BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – Freshman Lousiane Gauthier (Canelones, Uruguay/Colegio Stella Maris) and the FGCU women's golf team won both the individual and team titles Tuesday at The Atlantic Invitational.
The Eagles' combined 5-under-par 847 team score clinched the tournament by seven strokes. FGCU's final score marked the lowest 54-hole total in program history, the first of three records to be broken.
"It's was a great team and individual win," said FGCU women's golf head coach Shannon Sykora. "For us to shoot 285 with the lead, I thought we handled the final round very well. I'm really proud of the team."
The Green & Blue shot the lowest team round in school history Monday, a second-round 278, to propel itself into first place for good. Troy finished second on the team leaderboard at 2-over.
Tuesday's team title is the first of the season for FGCU, coach Sykora's first career tournament victory at FGCU, and the first since March of last year (2021-22) at the Spring Break Shootout.
Gauthier won her first individual title of her career, finishing at 11-under-par 202. Her opening-round 65 tied the lowest round in school history. She joined Laura Edmonds as the only Eagles to ever card a round of 65. Gauthier sank seven birdies en route to her 6-under-par round.
She followed with a 1-under 70 in the second round and closed with a 4-under 68 to be crowned individual champion. Gauthier captured the individual title by three strokes over Florida Atlantic's Letizia Bagnoli.
Gauthier's 202 also marked the lowest 54-hole total in program history.
Sophomore Anna Claire Bridge (Collierville, Tenn./Collierville HS/FAU) fired three straight rounds of even-par 71s to tie for 12th. Sophomore Posie Farrelly (Lutz, Fla./George Steinbrenner HS) finished tied for 21st at 3-over, and freshman Grace Rigby-Walden (Gerrards Cross, England/The Chalfonts Community College) finished 5-over for T23rd.
Farrelly recorded a hole-in-one Monday on the 113-yard 17th to highlight her outing.
FGCU returns to action March 13-14 at the Spring Break Shootout, hosted by Western Kentucky in Dade City, Fla.
For complete coverage of the women's golf program, follow the Eagles on Twitter and Instagram at @FGCU_WGOLF, on Facebook at /fgcuwgolf and online at www.FGCUathletics.com. You can also sign-up to have news on FGCU women's golf or other programs delivered directly to your inbox by visiting www.fgcuathletics.com/email.
EAGLES STARTING FIVE:
TEAM LEADERBOARD:
COACH SYKORA
After a highly successful decade leading Barry University, Shannon Sykora was named the FGCU women's golf head coach on June 16, 2022. During his career with Barry, the Buccaneers won the 2017 NCAA Division II National Title, while finishing runner-up in 2014 and placing third in 2013 and 2022. Sykora led Barry to 28 tournament wins in his decade as head coach including four Division I tournament victories. He has produced five WGCA All-America First Team selections, nine WGCA Scholar All-Americans, one honorable mention All-American, the 2013 NCAA Division II Individual National Champion, and the only D-II player to compete in the inaugural Augusta Women's Amateur.
E.A.G.L.E. CAMPAIGN
IT TAKES A TEAM to achieve our newest goal - a $10 million campaign to address student-athlete needs in continued academic success, life skills, mental health, nutrition, and strength and conditioning as well as departmental needs in facility expansion and improvement as well as mentoring and leadership training for coaches and staff. The name embodies our mission and the purpose of the E.A.G.L.E. Campaign - Eagle Athletics Generating Lifetime Excellence. Join Our Team and pledge your gift today to help the Eagles of tomorrow!
#FEEDFGCU
FGCU Athletics sponsors events in November and April to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.
ABOUT FGCU
FGCU teams have combined to win an incredible 94 conference regular season and tournament titles in just 15-plus seasons at the Division I level. Additionally, in just 11-plus seasons of D-I postseason eligibility, the Eagles have had a combined 47 teams or individuals compete in NCAA championships. In 2022, the men's golf team became the first program to earn an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament. Eight FGCU programs have earned a top-25 national ranking in their respective sport - including women's basketball (No. 20, 2021-22 and No. 25 in 2022-23) beach volleyball (No. 20, 2022) and both men's soccer (2018, 2019) and women's soccer (2018) as four of the most recent. In 2016-17, the Green & Blue posted a department-best sixth-place finish in the DI-AAA Learfield Directors' Cup and top-100 showing nationally, ahead of several Power-5 and FBS institutions. In 2018-19, the Eagles had an ASUN and state of Florida best seven teams earn the NCAA's Public Recognition Award for their Academic Progress Rate in their sport. FGCU also collectively earned a record 3.66 GPA in the classroom in the fall 2022 semester and has outperformed the general University undergraduate population for 27 consecutive semesters. The past seven semesters (Fall 2019 – Fall 2022) saw another milestone reached as all 15 programs achieved a 3.0-or-higher cumulative team GPA. The Eagles also served an all-time high 7,200 volunteer hours in 2017 - being recognized as one of two runners-up for the inaugural NACDA Community Service Award presented by the Fiesta Bowl.
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