DuBois Shoots Bogey-Free 3-under, Gators in 8th Five Back of Lead at NCAAs
In his 10th career round at the NCAA National Championship, John DuBois is tied for 3rd after his fifth career round of par or better and is two strokes back of the lead.
CARLSBAD, Calif. – Florida men’s golfer John DuBois is made for the postseason, turning in bogey-free 3-under 69 in the opening round of the NCAA National Championship on Friday. The Gators are in 8th and five back of the lead at Omni La Costa.
UF owned an opening round of 295 (+7) and are set to tee off round two tomorrow at 10:57 a.m. ET. Among the final 30 teams competing, the best score sits at 2-over with Arizona and Virginia sharing the lead after 18 holes as the average score today was a 75.84. Six shots separate the next nine teams heading into moving day tomorrow. Following round three of stroke play on Sunday, the top-15 teams will advance to the final round of stroke play to crown and individual champion. After round four stroke play, the top-8 advance to match play.
Playing in his 10th career round at the NCAAs, DuBois recorded his fifth round of par or better and his 15th in 25 stroke play postseason rounds, which includes the SEC Championship, NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships. The 5th-year senior is tied for 3rd and two shots back of leader Hiroshi Tai (-5) of Georgia Tech. DuBois carded three birdies in his round and nearly knocked a hole-in-one on the par-3 16th (162 yards), which plays over water and had an average of +0.31. His birdie was only the seventh today on the hole to total his career 346th birdie in 121 rounds played for the Orange and Blue. The 2022 SEC Individual Champion, was one of 12 golfers to shoot under par in round one.
Continuing to shine in his first postseason, freshman Jack Turner had a strong round of 1-over 73 to sit T25. He battled back after a rough start of +4 (bogey-double-bogey) in his first three holes. The Orlando, Fla. native found his stride and went 3-under over the next 15 holes. He had an eight-hole stretch (holes 4-11) of six consecutive pars followed by birdie-eagle. The eagle was one of four total in round one and Turner’s second of the season.
Fresh off qualifying for the U.S. Open via a seven-man playoff to start the week in Dallas, Parker Bell closed strong in his first taste of the NCAA Championship with a birdie on 18 for a 3-over 75. His birdie on hole 6 (par-5, 581) was part of an 8-under stretch from holes 6-11 by all five golfers that had Florida tied for first with Arizona (T1) and Illinois (T5), who the Gators are paired with in the first two rounds.
The final counting round was from Ian Gilligan with a 6-over 79 followed by Matthew Kress at a 9-over 81.
Quotes – John DuBois
On how experience at the NCAA National Championship helped coming in…
“I love playing the big events and coming to the big tournaments. I’ve been feeling prepared for a while now and results haven’t been showing, so it was a good day today. A nice start at three under. Just looking to carry that momentum into the rest of the week.”
On the course today…
“Overall, it’s a really good challenge. The greens are nice and firm. It’s in perfect condition. Everything is just immaculate, obviously, being the first ones out in the course to play that’s pretty nice. There’s not a whole lot of divots or pitch marks on the greens so it’s a really good challenge. The wind is kind of blowing pretty good probably 10 to 15 today.”
On afternoon tee time made a difference on how the course played if that played a factor…
“It’s hard to tell. I would say that the with the mist we had and the little rain probably softened up the greens. Course conditions were slightly softer. Then the afternoon definitely started to get more release on those shots in the back nine last couple of holes. Definitely helps a little bit to have a little bit of wetter conditions and softer conditions so it makes scoring slightly easier.”
On you feel momentum coming into another championship…
“I think there’s definitely momentum. I think there’s a there’s a target on your back being the reigning national champions. You can take that how you want and I think it’s great for us. I think we have a young team, we have a different lineup and these guys are capable of playing some really solid rounds. I haven’t looked at the results yet so I’ll see how they how they did. But yeah, it’s fun to try to go win another one.”
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