Fred Biondi tied the tournament record at 196 (-14) as Florida won its third consecutive VyStar Gators Invitational title.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – With Fred Biondi’s family on the course, he gave them a weekend to remember as he helped lead the Florida men’s golf team to its third consecutive Vystar Gators Invitational title on Sunday.
The Gators won the 45th annual event for the 28th time in program history and third under head coach J.C. Deacon as they shot 28-under (812) to win by 12 strokes over No. 3 Oklahoma State.
Biondi finished 14-under at 196 to tie the tournament record while he claimed his first collegiate medalist honor. The record was last set by Camilo Benedetti in 2001 as he tied for second in tournament score and tied third all-time in tournament score by par in three rounds. A native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, he set career bests in low round (63), tournament score and finish on the weekend. Biondi became the 16th UF golfer to be the individual champion at the invite as his birdie on 18th concluded the career outing and brought the crowd at Mark Bostick to their feet.
The 2020’s medalist and owing third all-time tournament score at the Gators Invitational, Ricky Castillo notched runner-up at 10-under behind three rounds in the 60’s on the weekend – 64-68-68. Florida has now had a runner-up in the last three tournaments.
Also in the top-10, Yuxin Lin ended 5-under overall in seventh as Quentin Debove tied his career-best finish at T10 en route to a new career-low tournament score of 208 (-2). Giovanni Manzoni (-1) trailed a stroke back at T13.
Florida’s 812 was the third-lowest score in Gators Invitational history and third in tournament total and seventh in total par (-28) in program history. Florida (B) finished in 5th ahead of both No. 23 LSU and No. 24 Liberty.
The Orange and Blue head out west to the Southern Highlands Invitational from Feb. 27-March 1 in Las Vegas.
Scores
Florida Individual
Florida
Place
Player
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Score
1
63
66
67
196 (-14)
2
64
68
68
200 (-10)
7
68
68
70
206 (-4)
T34
72
71
71
214 (+4)
T38
73
67
75
215 (+5)
Florida (B)
Place
Player
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Score
T10
68
72
68
208 (-2)
T13
71
66
72
209 (-1)
T28
71
69
73
213 (+3)
T44
69
75
73
217 (+7)
T65
76
71
75
222 (+12)
Team Leaderboard
Place
Team
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Score
1
Florida
267
269
276
812 (-28)
2
Oklahoma State
278
271
275
824 (-16)
3
South Florida
280
276
282
838 (-2)
4
Georgia Southern
290
275
274
839 (-1)
5
Florida (B)
279
278
286
843 (+3)
6
FGCU
281
282
281
844 (+4)
7
LSU
281
279
287
847 (+7)
T8
281
287
287
855 (+15)
T8
Penn State
284
286
285
855 (+15)
T10
Florida Atlantic
284
288
284
856 (+16)
T10
West Virginia
289
279
288
856 (+16)
12
Missouri
281
284
292
857 (+17)
13
UCF
283
288
289
860 (+20)
14
UNCW
284
295
289
869 (+29)
15
Liberty
299
286
294
879 (+39)
Quotable
Head Coach J.C. Deacon
On the victory at home…
The fall was really frustrating because I knew how good this team was when we started the year and we just played terribly and it made no sense to me and I was starting to think maybe I’m crazy, and I don’t know what good golf looks like anymore. But I knew we had a really good team. They love this place (Mark Bostick Golf Course). We play a lot of golf here. It’s our home. We’re really proud of it. And the guys stepped up this week is really important to them to protect home turf, and there was some really good teams this week does a quality field and a great Oklahoma State team we played with the last three days so wasn’t easy, but they play great and they deserve this.
On the performance by Fred Biondi…
“Just a dream week for Fred (Biondi). So proud of him. He’s had some ups and downs and had a really close call at the Latin Am a couple weeks ago and he’s just been getting better and better. I’m really, really proud of his development.”
Seeing the team put it all together…
“Yeah, it’s this one’s really really rewarding just because we shot 28 under that’s a really good score on this golf course, as hard as it’s playing. On October 20, we all committed to each other that we were going to work harder than ever this offseason and they did it and it’s just really nice for a coach to have the guys get some results to say, you know, it was worth it. And that doesn’t always happen. But I’m happy for them to win at home and win in front of their families and Gator Nation. So it’s a special win for sure.”
Fred Biondi…
On how it felt to win the individual title…
“Pretty good. I’ve been playing really well lately. A couple good finishes not as good as I wanted last college event but they pretty good at Latin Am now, three weeks ago, and it’s been playing really solid and kind of everything came up together and was good to three together.”
