On Monday, the UF women’s golf team will travel to West Point, Mississippi, to compete in The Ally at Old Waverly. The Gators look to build off their performance at the Blessings Collegiate Invitational, where they finished sixth out of 14.
The tournament is a three-day, 54-hole stroke play style tournament. All 14 SEC schools will compete, as will Southern Miss. It will begin on Oct. 19 and run through Oct. 21.
The Gators are hoping to improve on their sixth-place finish in their first tournament earlier this month. To do so, they are going to need sophomore Marina Escobar Domingo to continue her strong play. Domingo finished fourth individually at the first tournament, the best finish of her young career.
The Gators will also need more production from the rest of the lineup. Senior Addie Baggarly finished in a tie for 28th at the Blessings, while freshman Maisie Filler tied for 23rd. Both golfers will look to improve on their finishes at The Ally.
Florida will keep its lineup mainly intact from the Blessings, with four of the five starters returning to play in The Ally. Freshman Sara Ericsson will get her first career start in place of junior Clara Manzalini. Manzalini struggled at the first tournament, shooting 17-over-par. The full rosters for each team competing can be found in the tournament field report.
UF will enter The Ally hoping to dethrone the Arkansas Razorbacks, who won the Blessings by shooting a collective even-par. They finished 18 strokes better than the second-place LSU Tigers and 38 strokes better than the Gators. Arkansas got a huge boost from redshirt junior Brooke Matthews, who won the tournament individually by shooting a 10-under-par.
The Ally is an annual tournament hosted by Mississippi State. It will look much different this year due to the COVID-19 protocols put forth by the SEC. The course itself is considered one of the nicest in the south, as Old Waverly is consistently ranked in Golfweek’s and Golf Digest’s top 100 courses.
The action will start Monday at 9:30 a.m., and live scoring will be available through Golfstat.com.
Contact Michael Hull at mhull@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @Michael_Hull33.
Michael Hull is a fourth-year journalism sports & media major and a sports writer at The Alligator. He hosts the weekly sports podcast and has worked on staff for five semesters. In the past, Hull has served as the sports editor, the men's and women's golf beat writer, the volleyball beat writer and the football beat writer.
