The UCF Knights Women’s Golf team has been one of the most consistent programs on campus. Yet, appearances in the NCAA Championship have mostly eluded them. This time, as highly regarded nationally as it’s ever been going into a spring season, they have a chance to make it there.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Knights as they start the spring portion of their 2025-26 season:
How College Golf Works
Each school has five golfers playing for the overall team score. While a school can enter more than five players
in a tournament, if they do so, the extra players have to be entered as individuals and will not count toward the team’s score.
A team’s total score comes from combining the scores of each of the golfers and subtracting the highest score.
The team with the lowest score after three rounds is the winner.
Last Season
9th in Big 12 Tournament; Selected to Charlottesville Regional (7th)
The Knights extended their NCAA Regional streak to eight last season, but that is where their season ended.
After a season that saw two of its players, Pimpisa Sisutham and Molly Smith, earn All-American nods, no player ended up even taking an All-Big 12 honor.
It’s hard to call it a disappointment since the Knights still made it back to an NCAA Regional. However, it does mean that another season has passed, with Sisutham and Smith at the core, in which the Knights could not make it to their first NCAA Championship since 2019.
This Season
Ranked #12 in the nation entering Spring
The Knights took full advantage of their fall schedule to secure a Top 15 ranking going into the spring slate.
Smith and Sisutham have once again been headliners, but sophomore Mila Jurine has also emerged to become another threat for the team as she took her first individual title at the Illini Invitational. That effort also helped UCF win the team title at that same tournament, its first since October 2023.
Who’s in Charge
Emily Marron – 14th season at UCF
If there’s one word that describes Emily Marron, it’s consistent.
The pandemic notwithstanding, she has remained perfect in sending at least one Knight to an NCAA Regional since she began her tenure back in 2011. However, she has only reached the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship once (2019).
Golfers to Watch
Pimpisa “Sandwich” Sisutham
Sandwich enters her final season of eligibility as the Knights’ highest-ranked golfer in the nation at #59 after finishing inside the Top 20 in all four of UCF’s fall tournaments.
The two-time all-conference honoree and 2024 WGCA All-American is also coming off a 2024-25 campaign that saw her have the team’s lowest scoring average and be named to the All-Big 12 Tournament Team. However, other than that, she did not receive any more postseason accolades.
Molly Smith
A fellow 2024 WGCA All-American, junior Molly Smith was in near lockstep with Sisutham this fall, also finishing in the top 20 in all four tournaments. However, she was ranked #88 in the nation entering the spring.
The Knights’ lone American on the roster, Smith, enters her first season as an upperclassman after a sophomore season without the accolades of her freshman one.
Mila Jurine
A sophomore hailing from the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, Mila Jurine has been the Knights’ breakout star of the fall. After securing two Top 10 finishes last season in her freshman campaign, Jurine earned two top-five finishes this past fall, including her first individual collegiate win at the Illini Invitational. She entered the spring ranked #100 in the nation.
Who We’ll Miss
Katie Poots
Of the six UCF golfers who played in more than 25 rounds last season, Katie Poots, who had the highest scoring average of the squad at 75.1, is the only one who departed the team, transferring to Indiana.
Who’s New That’s Good
Kinga Kusmierska
Hailing from Poland, Kinga Kusmierska began her collegiate career with some momentum by winning the ANNIKA Invitational Europe. In a UCF uniform, she captured one Top 20 finish in three tournaments in the fall, though she did shoot for a 71.9 scoring average and finished ranked #298 in the nation.
Roster Breakdown
- 2 Freshmen
- 2 Sophomores
- 2 Juniors
- 1 Senior
- 6 International Players (Japan, France, Thailand, Poland, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates)
Schedule Breakdown
The spring will once again begin with the Knights’ home tournament, the PDI Intercollegiate, at Eagle Creek Golf Club, followed by the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne.
However, the middle portion of the schedule has seen shifts from last season. The Briar’s Creek Invitational, hosted by the College of Charleston is back in the schedule after its absence last season.
There are also a pair of new tournaments on the schedule, one sees the Knights traveling to Vegas, just a few minutes away from The Strip, for the UNLV Invite, while the other has them closer to home in St. Augustine for the Coach Mo Invite.
The final two tournaments of the season sees the team traveling to Dallas, Texas, first for the newly dubbed Huntington Bank Collegiate at Trinity Forest Golf Club and then for the Big 12 Championship at the Dallas Athletic Club.
NCAA Tournament
- Selection Day: April 29
- Regional Dates: May 11-13
- Championship Dates: May 22-27
- Championship Location: Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California
The Last Time…
UCF won a conference championship: 2017. Not since the days of now UCF Hall-of-Famer Ashley Holder has the UCF Women’s Golf team hoisted a conference championship trophy.
UCF made it to the NCAA Championship: 2019. It was only the 2nd time in program history that the team advanced to the championship after the 1996 season.
