The Gators earned the No. 3 seed in back-to-back years and face the Rebels tomorrow at 8:20 a.m.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The Florida men’s golf team finished third in the stroke play of the SEC Championship on Friday, advancing to the match play portion over the weekend.
Florida will take on No. 6 Ole Miss in the quarterfinals tomorrow at 8:20 a.m. with the winner facing either No. 2 Texas A&M or No. 7 Missouri in the semifinals that afternoon, which will be broadcasted live on SECN+.
The Gators made match play for the second straight season since the format was added in 2017 and own a 4-3 record all-time, including a 1-0 record against the Rebels. The two faced off in the quarterfinals in 2018, where Florida won 3-2.
UF earned the No. 3 seed for the second straight season and placed 9-under with the three golfers in the top-20. Tennessee won the stroke play segment with a score of 14-under behind a final round of -8.
Paired with Alabama and stroke-play runner Texas A&M today, the Gators battled with the Tide for the No. 3 seed to the very last hole as Bama dropped to No. 5 and will face Vanderbilt in its quarterfinals match.
The west coast duo of Ricky Castillo and Matthew Kress led Florida for the second straight day. Kress started the final round with birdie-birdie as the latter was a chip-in on two (par-4, 415). After a bogey on four, he was bogey-free the rest of the way to card a 1-under 69 to finish T19. He wrapped up his postseason debut tying his career-best tournament score (210) and a new career-low in round (67).
Playing in his third conference tournament for the program, Castillo owned a team-best finish of T8. Last year he placed T5 and T12 the year prior. He made 12 birdies in 54 holes, which ranked fourth among the field. He made a big pair on 15 (par-5, 565) and 16 (par-4, 407) to keep the Gators in the hunt for the three-seed. The senior posted his fourth career round in the 60s at the conference tournament with a 68 (-2).
With the No. 3 seed on the line on 18 green, a hole that Florida was +8 on, Fred Biondi was clutch again. He made a big par putt that stopped the Gators skid in round one as he recorded three pars on one the hardest holes at Seaside. His approach setup a two putt for par to clinch the spot over the Crimson Tide. Biondi finished tied for 28th.
Turning in another strong round of 70 (E) was last year’s SEC Individual Champion, John DuBois. He didn’t record a round over par in stroke play with rounds of 69-70-70. The senior climbed the leaderboard on the final day for a T16 performance.
Four of the five Gators in the lineup tomorrow appeared in match play last year and all won at least two matches, highlighted by undefeated records from Biondi and Castillo.
The match play finals are scheduled for 8 a.m. on Sunday and will air live on SEC Network with Gator Great and former UF golfer Steve Melnyk on the call.
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