Ashley Sease

Ashley Sease

Ashley (Sloup) Sease enters her second season with the Florida Gators women’s golf program as an assistant coach going into the 2024-25 season.

Sease helped make her impact right away as a young Gators squad laid the ground work behind five tournament victories, a runner-up finish at the SEC Championship, T3 at NCAA Regionals and advancing to the NCAA National Championships for the first time since 2019. Individually, freshman Jessica Guiser won the Gators Invitational becoming the second UF freshman to earn medalist honors at the 53rd Gators Invitational. 

Closing out the successful season on a strong note and momentum into next season, redshirt-freshman Addison Klonowski finished T24 with a final round of 2-under for the best best finish by a UF freshman golfer at the NCAA National Championships since Tiffany Chuddy (T16) in 2005.

The Gators qualified for the National Championships for the first time since 2019 behind sophomore Paula Francisco's runner-up finish with a 54-hole score of 4-under 209 at the Charlottesville Regional, as she was just one shot behind medalist honors. Francisco led through the first two rounds and opened her second start in regionals with a career-low 4-under 67, her second of the postseason after the same mark in round one of the SEC Championship. She was tied for a tournament-best this week with 12 birdies and one eagle. The finish is the best by a Gator at an NCAA Regional since 2017 when Kelly Grassel won medalist honors in Columbus.

Florida had a final team round of 293 (+9) for a three-round score of 864 (+12) to finish tied for 3rd with host Virginia and earn a trip to the final tournament of the season behind an all underclassmen lineup of three sophomores and two freshmen while overcoming some heart breakers at regionals over the last four years, including missing by a shot in back-to-back seasons (2021 & 2022) and leading at the turn last year.

At the SEC Championship, led by a lineup of all underclassmen (three sophomores & two freshmen). The Gators reached the match play finals for the second time in program history since the format was added in 2018 after defeating the No. 2 seed LSU Tigers 5-0 and the No. 6 seed and No. 2 ranked Arkansas Razorbacks 3-2. UF was edged in the finals 3.5-1.5 to the No. 1 seed and veteran (two seniors & graduate student) South Carolina Gamecocks.

All five in the lineup had key moments in the conference tournament as Addison Klonowski highlighted her first appearance with two match-clinching point victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals while firing a final stroke play round of 3-under 67 to help UF advance to match play. Paula Francisco placed T11 in stroke play and went 2-0-1 in match play with two big putts on the 18th, one to clinch a point in the semifinals and another to keep Florida's SEC title hopes alive in the finals. 

Florida defended home turf and swept the 53rd Gators Invitational, winning the event for the 27th time in program history in the tournament's 53rd occurrence, dating back to 1973. The Gators won the tournament for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons. Six UF golfers finished in top-23 led by Guiser's first collegiate victory at 4-under 206. The last time Florida swept both the team and individual titles at the home tournament was in 2021. The win by Guiser marks the second Florida freshman to win the Gators Invitational in program history joining Riko Higashio (1996), becoming the 11th UF golfer to earn medalist honors at the home tournament and just fourth underclassmen: Annabell Fuller (2021) and Sandral Gal (2006).

In the fall portion of the season, Florida closed out the first leg of the season with back-to-back victories, including defending its team title at The Ally. The Gators shot a final round of 6-under to end 15-under for a six-shot victory over host Mississippi State.

"We are so excited to welcome Ashley and her husband, Christian to the University of Florida, said head coach Emily Gaser. "I've known Ashley for a few years and have always found her to be a hard-working and passionate coach. During the interview process, it was very clear that her energy and her desire to help others around her succeed would be a perfect fit for our program. I am really looking forward to working alongside Ashley and watching the positive impact she has on our players and every one she comes into contact with here at UF.  Go Gators!"

She makes her way to Gainesville after spending the last four seasons at Campbell in roles of assistant men's coach for her first two seasons before adding assistant responsibilities duties on the women's side in 2022-23 and then being promoted to associate head coach for the women's program for 2023-24. 

"I am honored and thrilled to be named the assistant women's golf coach at the University of Florida," said Sease. "Thank you to Emily Glaser for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. I am grateful to help lead these incredible young women and help them reach their full potential. I'm ready to assist the team in winning championships. Go Gators!"

In her final season with the Camels, she worked with CAA (Coastal Athletic Association) Rookie of the Year and First-Team CAA, Alicia Olsson. The team-leader in stroke average (74.1), Olson recorded four top-10 finishes and fifth place performance in the conference championship 

During the 2022-23 season, Sease helped lead Campbell to the program's seventh-consecutive Big South women's title and an 11th-consecutive NCAA postseason appearance.

Campbell won the Golfweek Fall Challenge in school record-tying fashion as the CU women finished at 18-under par 834 on the par-71 Caledonia Golf & Fish Club in Pawley's Island, S.C.  The Camels also won the Sea Best Intercollegiate at San Jose.

She helped develop the 2023 Big South women's freshman of the year Isabella Hahne and scholar-athlete of the year Sanna Lundmark and mentored five golfers who earned league honors.

In the 2021-22 season, Sease helped develop Big South Men's Golfer of the Year Henrik Lilja and Freshman of the Year Henric Bjelke.  Lilja earned an individual berth to the NCAA Palm Beach Regional and along with Claude Churchward, claimed Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar from the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Camels had a pair of runner-up finishes in Sease's first three tournaments with the men's program, then helped lead the team to the 2021 Big South Conference title.  The Camels finished in a tie for the 2021 Big South stroke play title, then won the match play segment over Gardner-Webb (3-0) and Radford (3-1).  Pontus Nyholm was named Big South Golfer of the Year and joined on the all-conference team by Edwin Blomander, Josh Hetherington and Henrik Lilja.  Romain Lanteri was named to the all-freshman team.
 
Nyholm was ranked as high as No. 13 by Golfstat, No. 15 by PGA TOUR University and in the top 50 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.  He won three times in 2021 – the Southern Invitational, Golfweek Spring Invitational and Stitch Intercollegiate.  In the final round of the Stitch, Nyholm shot a 10-under-par 62, one stroke off the school mark, and set a school 54-hole record for most strokes below par (-17). He capped his career by setting school records for lowest stroke average (71.17) and top 10 finishes (21) in addition to earning honorable mention All-America status and a place on Team International in the Arnold Palmer Cup.

Prior to her stint at Campbell, Sease spent two seasons at Furman as an assistant coach for its women's program. During her tenure with the Paladins, she coached Natalie Srinivasan, the No.-1 ranked player in the country who earned the Annika and Juli Inkster awards.

Following graduation, Sease began her coaching career at Northwood University for the 2018-19 season where she coached the team's second-ever NCAA National Championship qualifier.

Sease played collegiately at Winthrop University for four seasons (2014-18) and was a three-time All-Big South Conference selection along with a 2015 all-freshman team member. She is still one of only 34 players in Big South women's golf history to earn all-league recognition at least three times.

She was a four-time member of the Women's Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Team and a three-time Big South All-Academic team honoree.  Season finished top-10 three times at the Big South Championship, including an all-championship team honoree as a freshman. She helped lead Winthrop to a runner-up finish in her senior season when she placed sixth individually. Sease won four tournaments in her collegiate career and helped the Eagles claim four team titles.

A native of Southport, N.C., Sease earned a bachelor's degree in mass communications with a minor in human resource management from Winthrop in 2018.  She and her husband, Christian, were married in November 2022. 

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