Florida will take the course at 9:10 a.m. ET tomorrow morning in the first round of competition at Grayhawk Golf Club.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida men’s golf team travels to Scottsdale, Ariz. for the 2021 NCAA Men’s Golf Championships. The tournament is set to begin on Friday, May 28 and continue through Wednesday, June 2. The Gators will begin first round play on at 9:10 a.m. ET off the first hole, with their second-round tee time set for 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday off the tenth hole.
Format: The championship tournament will consist of three rounds of stroke play beginning on Friday, May 28 and finishing on Sunday, May 30. At the conclusion of the three-round stroke play competition, the top 15 teams and nine individuals not on advancing teams will advance to the final day of stroke play on Monday, May 31. These final 18 holes will determine the 72-hole individual champion, as well as the top eight teams that will continue on to match play competition. Quarterfinals and semifinals will be held on Tuesday, June 1, with the finals of match play continuing on Wednesday, June 2 to determine the national champion.
Course Information: The national tournament will be played at Grayhawk Golf Club for the first time in tournament history. The club, which was established in 1994, is known for a mix of risk-reward holes. Grayhawk has a rich history, trailing all the way back to its grand opening in 1994 when the club hosted a pro-am/post-round concert that included notable Arizona State alum and PGA TOUR phenom Phil Mickelson. Designed by former U.S. Open and PGA Champion David Graham, with assistance from architect Gary Panks, Grayhawk is considered one of the most tantalizing tests in the Southwest.
How to Follow: Live scoring is available at GolfStat.com and updates will be provided on Twitter via @GatorsGolf. A complete recap with full results will be posted on FloridaGators.com and Twitter at the conclusion of each day of play. Coverage will also be featured on the Golf Channel, with live footage beginning during the individual national championship stroke play competition on Monday, May 31 from 5-9 p.m. ET. A full schedule of airtime coverage can be found here<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com_2021_05_20_nbc-2Dsports-2Dpresents-2Dnearly-2D30-2Dhours-2Dof-2Dlive-2D2021-2Dncaa-2Dwomens-2Dand-2Dmens-2Dgolf-2Dchampionships-2Dcoverage-2Dover-2Dnext-2Dtwo-2Dweeks-2Don-2Dgolf-2Dchannel_&d=DwIFAg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=mAOiCm4TwWIkPNH-eoTjPaDbURW77_0JX-ojUzbAIwU&s=Ui3nXkMn8AKpkbDw1NZfcFHAGAhHGB0fE4SFojBAYi0&e= >.
Gators’s Lineup
No. 1 – Ricky Castillo
No. 2 – Joe Pagdin
No. 3 – Tyler Wilkes
No. 4 – Giovanni Manzoni
No. 5 – Yuxin Lin
The Field (by seeding)
No. 1 Florida State
No. 2 Oklahoma
No. 3 Oklahoma State
No. 4 Clemson
No. 5 Texas
No. 6 North Carolina
No. 7 Wake Forest
No. 8 Illinois
No. 9 Pepperdine
No. 10 Arizona State
No. 11 Vanderbilt
No. 12 Georgia
No. 13 NC State
No. 14 Tennessee
No. 15 Liberty
No. 16 SMU
No. 17 San Francisco
No. 18 Florida
No. 19 Texas Tech
No. 20 Arkansas
No. 21 San Diego State
No. 22 Georgia Tech
No. 23 Louisville
No. 24 Sam Houston State
No. 25 Oregon State
No. 26 UAB
No. 27 TCU
No. 28 East Tennessee State
No. 29 Little Rock
No. 30 San Diego
Individuals
Ryan Hall (South Carolina)
James Piot (Michigan State)
Michael Sakane (Jacksonville)
Cole Bradley (Purdue)
AJ Ott (Colorado State)
Tristan Mandur (Utah)
Tournament History: Florida is looking to claim its first national title under head coach JC Deacon and the fifth in program history.
The Gators have claimed the championship title in 1968, 1973, 1993 and 2001. Individually, Florida has touted the top finisher twice – Bob Murphy in 1966 and Nick Gilliam in 2001.
Florida has appeared in the NCAA Championship tournament 53 times in program history, tying Stanford for fifth in the nation behind Oklahoma State (72), Texas (65), Southern California (58) and Arizona State (55).
Last Time Out: The Gators headed west to compete in the Cle Elum NCAA Regional, hosted by the University of Washington. After two days of stroke play, Florida headed into the final round in sole possession of eigth place and looking to climb the leaderboard to make the top-five cut.
They did just that.
Ricky Castillo highlighted the Florida lineup, posting two rounds under par through three days to finish the tournament 3-under overall and tied for sixth individually. The sophomore contributed late round heroics in all three rounds, capped off by an outstanding 75-yard putt for birdie in the final round to clinch the Gators spot at the national tournament.
Tyler Wilkes, Gio Manzoni and Yuxin Lin all tied for 22nd individually after finishing the three-day stroke play competition 4-over par.
Joe Pagdin rounded out the Gators lineup, finishing the tournament 7-over par and tied for 39th.
SEC Honors: A trio of Gators received Southeastern Conference honors earlier this month, the league office announced.
Joe Pagdin headlined the group as he was named the SEC Freshman of the Year, while also earning a spot on the All-Freshman Team. Pagdin was astronomical in the Gators success this season. The freshman was a key member in all eight tournament lineups for Florida and recorded the best individual finish three times. Pagdin finished outside of the top-20 only twice in his inaugural season and claimed a team-high three top-10 finishes.
Tyler Wilkes joined Pagdin on the All-Freshman Team after a superb spring season that included three top-20 finishes. Wilkes best finish came at the LSU Invitational, where he shot 5-over par and tied for 15th individually, marking the Gators best individual performance of the tournament and subsequently earning Wilkes his first SEC Freshman of the Week honor.
Ricky Castillo was named a Second-Team All-SEC member after providing stability to the Gators lineup. Touting the lowest scoring average on the team, 71.38, the California native recorded six top-25 finishes. Eleven of his 24 total rounds were either even or under par, including a team-low 64 that he recorded during the third round of play at the Gators Invitational. The Gators would go on to win their home tournament for the second consecutive year.
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