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Thursday, March 28, 2024
NEWS  |  CAMPUS

UF men’s golf takes next step in 2018, avoids back-to-back NCAA Regional exits

Andy Zhang

Sophomore Andy Zhang finally broke through and won his first individual championship in 2018.

Coach J.C. Deacon and the Florida men’s golf team came into this season hoping to improve after an embarrassing ending to its campaign one year ago.

Many believed last year’s team had the potential to make a deep run in the NCAA Championships. But after an eighth-place finish in the regional round, those thoughts became distant memories.

Thankfully for the Gators, this season harbored different results.

Fall Tournament Season
The season began in September for UF as it participated in the Carpet Collegiate Invitational in Rocky Face, Georgia.
The preseason-ranked No. 10 Florida Gators finished in fifth place at the event, carding an overall score of 862 (2 under).
Senior Alejandro Tosti stole the show for Florida individually, winning the event by shooting a 205 and giving him a score of 11 under for the weekend. He topped Clemson’s Bryson Nimmer by two strokes.
In an interview after the final round, Deacon was impressed with his senior golfer.
“Coming off a summer that didn’t live up to Alejandro’s high standards, he has come back to school more focused and dedicated,” Deacon said in a release. “Every area of his game was at an elite level this week.”
Two weeks later, the Gators looked to claim victory at the inaugural Trinity Forest Invitational in Dallas, Texas. The team played exceptionally, scoring an 835 (17 under) for the tournament and beating second-place finishers Auburn and Texas Tech by 10 strokes.
Junior Gordon Neale sparked UF on the final day of the event, shooting a career-best 8-under 63 thanks to an eagle, six birdies and most importantly, no bogeys to finish second individually.
His teammate, sophomore Andy Zhang, followed close behind. Zhang concluded the final round tied for third individually after shooting a 207 (6 under).
Florida managed to move up the Golfweek Rankings to No. 5 after winning the event.

Spring Tournament Season
After a few months off, UF found itself beginning spring play on Feb. 17 at the friendly confines of Mark Bostick Golf Course for the SunTrust Gator Invitational in Gainesville.
The Gators finished second only to Vanderbilt (18 under) and ended the weekend 9 under.
This was the team’s best finish at the event under Deacon. Junior Gordon Neale finished the best for UF, shooting a 4 under 206, which was good enough to put him in a tie for eighth.
In the beginning of March, then-No. 5 UF traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, to compete in the Southern Highlands Collegiate Invitational.
The Gators played well, limited untimely mistakes and shot 5 under to win the event by four strokes over second -place finishers Texas Tech and Southern California.
Florida found itself in the lead on the last day of the invitational thanks to freshman Chris Nido’s strong six-birdie outing in the final round.

Postseason
Florida began postseason play at the SEC Championships in late April.
The Gators entered as the No. 7-ranked team but had a rough go of it on the first day, finishing in 12th place. Ultimately, they were able to climb the leaderboard into a tie for second at the end of stroke play, compiling a score of 843 (3 over).
First-Team All-SEC golfer Zhang accomplished a milestone that had eluded him during his college career by winning his first individual championship.
Zhang and Ole Miss golfer Cecil Wegener competed on three playoff holes before Zhang outlasted his competitor.
“I was definitely nervous,” Zhang said in a release. “It is still shocking to me that I have my first collegiate win at the SEC Championship.”
UF would go on to lose to Alabama 1-3-1 in the semifinals of match play.
In NCAA Regional play, the Gators hoped to erase a bitter memory that haunted them after last year’s horrendous showing in the regional round.
This year’s regional couldn’t have ended any differently.
The Gators blew through their competition with ease on their way to a record-breaking performance.
Florida finished the regional at 42 under, breaking the prior program record by five strokes.
In its third tournament win of the season, UF was led by Zhang once more.
He went on to win his second-consecutive individual title after shooting a 13 under 203.
Freshman Chris Nido finished right behind him in second place after a round of 63 (9 under), a new UF-freshman record.
The Gators looked to ride the momentum of a flawless regional round to compete for what would potentially be Deacon’s first national championship as UF’s head coach.
Unfortunately for the players, they left their consistent play back in Florida, finishing 18th out of 30 teams and missing the top-15 cut on the third day of stroke play by four strokes.
In his last event as a collegiate golfer, senior Alejandro Tosti finished tied for 43rd individually, just missing the cut to advance as an individual by one stroke.
After improving on last year’s postseason woes, the UF men’s golf team and  Deacon will look to the future in hopes of getting a little closer to that elusive national title.

You can follow Evan Lepak on Twitter @evanmplepakkk and contact him at elepak@alligator.org.

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