Biondi’s Win Leads Gator Golf to Victory at Augusta Haskins Invitational

The Florida men’s golf team claimed victory at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational, and Gator senior Fred Biondi finished at the top of the individual leaderboard. The win marks the team’s fourth victory this season, and Biondi’s second win this season (fourth in his college career).

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The competition, which was 36 holes on Saturday and 18 holes on Sunday, garnered 15 teams from around the nation. The invitational was the final regular season event of the season for Florida. Now, they enter the SEC Championship beginning April 19 on a wave of confidence.

Final Team Leaderboard

1. Florida, -39 (825)
2. Illinois, -27 (837)
3. Virginia, -24 (840)
4. East Tennessee State, -15 (849)
5. Oklahoma State, -14 (850)
6. Texas, -13 (851)
7. UCF, -11 (853)
8. Georgia Southern, +4 (868)
9. Augusta, +7 (871)
10. Virginia Tech, +16 (880)
11. College of Charleston, +18 (882)
12. Notre Dame, +19 (883)
13. South Carolina, +24 (888)
14. Kennesaw State, +41 (905)
15. Air Force, +69 (933)

Florida entered the contest ranked 12th in the nation (Golfstat), while Illinois entered ranked sixth, Oklahoma State 18th and Virginia 22nd. After round one, Florida trailed Virginia by a stroke, but a poor second round by the Cavaliers gave Florida the lead following the first 36 holes.

Florida entered the final round of play with a five shot lead. At one point, Illinois was just five strokes behind in the final round, but a few birdies before the turn for the Gators led them to another victory.

Gators Leaderboard

• Fred Biondi, 1st overall, -15 (201)
• Ricky Castillo, 5th overall, -10 (206)
• Yuxin Lin, 6th overall, -9 (207)
• John DuBois, T16 overall, -3 (213)
• Matthew Kress, T23 overall, -1 (215)

The entire Florida squad had a great showing, as the whole team finished under par. Biondi made a great bounce back after a poor display at the Southern Highlands Collegiate in late February. He started the final round two strokes out of the lead but proceeded to shoot back-to-back birdies on 8 and 9, and then made four birdies on the back nine. He ended the day shooting a bogey-free -7 (67), pushing him two strokes in front of Illinois’ Adrien Dumont de Chassart. Biondi’s leaderboard-topping finish awarded him a spot into the PGA Tour’s 2023 3M Open Championship.

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The all-senior lineup (outside of redshirt freshman Kress) all finished in the top 25, and Lin and Castillo shot a final round of -2 (70). The victory marked head coach J.C. Deacon’s 19th win at the helm for Florida.