For a minute, the Gators hopes at continuing on to the NCAA Championships looked like they were going to be crushed. The men’s golf team finished day one of the NCAA East Regional on Thursday at +11, putting them 16 strokes behind the leader in 10th place.
With only the top-five teams advancing to Nationals, Florida knew they had to focus on carding two solid rounds.
That’s exactly what they did.
The men scaled up the leaderboard during the next two days to finish the tournament in second place on Saturday.
“It was another solid day that was badly needed because the rest of the field played so well,” coach Buddy Alexander said. “I’m proud of my guys for bouncing back after the poor first round and I’m looking forward to going to California for Nationals.”
On Friday and Saturday, the Gators turned in the low rounds both days shooting a 287 and 285, respectively. Although Saturday’s round was their best score during the tournament, it was Friday’s round that gave them the biggest jump.
In addition to the team moving up eight spots, junior T.J. Vogel made a huge transition from 59th to finishing tied for seventh. Saturday gave Vogel his ninth top-20 finish this year.
“T.J. was amazing today. To bounce back from a 78 on the first day and finish in the top 10 shows how special of a player he is,” Alexander said.
All five Gators fielded were able to improve their standings. Like Vogel, freshman J.D. Tomlinson placed in the top ten. Tomlinson led the team every day improving from tied for 15 to finishing tied for fifth with a three day total of 216 (E).
“Our freshmen both had solid days for us,” Alexander said. “J.D. just keeps getting better and better and Eric has really grown up and is playing some good golf.”
Florida will head to Pacific Palisades, Calif., on May 29 for the first round of the NCAA Championships for its 12th consecutive year.
