The University of Florida Men’s Golf team continued its march towards a national title on Wednesday by opening the 2006 NCAA Championship tied for seventh with a team score of 284 (-4). Freshman Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.) led the Gators by shooting a three-under, 69 at the Crosswater Golf Club.

Horschel, who was named to the PING All-Southeast Region team earlier in the day, did not miss a beat after picking up his first collegiate win in the team’s last outing at the West Regional Tournament in Tucson, Ariz. He opened his round with birdies on the second, third and sixth holes and went even on the back-nine to finish the day tied for ninth.

With three experienced seniors in the lineup, Horschel has proven himself to be the steadiest player during the post season for the team. He not only picked up his sixth-consecutive round under-par, but recorded a score in the 60s for the seventh time this season.

“He’s playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Florida head coach Buddy Alexander said. “His consistency all year has been remarkable.”

Seniors Matt Every (Daytona Beach, Fla.) and James Vargas (Miami, Fla.) both turned in strong performances for the Gators on the opening day of competition. Every tallied three birdies on the front-nine, then held par on nine-consecutive holes to finish his round with a one-under 71. Vargas made a birdie on the 18th hole to earn his 13th round at even-or-below par this season and also finished with a one-under 71.

After going even through the first nine holes, senior Brett Stegmaier (Madison, Conn.) found himself in trouble with a triple-bogey on the 11th-hole, followed by another bogey on the 12th. In his distinctive cool and collective manner, Stegmaier finished his round strong by carding birdies on the 13th, 16th and 18th holes to finish with a one-over 73.

Freshman Toby Ragland (Jacksonville, Fla.) was the first Gator to tee-off on Wednesday and started the team off on the right note with birdies on the first and ninth holes. Things began to slip away from him on the back-nine, where he bogeyed four holes to finish with a two-over, 74.

“I thought we did fine today,” Alexander said. “It was a decent start. We may not have squeezed as much out of our game as we could have, but what you don’t want to do is play yourself into a big hole. The afternoon session is usually a disadvantage and today it was. You can see some of the better scores were from the earlier round.”

Wake Forest leads the 30-team field with an 11-under score of 277. The Demon Deacons’ Kyle Reifers carded a tournament-low 65 (-7) to top the leader board.

The Gators will again be paired with Arizona State and Texas A&M during the second round on Thursday. Florida is scheduled to begin playing 7:50 a.m. (PT). Live scoring updates can be found at www.golfstat.com.

Team Results

Top 10 Individuals

Florida Results