All three Florida golfers are in the top-12 after day one of the Duke Coca-Cola Individual Collegiate in Durham, N.C. Junior Tim McKenney (Scottsdale, Ariz.) shot a pair of one-over par 72s and is in a three-way tie for third place after 36-holes.

Fellow junior Chappell Brown (West Palm Beach, Fla.) got off to a rough start with a five-over par 76 in the first round, but he fought back hard and shot a one-under 70 in the second round to move into a tie for ninth heading into the final round.

Sophomore Bank Vongvanij (Bradenton, Fla.) carded rounds of 74 (+3) and 73 (+2) on the first day and is tied for 12th.

“The guys hung in there today,” said assistant golf coach Steve Bradley. “They got off to a rough start, but once they warmed up a little bit and got comfortable they played pretty well.”

The tournament started with an 8:00 a.m. shotgun start. All three UF golfers had to play the hardest stretch of the course, holes 13-18, right off the bat. Combined, the three golfers had 10 bogeys through that stretch of holes during the first round. As the day warmed up so did the Gators, as all three climbed up the leaderboard and got in position to finish in the top-10 heading into Tuesday’s final round.

“Chappell played really well over the last 12 holes (in the second round),” said Bradley. “Bank got off to a rough start, but hung in there. Tim played the most consistent in both rounds and he’s in real good shape for tomorrow.”

Vanderbilt’s John Ebert is on top of the leaderboard at two-under par 140 for the tournament. Chase McFarland, from North Carolina, is in second at even-par 142.

The final round will be played Tuesday morning with tee times beginning at 8:00 a.m. Live stats can be found at GolfStat.com.

Florida Results

T3. Tim McKenney    72-72=144 (+2)

T9. Chappell Brown   76-70=146 (+4)

T12. Bank Vongvanij 74-73=147 (+5)

-UF-