The Gators men’s golf team was one of the favorites to win the Southeastern Championship, but after one round, the team may have to look elsewhere for a title.
Florida all but ended its hopes for a 14th SEC title after coming in at last after the first round at the Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga.
Even though the Gators were the No. 2 seed, they went 21 over par for the round, two behind the next finisher, Tennessee.
The course is well known for being tricky with strong winds on the field, something that concerned coach Buddy Alexander going into the tournament.
“Today was startling,” Alexander said in the release. “I never could have imagined that, but there are no excuses. We have two more days and hopefully we can improve our position.”
The two best finishers for Florida were the two seniors competing. Captain Tyler McCumber shot two over par (72) while T.J. Vogel, fresh off his Masters appearance, shot four over par (74).
The rest of the team struggled to keep up with the seniors. Sophomore J.D. Tomlinson shot seven over par (77), freshman A.J. Crouch shot eight over par (78) and sophomore Eric Banks shot 11 over par (81).
The women’s team, on the other hand, fared much better in its first round.
Florida finished 27 over par to score a team total of 315 for the 11th place spot in the tournament.
LSU placed first, finishing only 15 over par with a team total of 303 points.
“I think it’s going to be a really exciting championship,” coach Emily Bastel said on Monday. “I think there’s a lot of teams that can play well and we’re definitely one of them and we’ve proven that.”
Florida’s two best finishers were sophomore Camilla Hedberg and senior Isabelle Lendl. Twelfth-ranked Hedberg shot four over par (76), while veteran Lendl finished six over par (78).
Hedberg is the frontrunner for the Gators, tying for the twelfth spot on the individual player leaderboard.
The rest of the team had mixed results in the first round. Senior Mia Piccio shot 10 over par (82), junior Elcin Ulu shot nine over par (81), and freshman Ursa Orehek closed off the night, shooting eight over par (80).
Both men’s and women’s golf resumes play in their respective conference tournaments Saturday.
Junior Camilla Hedberg watches her shot during the SunTrust Gator Invitational on March 15 at Mark Bostick Golf Course.
