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The Florida Gators men’s golf team played the third round in the NCAA tournament. They started the day off in third place, needing only to place in the top five to advance. Unfortunately, the the squad fell to 8th place after going +24 on the day, and failed to qualify for the championships.
NCAA Tournament Round 3
In the first two rounds, the Florida Gators shot:
- Andy Zhang – 76 in the first round, 73 in the second round
- Alejandro Tosti – 72, 75
- Ryan Orr – 73, 72
- Sam Horsfield – 75 , 70
- Gordon Neale – 72, 72
After the first two rounds, they were in a nice position to move on to the NCAA Championships. In order to move on, the Gators would need to stay in the top 5 teams. Instead, they botched it, shooting:
- Andy Zhang – 74
- Alejandro Tosti – 77
- Ryan Orr – 80
- Sam Horsfield – 81
- Gordon Neale – 86
It was a big collapse for the Orange and Blue. The team shot +24 on the day, shooting a total of +27 on the tournament. On a more positive note, freshman Andy Zhang tallied four birdies in the final round while sophomore Gordon Neale carded three of his own. Florida Senior Ryan Orr played his last match with the Florida Gators men’s golf team today.
Who moved on?
After the third and final round, the top 5 teams moved on. It was an extremely close race for the top 5, and they finished like this:
- UNLV – 872
- Auburn – 875
- Illinois – 878
- New Mexico – 880
- Purdue – 882
Only three strokes separated 1st from 2nd, and 2nd from 3rd. In addition, only five strokes separated 3rd from 5th. While the Florida Gators came in with 891, they were close, but yet so far from qualifying for the NCAA Championships. UNLV took the top spot in the team competition, shooting a final round 299 (+11) to finish at 872 (+8). New Mexico’s Andrej Bevins and Illinois’ Nick Hardy tied for the individual medal, finishing the tournament at 213 (-3).
