BATON ROUGE – LSU women’s golf coach Garrett Runion has announced that former UCLA golfer Francesca Fiorellini will join the Tiger golf team for the 2025-26 season.
Fiorellini, who will be a rising sophomore, is presently No. 52 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings. She had an end of season ranking of 81 on the NCAA Scoreboard by Clippd rankings.
Fiorellini had a win in her freshman season at UCLA, scoring the top spot in the Bruin Wave Invitational at Valencia, California with a score of 9-under par 207 (69-68-70). Fiorellini was on the ANNIKA Award Fall Watch List for college golf’s prestigious award.
“I am very excited to announce the signing of Francesca Fiorellini to our team,” said Coach Runion. “She’s a young elite player that has a ton of international experience at the highest level. With her only being a sophomore, she will be a great addition to add to our three incoming freshman, Ryleigh Knaub, Perla Sol Sigurbrandottir, and Lucia Iraola, as well as our returning players. When talking to Francesca, one thing that stood out the most to me was her desire to be the best she can be and wanting to be around similar type players. I am really looking forward to next season to see what this group of ladies can accomplish.”
Fiorellini averaged 73.9 for her 24 rounds with 20 of 24 rounds counting for score. There were six under par rounds and she was 3-0 in match play, including two wins in the East Lake Cup. She was named a second Team All-Big 10 selection.
Fiorellini, who had a decorated career prior to entering college, reached a high of 16 in the World Amateur rankings. In the past two years of ranking period she has posted two wins and eight top 10 finishes.
She has participated in two Augusta National Women’s Amateur and finished T30 in the 2024 edition at 9-over 225.
Fiorellini came to college as the top-ranked Italian and No. 5 in Europe. She was part of three major team victories in 2023 at the Junior Ryder Cup, Junior Solheim Cup and the Patsy Hankins Trophy. At the junior Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in her hometown of Rome, she came back from 2 Down with two holes to play, holing a putt from 25 feet to tie the final match in front of a partisan crowd.
She is a five-time champion in her country in the last two years including the Giuseppe Silva Trophy at the Italian National Ladies Amateur Match Play Championships in 2023 and 2024. Fiorellini won the 2023 Italian International Ladies Amateur Championships and the Isa Goldschmid Trophy at the Italian Ladies Stroke Play. She won the Silvio Marazza Trophy at the Italian U18 National Championship, winning by 10 strokes with a final round of 66.
Fiorellini prepped at Serpahicum Scholastic Complex, a private school in Rome.