Florida edges Duke to capture team title in Sea Best Intercollegiate, but the Blue Devils' Malixi puts on a show to take individual crown

 

   It was the unofficial opening of the spring portion of the wraparound 2025-2026 college golf season and, despite getting a little taste of winter, Florida and Duke put on a pretty good show with the defending champion Gators edging the Blue Devils by a shot to capture the title in the Sea Best Intercollegiate, which wrapped up Tuesday at the San Jose Country Club in Jacksonville, Fla.

   The bitter cold that is here to stay for a while up here in the Northeast, stretched its tentacles all the way to North Florida Tuesday. When I checked the temperature in Jacksonville in the middle of the afternoon it was in the mid-40s, so I’m sure it was probably in the high 30s when the field teed off Tuesday morning.

   Cold-weather gear was very much in evidence in the picture on the Florida website of the Gators celebrating their second straight title in the Sea Best and third straight tournament title for the season, dating back to last fall.

   Florida, runnerup in the Southeastern Conference a year ago and Atlantic Coast Conference power Duke didn’t seem too bothered by the chilly conditions. Florida moved up two spots from No. 8 to No. 6 in the latest Scoreboard, powered by clippd, rankings with its victory in the Sea Best Intercollegiate and Duke improved from No. 16 to No. 12 in the Scoreboard rankings with its runnerup finish.

   They were probably pretty psyched to be out competing in the golf course again after a long midseason pause.

   Duke’s Rianne Malixi, the freshman phenom from the Philippines who is No. 24 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), really went off Tuesday, closing with a brilliant 9-under-par 63 over the 5,948-yard, par-72 San Jose layout to overtake Florida’s Paula Francisco, a senior from Spain and No. 94 in the Women’s WAGR, for the individual title.

   Malixi’s heroics weren’t quite enough to enable the Blue Devils to get by Florida for the team crown.

   The Gators opened with a solid 11-under 277 and then added a 9-under 279 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round. That gave them a seven-shot edge on Duke going into Tuesday’s final round.

   Florida closed with an 8-under 280 and that was just enough to hold off the Dookies by a shot with a 28-under 836 total.

   It was the 39^th career team title for Emily Glaser, Florida’s veteran head coach.

   Florida reached the NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. last spring by finishing in a tie for third place in the Charlottesville Regional. The Gators, however, failed to earn a spot in the match-play bracket at La Costa.

   Florida closed out its fall campaign with victories in the OU Intercollegiate at the demanding Prairie Dunes Golf Club in Hutchinson, Kan. and in The Ally at the Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss., site of the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.

   Duke struggled a little in the opening round with a 2-over 290 while likely shaking off a little rust. The Blue Devils then ripped off a 15-under 273 in Monday afternoon’s second round, the low team round of the tournament, to get themselves in Florida’s rear-view mirror.

   Duke, behind Malixi’s tremendous 63, was nearly as good in the final round, closing with a 14-under 274 to finish a shot behind Florida with a 27-under 837 total.

   Malixi was unable to duplicate her sizzling summer of 2024 when she won the U.S. Girls’ Junior Amateur Championship at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana, Calif. and the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. in 2025.

   I’m sure it was a busy year for the kid, who qualified for several major championships on the LPGA Tour by virtue of her victory in the U.S. Women’s Am in addition to having a bulls-eye on her back as the defending champion in the U.S. Girls’ Junior and the U.S. Women’s Am.

   Malixi’s freshman fall was disrupted when she represented the Philippines in the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship in Singapore in October, finishing second in the individual standings at Tenah Merah Country Club. I suspect she’s something of a rock star in her home country of the Philippines and really throughout golf-mad Asia.

   But after adding a 6-under 66 in Monday afternoon’s second round to her opening-round 71, Malixi announced to the world of NCAA Division I women’s golf that she might be starting to settle in at Duke.

   Malixi’s final round started off relatively quietly as she made a birdie on the first hole before an eagle at the par-5 third. She stumbled briefly with back-to-back bogeys at the fourth and fifth holes and then got back to 2-under with a birdie at six.

   She proceeded to open the incoming nine with five straight birdies at the 10^th, 11^th, 12^th, 13^th and 14^th holes. After a par at the 15^th hole, Malixi went back-to-back with birdies at 16 and 17. It was a scintillating seven-birdie 29 on San Jose’s back nine that delivered her first college victory with a 16-under 200 total.

   Malixi’s 63 tied the program record for a par-72 course and her 200 total was a Duke record for 54 holes over a par-72 course. The seven-time NCAA champion Dookies have had some pretty good players over the years. Oh yeah, the back-nine 29, that was a Duke record as well.

   It was a rare NCAA Championship without Duke in the field last spring as the Blue Devils failed to advance out of the Norman Regional as a five seed.

   Francisco actually had the individual lead going into the final round as she added a sparkling 6-under 66 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round to her opening-round 69. Her final round of 5-under 67 left her two shots behind Malixi with a 14-under 202 total that probably would have easily earned her the individual title in any other year.

   It was 56 shots back to Stetson, No. 122 in the Scoreboard rankings, in third place in the Sea Best as the Hatters, who lost in a playoff to Florida Gulf Coast for the ASUN title last spring, finished up with a 29-over 893 total.

   Stetson opened with a 4-over 292 and added an 11-over 299 in the afternoon of Monday’s double round before closing with a 302.

   Richmond, which won the Atlantic 10 team crown last spring in its first year in the league, was another 10 shots behind Stetson in fourth place with a 903 total.

   The Spiders, No. 149 in the Scoreboard rankings, opened with a 301 and added a 305 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with their best round of the tournament, a 9-over 297.

   Middle Tennessee State, a Conference USA representative, finished six shots behind Richmond in fifth place in the 11-team field with a 45-over 909 total.

   The Blue Raiders, No. 119 in the Scoreboard rankings, added a 303 in Monday afternoon’s second round to their opening-round 302 before closing with a 304.

   The Sea Best Intercollegiate was pretty much a dual match between the two perennial college powers in Florida and Duke.

   Backing up Francisco for the Gators was Siuue Wu, a sophomore from Hong Kong who finished five shots behind Francisco in the individual standings with a 9-under 207 total.

   Wu was the picture of consistency, rattling off three straight 3-under 69s.

   Graduate student Megan Propeck, a Leawood, Kan. native and No. 62 in the Women’s WAGR who was a solid performer in the ACC at Virginia before joining the Gators, finished in a tie for sixth place with Duke’s Andie Smith, a graduate student from Hobe Sound, Fla. and No. 47 in the Women’s WAGR, finished in a tie for sixth place, each landing on 4-under 212.

   Propeck, who claimed her first individual collegiate victory in the OU Intercollegiate at Prairie Dunes in her native Kansas in the fall, opened with a 2-under 70 and added a 1-over 73 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a solid 3-under 69.

   Katelyn Huber, a freshman from Gainesville, Fla., finished in ninth place with an even-par 216 total.

   Huber, coming off a fourth-place finish earlier this month in the South Atlantic Women’s Amateur Championship, better known by its shorthand name, The Sally, at Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach, Fla., got off to a solid start with a 3-under 69 and matched par in Monday afternoon’s second round with a 72 before struggling a little in the final round with a 3-over 75.

   Rounding out the Florida lineup was Elaine Widjaja, a sophomore from Indonesia who finished in 11^th place with a 3-over 219 total. Widjaja opened with a solid 2-under 70 and matched par in Monday afternoon’s second round with a 72 before struggling to a 5-over 77 in the final round.

   Florida’s depth was on display as there was no dropoff with the two players Glaser brought along to compete as individuals.

   Ines Archer, a junior from France, rounded out the top 10 in the individual standings as she finished alone in 10^th place, two shots behind Huber with a 2-over 218 total. Archer bounced back from an opening round of 4-over 76 with a 4-under 68 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 74.

   Sophie Stevens, a junior from Highland, Mich., finished a shot behind Widjaja in 12^th place with a 4-over 220 total. Stevens added a 1-over 73 in Monday afternoon’s second round to her opening-round 75 before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Backing up Malixi for Duke was Katie Li, a junior from Basking Ridge, N.J. who finished alone in fourth place with a 6-under 216 total, three shots behind Florida’s Wu.

   I suspect Li has evolved into a leadership role at Duke. After matching par in the opening round with a 72, Li posted back-to-back 3-under 69s to help the Blue Devils surge into contention.

   Anna Canado Espinal, a talented sophomore from Spain competing as an individual, finished a shot behind her teammate Li in fifth place with a 5-under 211 total for the Blue Devils.

   After opening with a 1-over 73, Canado Espinal ripped off a sparkling 6-under 66 in Monday afternoon’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Smith was another shot behind Canado Espinal for Duke in the tie for sixth place with Florida’s Propeck at 4-under 212.

   Smith, who reached the round of 16 in last summer’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at the Bandon Dunes Resort on Oregon’s rugged coastline before falling to Oregon’s Kiara Romero, the No. 1 player in the Women’s WAGR, added a 3-under 69 in Monday afternoon’s second round to her opening-round 71 before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Malixi isn’t the only talented freshman in the Duke lineup. Avery McCrery, the pride of Wilmington, Del. who played some of her scholastic career at the Tower Hill School, has been steady during her rookie season. She finished three shots behind Propeck and Smith in eighth place in the Sea Best with a 1-under 215 total.

   After struggling a little in the opening round with a 4-over 76, McCrery settled in nicely with a 3-under 69 in Monday afternoon’s second round and a solid 70 in the final round.

   McCrery wasn’t the only Delawarean in the field at the Sea Best Intercollegiate.

   Richmond’s Hannah Lydic, a senior who was a scholastic standout at Sussex Academy, finished in a tie for 25^th place with a 12-over 228 total.

   Lydic, who captured the individual crown to lead the Spiders to the team title in the A-10 Championship last spring, opened with a 3-over 75 at San Jose and added a 77 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 76.