Piccio to swing for Florida varsity

Golf prodigy Mia Piccio will play for the University of Florida Lady Gators in the US NCAA Division I Southeastern Conference (SEC) starting next season, her father Ernesto told The STAR yesterday.

Piccio, 17, was welcomed into the squad by Florida coach Jill Briles-Hinton who announced the signing last Friday.

“Mia has the drive to be the very best,” said Briles-Hinton, the 2008 SEC Coach of the Year. “Her brother is an Olympic athlete from the Philippines and she has the same aspirations. She is a fierce competitor, a great athlete and an even better student. I am confident that she can make an immediate impact on our team.”

Florida is more known for basketball than golf. Under coach Billy Donovan, the Gators won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007, becoming the first team to achieve the feat since Duke in 15 years. Among the Florida cagers now in the NBA are Al Horford, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green, Udonis Haslem, Matt Bonner, David Lee and Mike Miller.

With Piccio’s arrival, the Florida golf program will get a major boost.

Piccio, an elementary graduate of St. John’s Institute in Bacolod City, started playing golf at the age of eight. She was a natural on the greens and a year later, qualified to play for the Philippine team at the Callaway Junior World Championships in Florida. That led to several other stints with the national squad in different international competitions.

Piccio’s father Ernesto, a hotel owner in Bacolod City, and mother Gina encouraged the wunderkind to pursue her passion for golf. An ICTSI golf scholar, she was enrolled at the David Leadbetter Golf Academy with the International Management Group in Sarasota, Florida, at 15 to further hone her skills.