Florida started off its spring schedule on the right foot with a team win and an individual win for junior T.J. Vogel at the Sea Best Invitational last week. But the Gators are working on consistency before hosting the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Saturday.
So far this season the Gators have two wins, two seventh-place finishes and a 10th-place finish, much more erratic than last season, when they had two wins, a second-place finish and a third-place finish at this point in the year.
One of the team’s top players, junior Tyler McCumber, had a poor first round (83) at the tournament last week before finishing with two under-par rounds (69, 71).
“What I’ve seen from my team, including the fall, is some very typical inconsistent play from a young team that is rebuilding,” coach Buddy Alexander said.
The need for rebuilding the team comes from losing two All-America seniors (Bank Vongvanij and Andres Echavarria) and an All-America sophomore (Phillip Choi) who left Florida to go play professionally. This left the team with one senior, three juniors and six freshmen.
Last week in Ponte Vedra, the Gators’ lineup was made up of one senior, three juniors and a freshman. But that could change, as upperclassmen Tommy Mou and Michael Furci both had the highest scores of the team for the tournament, finishing tied for 43rd and 20th, respectively.
“(Mou and Furci) are working hard because they got people breathing down their necks to get in that lineup,” Alexander said.
Two of the freshmen who are threats to Mou and Furci are Eric Banks, who played last week, and J.D. Tomlinson, who did not. Banks shot a 223 (+7) total, leading him to tie for 11th along with McCumber.
Alexander also went on to say there’s no questioning that Tomlinson will be part of his top five by the end of the year.
“One thing that’s happening on this team is the gap between those five guys and the other guys that weren’t in that tournament is closing very quickly,” Alexander said.
Mou has been working a lot on his swing since coming back from the tournament and played well in practice Monday. Meanwhile, Furci has been working on his putting, which he struggled with the most in Ponte Vedra, according to Alexander.
At the SunTrust Gator Invitational this weekend, Alexander plans to play a couple of individuals so some of the younger players can gain experience.
“It’s possible that we might go to the NCAA (Championship) this year with two juniors and three freshmen,” Alexander said.
