Fred Biondi won his second tournament of the spring as Florida took second at the Calusa Cup.
NAPLES, Fla. – Fred Biondi won his second event of the spring as the Florida men’s golf team finished second in the regular season finale at the Calusa Cup on Tuesday.
The finish also marked the Gators sixth consecutive top-5 finish this year as No. 11 Georgia Tech won the event by eight strokes. All five in the lineup placed in the top-25 in a field that featured seven of the top-25 teams in the nation.
Biondi (-5) began his round with five birdies through the first eight holes and finished 4-under on the front as his final birdie on 18 tied him with Georgia Tech’s Bartley Forrester for individual honors. He posted his eighth round in the 60s as the last Gator to win two events in a season was Ricky Castillo in 2020. Biondi’s last four outings include two first-place finishes, a runner-up and a T7.
Also in the top-10, Castillo shot a 215 (-1) for the event to end 7th overall. He rebounded in the spring with all five performances in the top-25 or better.
An eagle on 13 followed by a birdie from Tyler Wilkes moved to T13 behind his second under-par round 71 (-1) at Calusa Pines Golf Club. The member of the SEC All-Freshman team last year, he was only two strokes away from his career best finish (T10) he set at the Sea Best Invitational this spring.
John DuBois (T19) and Yuxin Lin (T25) ended in a few strokes of one another to round out the UF lineup.
The Orange and Blue now gear up for post-season at the SEC Championship (April 20-24) at St. Simons Island.
Quotable
Head Coach J.C. Deacon<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_coaches.aspx-3Frc-3D1360&d=DwIGaQ&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=WeAOXFwSrSNEoEi9lTfStcG75wd1bboBoBpPEyZszRbsjvYl-lme3kOLfv-Sbz0N&s=671zb7StkljEitI3sQVx_s8MJC3fktGKbvjNkBcC7GM&e= >
On the Calusa Cup…
“Thank you to Iowa for hosting and everyone at Calusa Pines for putting on a great golf tournament. A top ranked field on a golf course that challenges every aspect of your game. Can’t ask for more than that. Congratulations to Georgia Tech who was able to hold us off this afternoon.”
On the team’s performance…
“At the end of the tournament you look back and see all the great teams we beat and you have to be happy with it. We had an unusual week as we played probably our best round of the semester in round one and maybe our worst of the semester in round two. Bouncing back in round three and posting the low round of the day was absolutely huge for us. I’m really proud of that. Tells me everything I need to know about our guys.”
On Fred Biondi’s<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_roster.aspx-3Frp-5Fid-3D14517&d=DwIGaQ&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=WeAOXFwSrSNEoEi9lTfStcG75wd1bboBoBpPEyZszRbsjvYl-lme3kOLfv-Sbz0N&s=vvB6LWRCOdmnrDW1kFGOiQJz2oq88VfokF_Enl_uob8&e= > outing…
“Congratulations to Fred Biondi<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_roster.aspx-3Frp-5Fid-3D14517&d=DwIGaQ&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=WeAOXFwSrSNEoEi9lTfStcG75wd1bboBoBpPEyZszRbsjvYl-lme3kOLfv-Sbz0N&s=vvB6LWRCOdmnrDW1kFGOiQJz2oq88VfokF_Enl_uob8&e= >. Our star Junior who picked up his 2nd win of the season. He’s so hungry to learn every day and that mastery mindset is paying off for him. He won without his best stuff this week and that’s incredibly impressive against that field. Go Gators!”
Scores
Florida Individual
Place
Player
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Score
T1
69
74
68
211 (-5)
7
65
75
75
215 (-1)
T13
70
78
71
219 (+3)
T19
72
76
74
222 (+6)
T25
73
75
76
224 9+8)
Team Leaderboard
Place
Team
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Score
1
Georgia Tech
281
285
290
856 (-8)
2
Florida
276
300
288
864 €
3
Wake Forest
285
283
300
868 (+4)
4
Oklahoma
290
296
295
881 (+17)
5
Purdue
290
302
290
882 (+18)
T6
Georgia
287
303
298
888 (+24)
T6
Clemson
296
293
299
888 (+24)
T8
Iowa
296
297
304
897 (+33)
T8
Marquette
292
310
295
897 (+33)
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