University of Florida sophomore Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.) shot a final-round 74 (+2) on Sunday to finish in a tie for third at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship, while UF placed 10th as a team with a three-round total of 898 (+34).

“Not exactly what we wanted to see today, but golf is a funny game,” Florida head coach Buddy Alexander said. “There wasn’t a lot of distance between third and ninth heading into the day, and a lot of teams moved right past us. We just need to work on getting back to the way we were playing in the fall.”

Horschel rolled in four birdies on the day to combat a shaky start to the back nine, playing three-under golf over his last seven holes to post a tournament-total of 215 (-1). The third-place tie is the 15th top-10 finish of Horschel’s career, vaulting him into a tie for 10th with former Gator standout Brett Stegmaier for most top-10’s in school history. The finish was also his best since tying for second at the Isleworth Invitational in October, and his one-under performance was Horschel’s best showing in relation to par since winning the Preview Invitational at 203 (-7).

“Billy played a solid round today, save for a triple-bogey on 10 and a double on 11,” Alexander said. “I was proud of the way he battled back from those mishaps and salvaged a good score. Billy’s the guy that makes us go, so it’s good to see him starting to play some solid golf.”

Sophomore Toby Ragland (Jacksonville, Fla.) was also two over on Sunday, finishing the tourney with a score 222 (+6) that landed him in a tie for 23rd. His three birdies on the day were his best 18-hole total of the tournament, and gave him seven holes in red numbers for the weekend.

Junior Manuel Villegas (Medellin, Colombia) birdied three holes on the front nine en route to a six-over day and a three-round total of 234 (+18) that earned him a tie for 69th. Freshman Andres Echavarria (Medellin, Colombia) shot 81 (+9) on Sunday to finish in a tie for 49th with a score of 230 (+14), while freshman Tyson Alexander (Gainesville, Fla.) finished the tournament in 76th place after a final-round 83 (+11) left him at 238 (+22) for the tourney.

“This course is one on which you have to be careful with your shots, and that’s something we didn’t do much of this week,” Alexander said. “We shot a lot of high numbers and had a lot of double and triple-bogeys. The biggest thing right now is to focus on improving the next time out.”

UCLA won the event with a score of 874 (+10), while the Bruins’ Lucas Lee took medalist honors with a three-under tally of 213.

The Gators will be in action again next weekend when they head to Statesboro, Ga., for the Chris Schenkel E-Z Go Invitational. Georgia Southern, Alexander’s alma mater, will host the event at Forest Heights Country Club from March 17-18. Live scoring will be done on the Internet at www.golfstat.com, and can be accessed via www.gatorzone.com.

Final Team Scores

Individual Top-10

Florida Results

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