The odds were the Gators men’s golf team’s favor on the second day of play at the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate on Tuesday at Birmingham, Ala.
Florida finished the tournament improving from fifth to third place with a score of 857 (-7) to tie with Ole Miss. Memphis won the competition with a score of 842 (-22).
J.D. Tomlinson and Victor Tarnstrom again improved their play and led the way for Florida. Tomlinson (-6) tied for third on the individual leaderboard, and Tarnstrom (-1) tied for 12th. Both finished with their best career scores at UF.
“J.D. had a career-best finish, so that’s good,” coach Buddy Alexander said. “It’s nice to see him figure it out again. Victor is a freshman, still and has some things to clean up, but he looks like a player.”
Thomas Stewart (+9) struggled Tuesday after shooting 1-under par during Monday’s first two rounds, but Eric Banks (E) shot 1-under to balance out the Gators’ standing.
“[Tuesday] was pretty solid, and this was the toughest course,” Alexander said. “There were different locations because they backed a couple of tees up.”
The men’s team will compete in its next tournament in two weeks when it travels to Indianapolis to compete at the two-day IU Fall Invitational at the Crooked Stick Course on Oct. 14-15.
“Overall, this week was more positive than negative,” Alexander said. “We have to turn our poor rounds into mediocre rounds so we can stay in the golf tournament a little better. But the positives outweigh the negatives.”
Women finish ninth: The Gators women’s golf team didn’t have as much success as the men, but it did see improvement at the Windy City Collegiate Classic on Tuesday at Highland Park, Ill.
Florida played its best round Tuesday, shooting a 291 (+7) – an improvement of nine strokes from Round 1 and three from Round 2. UF finished in ninth place with a score of 885 (+33) at the Northmoor Country Club.
“The conditions were much tougher [Tuesday], and the team played their best round of the tournament,” coach Emily Glaser said. “That says a lot about our fight.”
Redshirt sophomore Katie Mitchell (+8) was the only Gator to shoot an under-par round this tournament. She notched an eagle on her 16th hole.
Junior Sarah Schober (+6) claimed the lone top-25 finish for the Gators.
The No. 5 Gators will play on Oct. 11-13 at the Tar Heel Invitational at Chapel Hill, N.C., where the Gators placed ninth out of 18 teams in 2012.
“This week was a huge learning experience for this young team and I am happy with how they are progressing,” Glaser said.
Follow Lawrence Laguna on Twitter @LagunaLawrence.
