The University
of Florida men’s golf
team ended their season on Thursday with a third round score of eight-over par
292 at the NCAA Championships. The Gators finished the stroke play portion of
the tournament in 19th place and did not advance to the match play portion of
the event. UF had a three-round total of 889 (+37).
“We gave chase for a while today,” said head coach Buddy
Alexander. “We played pretty well for about 12 holes. We started on the easy
nine and needed to have a great start and we did, then the wheels kind of came
off at the end of the day when we got to the really hard stretch of holes. We
ran into a wall at the end of the round, and it was an unfortunate way to end
the season.”
Three seniors ended their career at Florida on Thursday. Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.)
ended his collegiate career with a three-day total of 217 (+4) after a final
round 73 (+2), tying for 27th place. Will Strickler (Charlottesville, Va.)
shot a third-round 75 (+4) and finished at 13-over par 226. Toby Ragland (Jacksonville, Fla.)
had his best round of the week with a three-over score of 74. He totaled 232
(+19) for the tournament. Strickler tied for 96th and Ragland finished in a tie
for 136th.
“It was obviously not the season ending performance that
we wanted,” said Coach Alexander. “I'm proud of these guys, especially the
three seniors in this group that we'll miss. It was a lot of fun to have them.
They're great kids, and I’ll hurt for them and I just wish we'd have had a
little more success for them, because they've worked hard.”
A pair of juniors rounded out the scoring for UF, as Tyson
Alexander (Gainesville, Fla.) had the team’s best round of the
day with a one-over par 72. Tim McKenney (Scottsdale, Ariz.)
shot two-over par 73. Alexander totaled 224 (+11) for the tournament and tied
for 79th while McKenney was just one shot behind at 225 (+12), in a tie for
89th.
The top eight teams in the standings were finalized on
Thursday and the quarterfinals of match play are set for Friday. Oklahoma State
earned the No. 1 seed by virtue of its three-under par 849 (288-280-281) and will
face No. 8 seed Georgia
in the first pairing. The other quarterfinal pairings will be No. 4 Arkansas
vs. No. 5 Washington, No. 2 Arizona State vs. No. 7 Texas A&M
and No. 3 Southern Cal vs. No. 6 Michigan.
The match-play format is new this year with previous
winners being determined by 72 holes of stroke play. The first team to win
three of five matches will advance to the semifinals. The semifinals are slated
to begin at 2:00 p.m. with the championship being held on Saturday at 10:00
a.m.
North Carolina State sophomore Matt Hill captured
medalist honors with a six-under par 207 and carded two-under par 69s in each
of his three rounds. It was his eighth tournament title of the year.
Team Results
1. Oklahoma
State 288-280-281=849
(-3)
2. Arizona
State 294-281-287=862
(+10)
T3. Southern Cal
305-281-279=865 (+13)
T3. Arkansas
297-283-285=865 (+13)
T3. Washington
293-286-286=865 (+13)
6. Michigan
296-285-287=868 (+16)
T7. Texas
A&M 298-276-295=869 (+17)
T7. Georgia
288-285-296=869 (+17)
9. TCU 299-285-289=873 (+21)
T10. Georgia Tech 301-285-288=874 (+22)
T10. UCF 300-283-291=874 (+22)
12. Tennessee
294-289-292=875 (+23)
13. San Diego
293-293-291=877 (+25)
14. Duke 297-285-296=878 (+26)
15. Alabama
298-288-293=879 (+27)
16. South
Carolina 305-286-294=885 (+33)
17. Iowa 301-296-290=887 (+35)
18. Chattanooga
292-297-299=888 (+36)
19. Florida
310-287-293=890 (+38)
20. Stanford 305-298-288=891 (+39)
21. Illinois
299-291-302=892 (+40)
22. Oregon
306-293-297=896 (+44)
T23. Texas
Tech 303-292-305=900 (+48)
T23. UCLA 306-295-299=900 (+48)
25. Ohio
State 294-310-297=901
(+49)
26. Texas
308-300-295=903 (+51)
T27. Wake
Forest 302-304-298=904
(+52)
T27. Virginia
306-297-301=904 (+52)
29. Northwestern 298-304-306=908 (+56)
30. Arizona
310-302-297=909 (+57)
Top 10 Individuals
1. Matt Hill (N.C.
State) 69-69-69=207 (-6)
2. Kyle Stanley (Clemson) 72-71-66=209 (-4)
T3. Rickie Fowler (Okla. State)
72-70-68=210 (-3)
T3. Tom Glissmeyer 74-70-66=210 (-3)
T3. Tom Hoge (TCU) 70-70-70=210 (-3)
6. Alexander Sitompul (Michigan) 72-69-70=211 (-2)
T7. Blayne Barber (UCF) 75-69-68=212 (-1)
T7. Morgan Hoffman (Okla. State)
72-69-71=212 (-1)
T9. Brian Harman (Georgia) 71-71-71=213 (E)
T9. Russell Henley (Georgia) 71-67-75=213 (E)
T9. Jesper Kennegard (Ariz. State)
72-69-72=213 (E)
T9. Nick Taylor (Washington)
70-70-73=213 (E)
Florida Results
T27. Billy Horschel 76-68-73=217 (+4)
T79. Tyson Alexander 77-75-72=224 (+11)
T89. Tim McKenney 80-72-73=225 (+12)
T96. Will Strickler 79-72-75=226 (+13)
T136. Toby Ragland 78-80-74=232 (+19)
-UF-
