Florida Men’s Golf Out To Defend SEC Tournament Title

The 2023 SEC and national champion Florida Gators men’s golf team will look to defend their conference title at the SEC Championships. Florida is ranked No. 15 in the country.

Their SEC Championship lineup is set with Ian Gilligan at No. 1, Matthew Kress at No. 2, Jack Turner No. 3, Parker Bell No. 4, Tyler Wilkes No. 5 and Luke Poulter as the alternate.

Regular Season

The Gators didn’t have the best fall season but have turned things around this spring season. The core of their lineup from last year, which featured three All-Americans graduated, so not many expected the Gators to have similar success this year. However, they had six tournament wins for the second straight year, two of which came back-to-back at the Schenkel Invitational and Calusa Cup to finish the year.

They also had two solo victories from Matthew Kress at Georgetown back in October, and Ian Gilligan at Southern Highlands in February.

JC Deacon on the Team

Head coach JC Deacon talked about how he would have never predicted this of his team back in August. He said the work ethic of this team has been different from any other team he has had.

Deacon also went on to talk about how freshman Jack Turner had to earn his spot in the lineup. Notably, Turner finished in third place individually at The Calusa Cup in early April. He went on to say that Turner has one of the best swings he has ever coached.

Deacon discussed how the SEC Championships are his favorite tournament of the year and the conference is one of the best in golf. Nine SEC teams are ranked in the Top 25. Auburn leads the way at No. 1 with Vanderbilt right behind the Tigers. No. 5 Ole Miss, No. 7 Tennessee and No. 9 Alabama round out the SEC teams in the top 10. Arkansas, Florida, Texas A&M and Georgia are the remaining four teams in the top 25.

SEC Championship Schedule

The Gators will tee off Wednesday morning with the first of three rounds of stroke play. After the conclusion of stroke play on Friday, the top eight teams will advance to single-elimination match play. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be Saturday, with the championship taking place on Sunday.

Florida will look to claim back-to-back SEC titles for the first time since 1993 and 1994.

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