The No. 5 Florida men’s golf team sat in fifth place in the NCAA Regional at the end of round one on Monday. Today, the Gators bounced back and gained two positions in the leaderboard, moving into third place at the end of two rounds at Kampen Golf Course in West Lafayette, Indiana.
When the action came to a close, coach JC Deacon was quick to praise his team’s play up until the final two holes of the day.
“That was probably the best round of the year for the guys through the first 16 holes,” Deacon said. “We just couldn’t finish it off which was really, really sad because the guys put in a lot of work and played great. For Sam Horsfield to be 5-under, Ryan Orr to be 3-under and Gordon Neale to be 2-under through 16 holes today was just fantastic golf in really difficult conditions. We just didn’t finish it.”
Neale continued his consistent play, carding another even-par 72. The sophomore connected on four birdies, including back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16. However, the Dove Canyon, California, native also had four bogeys. Neale finished his day with consecutive bogeys on 17 and 18. He’s currently in a tie for 13th at even-par.
Sam Horsfield started his round on fire. The sophomore had a bogey-free day through the front nine as well as five birdies. However, the final two holes would derail his outing, with Horsfield bogeying on 17 and double bogeying on 18.
While he still finished the day at 2-under, his rough finish resulted in a drop of 11 spots down the leaderboard.
Ryan Orr also saw his day come to a screeching halt. The senior was 3-under on the day before finishing his round on the final two holes. Orr double bogeyed 17 and bogeyed 18 for a combined 3-over-par. Orr and Horsfield are both tied for 17th at 1-over.
After an up and down day on Monday, Alejandro Tosti saw more downs in round two. Despite carding an eagle on hole 10, the junior also had four bogeys and one double bogey on the back nine. Tosti went on to shoot 3-over for the day, pushing him back to 23rd on the overall scoreboard. His 75 would not count towards the score of the Gators overall finish, as his score was the highest of the group’s on Tuesday.
Elsewhere for the Gators, Andy Zhang followed up his opening round with a 1-over, 73, on Tuesday. The freshman finished his day with four straight pars on route to a tie for 32nd going into Wednesday. His score of 73 was counted after his first round was discarded, when he shot a 4-over, 76.
Stroke play in the NCAA Regionals will conclude Wednesday, where the Gators will look to clinch their spot in the National Championship. The Gators will move on if they can stay in the top five of the standings.
Contact Justin Ahlum at jahlum@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @justinn_case1.
Sam Horsfield completes his follow-through during round two of the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 21, 2016 at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
