While sophomore Sam Horsfield set the pace on Friday for the Gators to follow, one of his teammates now finds himself within striking distance of the the Davenport, native.
Sophomore Gordon Neale improved his score greatly from the previous day.
Neale, who started out even-par in a tie for 33rd, propelled into a tie for 12th following three birdies, a bogey and his second eagle of the tournament.
And his coach took notice.
“Gordon (Neale) really led us out there,” JC Deacon said in a release. “He’s a fantastic player and a wonderful kid and his ability is really starting to show through.
“I’m proud of what he was able to do today and he’s put himself in a great position tomorrow.”
The No. 6 Florida men’s golf team resumed play in the Carpet Capital Collegiate on Saturday, finishing the day at 7 under par and in fifth place.
Neale was one of three Gators to shoot above or even par on Saturday, with junior Ryan Orr and Horsfield joining him.
Horsfield, who was the frontrunner on Friday, struggled a bit. He opened the round with back-to-back bogeys on the first two holes, but quickly turned that around with three birdies on holes six, seven and eight. On the back nine, he hit four bogeys and three birdies, evening out his score for the day and keeping his total score at 7 under par and in a tie for fourth place.
Orr was 4 over par when he teed off, and a pair of double bogeys on the day could have deepened the hole he was in.
Instead, he picked up his game.
The junior hit four birdies, an eagle and one bogey to finish the day at 1 under par and put his total score at 3 over par in a tie for 37th.
Sophomore Jorge Garcia fell behind and couldn’t get back in it. He hit for three birdies, but five bogeys and a double bogey placed his round score at 4 over par and put his tournament score at 3 over par in a tie for 37th.
Senior Alejandro Tosti continued to struggle. Despite making three birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey further dropped Tosti’s overall score to 6 over par.
“Ryan Orr came back with a nice round, Alejandro Tosti had two birdies to finish, and Sam Horsfield hung really tough on a day where he didn’t have his best stuff,” Deacon said. “All in all, we hung in there on a day that wasn’t the best and we’ve got a chance to move up the leaderboard tomorrow.
“Final rounds are never easy, but the toughest teams usually come out with the best score and I want our team to be the toughest team tomorrow.”
The Carpet Capital Invitational ends on Sunday with Tosti teeing off at 8:45 a.m.
Contact Jake Dreilinger at jdreilinger@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @DreilingerJake.
Sam Horsfield lines up a shot to start the third round of the SunTrust Invitational on Feb. 21, 2016, at UF's Mark Bostic Golf Course.
