On Monday, when Florida men’s golf coach J.C. Deacon recapped his team's weekend tournament, the first thing he said was UF could’ve played better.
Despite shooting 43 strokes better at this year’s rendition of the Carpet Capital Collegiate, Deacon said his team's performance just felt worse.
While acknowledging his team’s success — three players finished below or at even par — he pointed out where they went wrong, as well.
“We just still pay a lot of attention to things that aren’t going to help our score and wasting energy on things that aren’t gonna help the team," Deacon said. "That’s what really held us back this weekend."
Deacon also mentioned how the impressive play of sophomores Sam Horsfield and Gordon Neale, who shot 8 under par and 4 under par, respectively, was essentially cancelled out by players shooting at 7 and 9 over par.
In short, Deacon wasn’t pleased with Florida’s fifth-place finish.
But he was impressed by one of his players.
Horsfield, the second-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, had a stellar first round on Friday. For the second time in his college career, Horsfield was in first place after the first round, but this time featuring a 7-under-par performance.
That success is something to be expected, both by his coach and himself.
“Sam is special. We’re really lucky to have him,” Deacon said. “He’s our leader on the golf course. He’s going to bring it all year long. He was in the hunt this weekend and we expect that from him every week, and he expects that from himself, which is the most important thing.”
One person the Gators were missing this weekend, someone who might have been able to help improve Florida’s score, was freshman Andy Zhang.
Zhang, the No. 2 golfer in Golfweek’s Class of 2016 rankings, missed his first collegiate tournament due to a wrist injury.
But when Zhang returns to full health, he will play, Deacon said.
“We all agree that we need to be really cautious on this one and get (Zhang) to 100 percent before we try to push anything,” Deacon said. “We want to win now and there is an urgency I think for all of us on this team to compete and show what we can be, but at the same time, we need Andy when the season starts winding down in 2017.”
As the sole freshman of the team, Deacon wants to make sure his career isn’t plagued by lingering injuries that weave him in and out of the lineup.
And it’s a chance for someone else to step up.
There is a little over a week left before the Gators tee off in the Windon Memorial Classic on Sep. 25, and Deacon wants to see a lot of improvement from his guys before then.
“We had some really tough discussions, and a great workout (Monday) morning to get back at it,” Deacon said. “The guys are focused.
“We got be better, it’s as simple as that.”
Contact Jake Dreilinger at jdreilinger@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @DreilingerJake.
J.C. Deacon looks on during the 2016 SunTrust Invitational at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
