Behind even par rounds by senior leaders Bank Vongvanij and Andres
Echavarria, and a 1-over showing by sophomore Phillip Choi, the
Gators men’s golf team expanded their lead to six strokes over the
Tennessee Volunteers in the Southeastern Conference Championship on
Saturday in St. Simons, Ga.
“I’m particularly proud of Andres and Bank,” coach Buddy Alexander
said. “They’ve been in the trenches before, and they know how to
stay patient and battle back. That’s the story of the day, just
good, solid stuff all day.”
An unlikely contributor for Florida was Tommy Mou, its fifth
player, whose 1-over 71 was critical in the Gators extending their
lead.
While the men have put themselves in prime position to bring home
an SEC Championship, the women’s team’s hopes in Auburn, Al., are
all but finished.
For all five Gator women’s golfers, the back nine brought about a
series of bogeys in possibly the team’s worst nine holes of golf
all season.
“We just didn’t limit our mistakes today,” coach Jan Dowling said.
“It was windy today, which made scoring difficult, but we let it
bother us and that was disappointing.”
Mia Piccio, the team’s most consistent player all year, had a
gruesome round, shooting 7-over on holes 9-15 alone. The sophomore
finished with a season-worst 9-over 81.
