Luke Poulter went undefeated in match play and had a team-best T6 performance in stroke play at the East Lake Cup.
ATLANTA – The Florida men’s golf team closed out the fall campaign and its debut at the East Lake Cup on Wednesday, falling 3-2 to Georgia Tech in the match play consolation finals at Atlanta Athletic Club.
It was a rematch of the Gators and Yellow Jackets from last’s spring NCAA Championship Finals with the Georgia Tech taking this one. Since 2022, Florida is 9-3 in match play.
Luke Poulter shined during the week for the Gators. He went undefeated (2-0) in match play this week with a 2&1 victory over Kale Fontenot, the tournament’s individual champion, today. For the second consecutive day he controlled his match and only lost the first two holes before he won four of the next seven holes and did not lose a hole the rest of the match. He only lost four total holes in match play and had a team-best T6 finish in stroke play.
Georgia Tech grabbed two consecutive points and took the lead with a 2&1 victory by Hiroshi Tai over Tyler Wilkes and a 4&2 win from Christo Lamphrect against Ian Gilligan.
Matthew Kress and Bartley Forrester, in the first match off, finished tied through 18 holes. The two went back and forth in the first four holes, each winning two and tying the match. For nine straight holes, they remained tied before Forrester took hole 14. Kress responded with back-to-back wins on 14 and 15 to go 1-up, but a birdie on 18 from Forrester ended the match tied, resulting each team earn half a point.
Trailing by three through 14 holes, Parker Bell battled back and won two straight holes on 15 and 16 en route to teeing off the final hole 1 down. He earned a tie by making birdie on 18 against Carson Kim for another half point for the Gators.
Florida begins the spring portion of the season at Pablo Creek Collegiate vs. Jacksonville University on Jan. 22, 2024.
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