Florida earns No. 1 seed at Tallahassee Regional

Megan Propeck stands on the green during the 2026 Gators Invitational.

Florida earns No. 1 seed at Tallahassee Regional

Wednesday, April 29, 2026 | Women's Golf

The 54-hole event is set for May 11-13 at Seminole Legacy Golf Club with the top-5 teams advancing to the NCAA National Championships.

By: Matthew Hutchison

INDIANAPOLIS - The No. 3 Florida women's golf team was selected as the No. 1-seed for the Tallahassee Regional, the NCAA announced Wednesday in conjunction with Golf Channel. The Gators earn a top seed for the second time in program history.

The three-day event begins on Monday, May 11 at Seminole Legacy Golf, hosted by Florida State University. After 54 holes, the top-5 teams and low individual (not on an advancing team) advance to the NCAA Championships at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. from May 22-27.

In 2022, the NCAA announced the expansion from four to six regional sites, matching the same amount on the men's side. A total of 72 teams and 36 individuals will compete overall, as the five other host schools include Baylor, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina and Stanford.

UF has qualified for 31 of the 32 all-time women's golf regionals as they were introduced in 1993. Florida has made every regional since 2000 and each year under head coach Emily Glaser. The program has won three regional titles, the first in 2008 and back-to-back in 2016 and 2017. This will be the second time in program history Florida is a No. 1 seed, joining the 2017 squad who won the tournament title for back-to-back season of regional championships.

The Florida Gators will play a tournament in Tallahassee for the first time since the fall of 1991. Overall, this is just the 11^th time the Gators have been on the Seminole's course; 1974-76, 1978, 1981-84 and 1990-91. In the 1984-85 season, the Orange and Blue won the Lady Seminole Invitational by 24 shots, Lisa Stanley the tournament's individual title and won the program's first National Championship that spring.

Last year Florida finished T3 at the Charlottesville Regional and advanced to the NCAA National Championships for the first time since 2019.

In the 31 total regional appearances, this is the fifth time the Gators will play in their home state and first since 2011. Prior to 15 years ago in Daytona Beach, Florida hosted in 2009 & 2005. In 2028, the Orange and Blue will host the postseason tournament and play there as regional locations are predetermined years prior.

Florida's postseason began at the SEC Championship, which was highlighted by Paula Francisco winning the individual conference title. She 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. The win was the second of Francisco's collegiate career and season.

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.

After winning stroke play, the Gators reached the SEC Championship Semifinals as team, which featured only one returner from last season's runner-up finish. In final round of stroke play, the Gators shot their lowest round 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.

For the second straight season, the Orange and Blue finished with a strong resume in the regular season which feature five victories in the last tournaments. Individually, Paula Francisco & Megan Propeck both securing the first collegiate individual victories. The five team titles in consecutive seasons for just the third time in program history (2015-16 & 2016-17, 1984-85 & 1985-86). Outside of UF's wins, they finished runner-up, third, fourth and sixth.

In 29 rounds this year for Florida, 18 have been for par or better and 17 under par, including the last eight straight under par.

The two upperclassmen (Francisco & Megan Propeck) pace the Gators, tying for a team-best nine top-25 finishes as Propeck led with six top-10s and Francisco in stroke average at 70.3. A trio of underclassmen logged strong regular seasons as well, led by true freshman and Gainesville native, Katelyn Huber owning five top-10s and eight top-25s while playing in all nine tournaments and in the lineup eight times. Along with Huber's consistent play was the sophomore pair of Siuue Wu (3 top-10s & eight top-25s) and Elaine Widjaja (stroke average of 71.5 and six top-25s).

At the 54th Gators Invitational, Florida rewrote the record book en route to sweeping the home tournament. The Gators went wire-to-wire and won by 18 strokes while shooting a program-record 820 (-20) 54-hole tournament score and beating the previous record by 15 shots. In the opening round, the Gators reset the tournament low round record by score with a 271 (-9), three shots better than the previous record.

After tying the 54-hole tournament record (202) in the spring opener, Francisco broke the 10-year program record with a final score of 200 (-10) to capture her first collegiate win. In round two, she tied for the second-lowest round in program history with a 65 (-5). The junior closed with a final round of 67 (-3) to win by five shots. The weekend performance boosted new career-bests in round, tournament score and finish as she owned two runner-up finishes.

Florida's victory was the is the 28th all-time in the 54th playing of the Gators Invitational, which started in 1973 as Francisco is the 12th UF golfer to claim medalist honors at the home tournament. The Gator sweep is the 11th occurrence all-time and in back-to-back seasons for first time since 2007-08 and just the fourth time overall. Additionally, the Gators have won 10 of the last 11 Gators Invitationals dating back to 2016.

NCAA Tallahassee Regional Teams (Seeds)
No. 1 - Florida
No. 2 - Wake Forest
No. 3 - UCLA
No. 4 - Florida State
No. 5 - Eastern Michigan
No. 6 - Kentucky
No. 7 - Purdue
No. 8 - Clemson
No. 9 - Louisiana-Monroe
No. 10 - North Florida
No. 11 - Little Rock
No. 12 - Texas-Rio Grande Valley

Individuals (seeded in the following order):
No. 1 - Vairana Heck (South Carolina)
No. 2 - Natachanok Tuwannarux (Alabama)
No. 3 - Molly McClean (South Carolina)
No. 4 - Vanessa Zhang (Harvard)
No. 5 - Isaki Sakashita (Stetson)
No. 6 - Carmen Fletcher (Alabama State)

What They are Saying about the Gators...
"This is a program who I think you have to give a lot of credit to. The maturation from a year ago when they were playing in their first nationals since 2019 ... but the coaching job that Emily Glaser has done this year, particularly with Francisco ... she's a top-10 player in the country. She's coming off an SEC Individual title, and the Gators have followed suit behind her. They've won five times as a team, and I think if they do make it to the NCAA Championship again and get through regionals, they're not going to be a deer in the headlights anymore. This is a seasoned team with a lot of confidence."
- Brentley Romine (Golf Channel)