Florida Men’s Golf Wins 2024 Gators Invitational

The Florida men’s golf won the 2024 Gators Invitational on Saturday at Mark Bostick Golf Course. The Gators shot 26-under, good for its lowest score by par at the Gators Invitational in program history.

Florida also had a B team, which shot 23-under, but it wasn’t eligible to place, leaving North Florida to finish in second place at 13-under.

Saturday also marked Florida’s third consecutive win to start the spring and fifth consecutive win at the Gators Invitational.

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Gators Dominate Leaderboard

Seven Gators finished in the top 12 and nine in the top 25 on the leaderboard.

Junior Ian Gilligan led the way for Florida, claiming the highest finish on the team in solo third. Redshirt junior Joe Pagdin (T-6), sophomore Matthew Kress (T-11) and seniors Tyler Wilkes (T-18) and Quentin Debove (T-21) rounded out the rest of the starting five for the Gators.

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Gilligan Shoots 1-Under After Historic Round

Gilligan held the individual lead through 36 holes at 9-under, behind a 62 in round 2 to tie a program record.

He got off to a slow start Saturday, sitting at 1-over after four holes played, but Gilligan got things going with birdies on holes 5, 7 and 8 to get him up to 11-under for the tournament. However, Gilligan’s birdie run ended on the 9th hole with a bogey to put him at 10-under overall going into the back nine.

He then dropped another stroke on the 11th hole with a bogey to put him at 9-under, but Gilligan parred six of his last seven holes along with a birdie on hole 14 to finish 10-under.

It wasn’t enough to retain his 36-hole lead, however, as North Florida’s Nick Gabrelcik (-13) and Andrew Riley (-12) shot 6-under and 4-under in round 3, respectively, to claim first and second place.

The “B” Team

Sophomore Parker Bell (-5), freshmen Jack Turner (-5) and redshirt junior Ryan Hart (-4) led the way for the Gators’ B team, which finished just three shots behind the A team over the 54-hole tournament. Bell, Turner and Hart all finished top 10 on the leaderboard with Bell and Turner finishing T-5 and Hart finishing 10th.

Redshirt freshmen Luke Poulter (T-11) finished just outside the top 10, shooting 2-under along with Matthew Kress. Meanwhile, fifth-year John DuBois (T-27) shot 2-over for the tournament.

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Florida will have an opportunity to win its fourth straight tournament this spring at the Southern Highlands Collegiate in Las Vegas from Feb. 25-27.