Immediately after the last round of the fall season, coach Buddy Alexander held a team meeting and told his golfers to take a week off — two, if they needed it.
When he finished talking, three of his players went to the other end of the driving range to continue perfecting their games.
“I wouldn’t even have to have practice and they’d be out there,” Alexander said.
It’s that type of dedication that has Alexander only slightly surprised at his team’s early accomplishments.
Despite losing its two best players from a year ago, Florida enters the spring season as the No. 3 team in the country after three consecutive top-three finishes in the fall.
“I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this season,” Alexander said. “But we’ve had a couple guys step up.”
The Gators posted a record-breaking score in a win at the Olympia Fields Invitational to open the year. They followed it with a second-place showing at the Jerry Pate Invitational and a third at the Isleworth Invitational in Orlando.
“We’re moving in the wrong direction,” Alexander said, smiling coyly. “Nevertheless, anytime you can play an entire semester and not be out of the top three — that’s pretty good.”
It is even more impressive considering the Gators’ starting lineup routinely features three sophomores in Tyler McCumber, Phillip Choi and Tommy Mou.
McCumber wasn’t a part of Florida’s top five last season and appeared in only three tournaments as a Gator. After posting a 71.7 scoring average and two top-10 finishes this season, he is now ranked among the top-20 players in the nation and is considered to be one of UF’s best.
However, the Gators are also aided by the presence of two senior stalwarts in Bank Vongvanij, the No. 2 player in Golfweek/Sagarin’s individual rankings, and Andres Echavarria.
It was Vongvanij’s career-best 207 (70-67-70) at Olympia Fields that propelled the Gators to victory, and his 208 (66-71-71) at the Jerry Pate Invitational showed he is capable of consistent play atop Florida’s lineup.
But Alexander said the extended gap between the fall and spring, which is longer than the gap between the NCAA Championship and the start of the fall season, makes it difficult to carry any momentum forward from the Gators’ early success.
“I think it’s great to play well in the fall and, hopefully, gain a little confidence from that,” Alexander said. “But realistically, that’s a long time ago.”
Fresh off the long layoff, the Gators’ path only gets more difficult. They travel to Ponte Vedra Beach Monday to play in the JU Invitational at the TPC Stadium Course at Sawgrass, home of The Players Championship, and one of the toughest courses in America.
