The UF men’s golf team continues its fall schedule Sunday when it travels to Windermere for the Isleworth Collegiate Invitational hosted by Texas Tech University.
After finishing second at the Jerry Pate Invitational, the Gators dropped in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin rankings from No. 1 overall to No. 3, but coach Buddy Alexander said he is excited by what he’s seen from his team so far.
“To be honest, I wasn’t really expecting this kind of success this early,” Alexander said. “We’ve gotten off to a great start.”
The Gators won their first tournament at Olympia Fields in Chicago against some of the best competition they’ll face all season. In the final round, UF was paired with last year’s NCAA Champions, Augusta State, and the team Alexander said he believes is the best in the country, No. 2 Oklahoma State.
The Cowboys, the defending champions at Isleworth after defeating the Gators by five shots last season, are in the field again this week, adding more bite to an already strong list of competitors.
In all, UF will be joined by eight other ranked teams, including two other top-five teams and three Southeastern Conference schools, at the par-72, 7,544-yard Isleworth Golf & Country Club.
No. 5 Alabama, No. 9 LSU and No. 11 Georgia are the ranked SEC schools competing. Vanderbilt and Tennessee will also play.
However, UF and several other teams will be without some of their top players as many are traveling to play in the World Team Amateur Championships in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Oklahoma State will be without current U.S. Amateur Champion and No. 1-ranked Peter Uihlein, and Florida is missing Colombian-born Andres Echavarria.
With a senior leader absent, UF will lean heavily on fellow upperclassman Bank Vongvanij and sophomore Tyler McCumber, who Alexander said has been the team’s best player.
“He’s been part of that big surprise,” Alexander said. “Not that I’m surprised he played well, I’m just a little surprised he played this well, this early.”
Alexander said McCumber was disappointed in his lack of playing time last season and worked hard over the summer to improve.
The results speak for themselves. McCumber is the No. 5-ranked player in the collegiate individual standings and is second on the team with a 69.33 scoring average.
“I expected him to be much improved,” Alexander said. “I didn’t know he was going to be one of the best players in the country.”
