The No. 1-seeded Florida Men’s Golf team carded a team score of 273 on the opening day of the NCAA West Regional Tournament to become only the fifth squad in school history to record a round at 15-under-par. James Vargas (Miami, Fla.), Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.) and Matt Every (Daytona Beach, Fla.) carding 67 (-5) to tie for second, while the team finished the day in first place.

The Gators wasted little time jumping ahead of the 27-team field at the Omni Tucson National Golf Course on Thursday. Florida’s five players combined for 13 birdies on the front-nine alone. After a double-bogey on his opening hole, Vargas took the early lead by sinking eight birdies on the day. Playing in his first NCAA Tournament event, Horschel finished his bogey-free round with five birdies. Combined with the results from last month’s SEC Tournament, Vargas and Horschel have each recorded back-to-back rounds of 67.

Fresh off receiving the 2006 Ben Hogan Award as the nation’s top amateur golfer last week, Every backed up the award by collecting a pair of eagles on the back-nine. Every eagled the par-five 10th-hole and the par-five 15th.

“This golf course is pretty well suited to our style of play,” Florida head coach Buddy Alexander said. “We talked earlier about jumping ahead and getting some birdies today and obviously we accomplished this. We’re off to a good start and after having done this for a while I can honestly say we’ve had more poor starts than good ones in the regional tournament.”

SEC Tournament individual medalist senior Brett Stegmaier (Madison, Conn.) also posted a strong day by carding an even-par 72.  Freshman Toby Ragland (Jacksonville, Fla.) carded a one-over score of 73 during his post-season debut. Stegmaier currently sits in a tie for 51st-place, while Ragland is tied for 70th.

The Gators opening score of 15-under-par, tied for the second best round ever in school history. The 2003 squad set the record by recording a 17-under-par score of 271 at the Atlanta Intercollegiate. The 2000 team also carded a 271 (-17) at the U.S. Collegiate Golf Championships. The 2001 team recorded 15-under-par scores twice during their run to a national championship.

Florida will begin the second round on the 10th tee on Friday morning at 7 a.m. (PDT). The top 10 teams from the West Regional will advance to the NCAA Championship in Bend, Ore., at the end of the month. Live updates from regional golf action can be found at www.golfstat.com.

Team Results                                                  

Florida Results