Florida stood in fifth place heading to the third and final round of the 2023 East Lansing Regional. It needed to place within the top four teams to qualify for the NCAA championship.
Despite reaching as high as third on the team leaderboard, Florida eventually fell to seventh place on the back nine and missed out on the opportunity to make an NCAA championship appearance.
Two starters from the regional, Maisie Filler and Jackie Lucena, graduated in the offseason. However, Florida will return three key starters who participated at the Regional. UF also added four freshmen in the offseason that will seek to make an immediate impact.
Filler was Florida’s top golfer last season. The 2024 All-SEC First Team selection led the Gators in top 10 finishes with six, and earned SEC Golfer of the Week honors twice. Her presence will be missed after appearing in all 11 tournament matches for the Gators.
Lucena, a fifth-year, also played a key role for the 2023-24 squad. Like Filler, she played in every tournament and appeared in the starting lineup consistently. Moreover, Lucena ended the season with four top 25 finishes.
Sophomores Ines Archer, Paula Francisco and Sophie Stevens will return for the Gators. All three started at the East Lansing Regional and gained valuable experience facing some of the best competition collegiate golf has to offer.
Archer had a noteworthy freshman campaign. She started in 10 events and earned the No. 1 spot in the lineup twice. The sophomore had one of her season-best performances in the first two rounds of the NCAA Regional, scoring 3-under 141.
Francisco, a Madrid native, also had a strong freshman slate. She found her stride toward the end of the regular season, earning two top 10 finishes in the Gators’ final three tournaments.
Stevens played in nine tournaments last season for UF. One of her most notable golf accomplishments occurred this summer, when she claimed first place at the Suzann Pettersen qualifier. With the victory, she earned a spot at the Dow Championship, her first LPGA event.
Florida women’s golf head coach Emily Glaser believes Stevens is primed for a strong sophomore year.
“Everybody knows she is never going to give up,” Glaser said. “She’s going to fight until the very end.”
Florida lost four golfers to graduation in 2023, but will welcome four freshmen to the squad to reload the roster.
Freshmen twins Isa and Siuue Wu hold strong résumés heading into their collegiate careers. While Isa won the 2023 Indian Spring, Siuue won the 2023 Orlando Junior Amateur and was a three-time American Junior Golf Association champion.
Fellow freshmen Jessica Guiser and Elaine Widjaja enter the team with plenty experience.
Guiser was the No. 1 recruit in Wisconsin and won three-straight Wisconsin PGA Junior Championships from 2022-24. Widjaja, who is from Indonesia, was among the top 20 recruits in the 2024 class, according to NBC Sports. She often competed in International play and was part of a silver medal Indonesia team at the 2023 Southeast Asian Games.
Glaser expects all of Florida’s freshmen to compete for spots in the starting lineup.
“[All the freshmen] have really high level international and amateur experience,” Glaser said. “I think the sky’s the limit with what they’re going to be able to do.”
Florida will open its season at the Cougar Classic in Charleston, South Carolina. The 54-hole event will take place Sept. 9-10.
“We have this young group that has incredible energy and they’re really talented golfers,” Glaser said. “[I’m excited] to watch them be able to put their own stamp on this program.”
Contact Aiden Wacksman at awacksman@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter at @aidenwacksman
