators and Commodores will be the first-ever at the SEC Championship Quarterfinals. UF is 2-3 all-time in the first round and 2-0 in the semifinals (2022 & 2025).

Megan Propeck closed her final 18-holes with a 67 (-3) to climb 15 spots up the leaderboard and finish T8 at 3-under. The grad transfer was 4-under in her first eight holes. Her only slip up came on the 2nd (double bogey) and 18th (bogey), which were the two hardest holes today.

Also shooting her best round was Siuue Wu with an even-par 70 that included a triple-bogey. The sophomore finished T25 in her SEC Championship debut. Freshman Katelyn Huber had the final counting score with a 72 (+2) as she also placed T25 in her first conference tournament appearance.

The lineup for match play features four golfers who will make their debuts in this leg of the tournament as Paula Francisco finished 2-0-1 last year at the SEC Championship. Despite not playing match play in this conference tournament, grad transfer Megan Propeck has played in four matches in the ACC Championship (2-2 record) and 13 total match play outings in her collegiate career. Also, sophomore Siuue Wu has collegiate record of 2-0-1.

Florida Player Scoreboard
1. Paula Francisco - 67-68-67 = 202 (-8)
T8. Megan Propeck - 69-71-67 = 207 (-3)
T25. Siuue Wu - 71-71-70 = 212 (+2)
T25. Katelyn Huber - 71-69-72 = 212 (+2)
T41. Elaine Widjaja - 70-70-76 = 216 (+6)

Team Leaderboard
1. Florida (-9)
T2. Oklahoma (-3)
T2. Texas (-3)
4. Auburn (-2)
5. Ole Miss (E)
6. Tennessee (+2)
T7. Vanderbilt (+3)
T7. Texas A&M (+3)
--- Match Play Cut ---
9. Missouri (+4)
T10. South Carolina (+6)
T10. Mississppi State (+6)
T10. Arkansas (+6)
13. LSU (+24)
14. Kentucky (+25)
15. Georgia (+46)
16. Alabama (+48)

SEC Championship Quarterfinals - No. 1 Florida vs. No. 8 Vanderbilt
8 a.m. - Megan Propeck vs. Lynn Lim
8:10 a.m. - Katelyn Huber vs. Kathryn Ha
8:20 a.m. - Siuue Wu vs. Angelina Tolentino
8:30 a.m. - Elaine Widjaja vs. Ava Merrill
8:40 a.m. - Paula Francisco vs. Sara Im

SEC Championship Match Play Bracket
No. 1 Florida vs. No. 8 Vanderbilt
No. 2 Texas vs. No. 7 Texas A&M
No. 3 Oklahoma vs. No. 6 Tennessee
No. 4 Auburn vs. No. 5 Ole Miss

Post Round Quotes - Paula Francisco
On going into today…
I'm always a little nervous this week, but always for the last round of SECs. There is always a little bit more pressure, you have to be there for your team. I knew the day was going to be hard with it getting windier and the pins were a little tougher out there. I had that mindset of its going to be a grind."

On celebration with teammates after…
"I didn't realize that I won until they all came to me, and everyone was congratulating me. I will never forget that moment and cherish it forever."

On where the win ranks in your career…
"This win means everything me. It's something that you dream of and work for all year. It is such an exciting thing, but we still have work to do these the next few days."

How does this will help your confidence?
"It tells me that I'm capable of doing things that I dream about, and it keeps me motivating me. I'm excited for what's next."

On beating a great field for the title…
"It's probably one of the best fields we play all year and you know that coming into this tournament. I think that it makes it even more exciting and that's the excitement I played with today, which helped me be more focused and intentional with all my shots."

On face time with your mom after…
"She had a few tears in her face, but she was just really proud of me. She loves me when I win, but she knows all the work that's behind it. I think I play golf because of her and believe all these wins are because I owe her everything is done for me in this life."

Post Round Quotes - Head Coach Emily Glaser

On Paula Francisco winning the SEC Championship…
"I'm not often who probably makes big over the top statements, but I would be lying if I said this wasn't probably one of the proudest moments of my coaching career. Knowing how Paula got to Florida, her evolution over the last three years, I spent a lot of time with her walking the golf courses with her last year, and watch her continue to learn, grow and develop. It's also incredibly rewarding. It's not shocking, because I just know how good she is, and always knew the future was going to be bright for her. You just never know when things are going to go your way. I am thrilled for her."

On what does this win do for her career going forward…
"It's a real confidence boost because this is a really, really tough league. Everybody knows that top to bottom. In our opinion, it's the best league in the country. So you if you're winning in this league, you're beating some great quality golfers and teams. It should continue to grow her confidence, but I also really think part of the reason she's gotten here is because she's bought into the process."

On finishing atop the leaderboard in stroke play and where program is at…
"We have a great group of young women. We have some depth. We have a very unselfish group who has continued to lift each other up all year even though they're competing against each other at home and trying to get in the lineup. They have handled that really maturely, which I think is why you can see be successful in moments like these. We've been the one seed before, but we know it starts all over. We will not celebrate that part (winning stroke play) very long. We got to get down to business tomorrow."