On the heels of its worst result of the season in the Hootie at Bulls Bay Invitational, one would expect the Florida men’s golf team to be concerned about its play this weekend.
But, in fact, the opposite is true.
Speaking to the media this week, the No. 5 Gators exhibited a cool confidence heading into the postseason at the Southeastern Conference Championship in St. Simons Island, Ga.
“I’m not concerned with our result in Charleston,” UF coach Buddy Alexander said. “We haven’t finished lower than third with our three best players in the lineup.”
Florida did not have a full complement in Charleston because fifth-year senior Andres Echavarria was in California playing a Nationwide tour event, in which he placed second.
Perhaps more than anyone else on the team, senior Bank Vongvanij exuded confidence that his team will rebound from its struggles in the final regular-season event.
“We just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing all year,” said Vongvanij, the sixth-ranked golfer in the nation. “We’ve had a couple weeks to work on things, so we’ll be fine.”
If the Gators are to win the SEC Championship, they will have to do so against one of the toughest fields in SEC history that includes six ranked squads.
The Florida women will try to bring home an SEC crown against a field that is arguably stronger than the men’s competition. The No. 21 Gators will tee off against seven top-25 schools this weekend in Auburn, Ala.
The women enter the SEC Championship in much better form than the men, as their final round at the Liz Murphy Invitational was dubbed by head coach Jan Dowling as “by far (the team’s) best performance of the year.”
In that round, the Gators shot up the leaderboard from 12th place to fifth with a tournament-record score of 5-under par.
The most consistent performer for Florida has been sophomore Mia Piccio, who has finished in the top 20 as an individual in all four of the team’s events this spring.
Dowling called the short game the team’s biggest weakness, and it has been the top priority in most practices this year.
“I think that’s what has helped us improve late in the season,” junior Evan Jensen said.
