Florida Women’s Golf Looks to Capture First SEC Championship Title Since 2017

After placing top-five in each of its final four regular-season events, Florida women’s golf will travel to Birmingham, Alabama, for this week’s SEC Championship at Greystone Golf and Country Club. The course will play just over 6,300 yards as a par-72.

Golfers will tee off Wednesday morning and play 18 holes for three consecutive days. After completing 54 holes, the top-eight teams will advance to the weekend’s match-play elimination round. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be held on Saturday before the SEC Network airs Sunday’s final.

Gator Lineup

Florida will start a trio of seniors — Annabell Fuller, Jackie Lucena and Marina Escobar — in addition to junior Maisie Filler and freshman Karoline Tuttle. Each Gator is paired with a golfer from Kentucky and Vanderbilt.

Fuller — who leads the Gators with four top-10 finishes this season — is ranked No. 36 in the latest Golfweek Women’s Collegiate Individual Rankings. Through 24 rounds, the London, England, native is averaging a team-low 71.8.

Filler (No. 49) and Lucena (No. 98) each cracked the nation’s top-100.

Filler placed top-10 in three events this season, which includes a runner-up finish at the Gator Invitational. In the second round, she carded a 5-under-par 65 — the lowest 18-hole score of any Florida women’s golfer this season. Last month, Filler became just the fifth Gator in history to compete in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

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Lucena finished the season strong as she placed top-10 in three of her final four outings. Last February at the Moon Golf Invitational, the California native recorded an ace to help her card a season-low, 6-under-par 66.

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Escobar will look to build off her top-10 finish at the Gator Invitational, while Tuttle looks to break par for the first time in her collegiate career.

SEC Competition

The Gators are the eighth-highest ranked team entering a stacked conference championship. In the latest Golfweek Women’s Team Collegiate Rankings, Florida is No. 19 — one spot behind Vanderbilt and two spots behind Ole Miss.

Five SEC teams are ranked inside the nation’s top-10. This includes No. 3 South Carolina, No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Texas A&M, No. 7 Mississippi State and No. 9 Auburn. Swedish LSU senior Ingrid Lindblad enters the tournament as the highest ranked individual (No. 3).

Tournament History

Since the first-ever SEC Championship in 1981, Florida has nine team titles and seven individual titles. In last year’s event, the Gators finished runner-up after they made it to the match-play final. Florida will look to capture its first team title since 2017.