The Florida Gators men’s golf team finished with its best performance of the season at this week’s 54-hole tournament.
The Gators teed off Sunday at Woodmont Country Club in Rockville, Maryland. UF came out victorious in the 13-team tournament.
Florida swept the Georgetown Intercollegiate as sophomore Matthew Kress led the way for the Gators as the individual champion. The victory marked the team’s first of the 2023-2024 season and the 22nd under head coach J.C. Deacon.
Freshman Jack Turner had an early impact for Florida Sunday. He shot back-to-back career-low rounds of 69 (-3) competing as an individual. His impressive performance featured 24 pars and five birdies.
Right behind Turner on the leaderboard were Kress and junior Ian Gilligan. The teammates finished the first two rounds tied for 2nd. Gilligan posted a second round score of 69 (-3). Kress finished just behind him after the second set of 18 holes posting a 70 (-2) on his scorecard.
Senior Tyler Wilkes found himself tied for 5th after his round two efforts. He was the third Gator in the lineup to record an eagle on hole 3. Wilkes turned in a round two score of 2-under 70 and moved to 1-under overall after Sunday’s action.
Rounding out the lineup for the Gators was freshman Luke Poulter at T12 and fifth year Jon DuBois at T22.
In the final round Monday, Kress trailed the leader by four strokes. The freshman flipped the switch shooting the lowest round of the day with a 3-under 69 outing. He made five birdies in round three to help him win his first collegiate tournament of his career.
UF shot a collective 864-even score en route to winning the field by 17 shots.
Two Gators finished runner-up and set career-best finishes. Turner and Wilkes combined to shoot 1-under 215 in the 54-hole event at Woodmont Country Club.
Gilligan has now posted three top-20 finishes in his first four tournaments after he placed T8. Two strokes behind him was Poulter in a tie for 12th. The last Gator featured in the lineup Monday was DuBois in T33 respectively.
Florida will conclude their Fall schedule at the Atlanta Athletic Club for the East Lake Cup. The three-day tournament will be Oct. 30-Nov. 1.
Contact Max at mtucker@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @MaxTuckerUF25.
Max Tucker is a junior transfer student at UF. After obtaining his A.A. in Journalism from Santa Fe College in 2023, he chose further his education at Florida's College of Journalism and Communications. Max is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Science in Journalism with a specialization in sports and media. He enjoys golfing and going to the beach with his friends in his free time. Max will be covering the Gators Golf teams this Fall for The Alligator.
