The UF men’s golf team began its season on a high note Friday.
After the first round of the Olympia Fields Invitational, the No. 8 Gators sit atop the leaderboard with an even-par opening round of 280. They are tied for first place with defending NCAA Champions Augusta State.
Led by sophomore Tyler McCumber’s career-best round, a two-under 68, the Gators are in position to capture the opening tournament of the season for the first time since 2003-04.
McCumber started hot by making birdie on two of his first three holes and finished the round with just one bogey on the 7,205-yard, par-70 course at Olympia Fields Country Club in Chicago, Ill.
He is in a tie for fourth in individual scoring, trailing Bud Cauley of Alabama by two strokes.
Teeing off on the back nine, senior Bank Vongvanij made the turn at two-over par but fired a bogey-free 33 on the front nine to card an even-par 70. Vongvanij is in a tie for 13th overall with junior transfer Michael Furci and four others.
Furci was able to birdie two of the longer holes on the course – the 576-yard, par-5 15th and the 471-yard, par-4 second – en route to an opening-round 70. He made it to one-under in his first round as a Gator before making bogey on his 17th hole, the mammoth 247-yard, par-3 eighth.
Senior Andres Echavarria, one of only two seniors and three returning starters on the team, could not overcome a shaky start. Echavarria bogeyed two of his first four to fall to two-over-par. He had only one birdie on his round of 72, putting him in a tie for 34th.
Following a birdie at hole 15, sophomore Phillip Choi blasted a long bunker shot on 16 to within four feet, allowing him to get up and down for par. He turned at one over, but a double bogey at the fourth hole cost him.
Choi shot a 4-over 74 to finish the first round in a tie for 40th in the individual standings.
The Gators start play Saturday at 9:20 a.m. on hole No. 1.
