Florida won the 48th Gators Invitational for the sixth consecutive year and 31st overall with Ian Gilligan securing medalist honors in a two-hole playoff.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – It was a sweep in the 48th Gators Invitational for the No. 13 Florida men’s golf team, winning the home tournament for the sixth consecutive year and Ian Gilligan securing medalist honors in a two-hole playoff on Sunday.
The victory was the 31st overall and 16th sweep (team and individual title) at the home tournament as Florida has now claimed 29 tournament titles under head coach J.C. Deacon in 11 seasons. This is the seventh season under Deacon UF has won multiple tournaments in a year. Gilligan’s medalist honors total 23 all-time under Deacon at Florida and at least one in the last four consecutive seasons.
Florida’s lineup this weekend featured four underclassmen: Jack Turner (Soph.), Luke Poulter (Soph.), Rylan Shim (R-Fr.) and Parker Sands (Fr.). The last time UF had at least four underclassmen in the lineup for the Gators Invitational was in 2021: Fred Biondi (R-Soph.), Ricky Castillo (Soph.), Yuxin Lin (Soph.), Joe Pagdin (Fr.) and Tyler Wilkes (Fr.).
The team and individual results came down in dramatic fashion in the final round at Mark Bostick Golf Course. Florida entered the day with a two-shot lead and battled back multiple times to edge No. 7 Oklahoma State, who finished second at 16-under.
After a string of birdies on nine tied the Gators and Cowboys, UF quickly found itself three strokes behind on holes 9-12 before Gilligan’s birdies on 11 and 12 squared the two teams at 18-under. Florida grabbed a one-shot lead with clutch birdies at the end from Luke Poulter on 16 and Rylan Shim at 17.
With the team title coming down to the wire, play was delayed for an hour-and-six minutes as it poured with winds up to 20 mph and gusts of 40 as Poulter was on 18 and Gilligan at 17. Play resumed with a light drizzle as Poulter closed with an important par for an even-par 70 and T6 finish at 3-under overall while Gilligan closed with back-to-back pars to clinch the team title and second tournament title of the season.
Tied at 8-under through 54-holes with Charlotte’s Justin Matthews, Gilligan and he went to a playoff for medalist honors as both made par on the first playoff hole on 18. Gilligan won his sixth collegiate event and second as a Gator behind his par on the second playoff hole (hole one) as Matthews went bogey. Gilligan finished with a 54-hole score of 8-under 202 with all three rounds in the 60s (66-67-69). The senior closed his six career rounds at the Gators Invitational all under-par and a cumulative tournament score of 18-under and finishes of 1st & 3rd.
Two other Gators placed T6 at 3-under 207 in Matthew Kress and Jack Turner. Kress, competing as an individual, recorded a career-low round 4-under 66 in round three, highlighted by his eagle on the par4 17th (336 yards). Turner shot a final 18-holes of 2-under 68 for this team-best ninth round of par or better.
Rounding out the lineup, freshman Parker Sands (+7) tied for 38th and Shim (+4) T26 with a strong final round of 1-over 71. Playing as individuals, Ryan Hart (+5) tied for 32nd with both Parker Bell and Zack Swanwick in T38.
Florida heads to the Southern Highlands Collegiate from March 2-4 as Ian Gilligan will defend his individual title, he won there last season.
Quotable
Head Coach J.C. Deacon
On what went right and how to keep the momentum…
“We’ve got a really good team. I’ve been doing this long enough now to know what a good team looks like. We just hadn’t put all five guys playing well at the same time together. When you have a leader like Ian Gilligan, who’s just consistently playing at a high-level week in and week out then Jack Turner is starting to do the same thing, we got a really nice top-3. Rylan [Shim] and Parker Sands chipped in the four and five this week so kind of a team effort which we hadn’t had yet this year. It’s just huge for us to get a W and always a little more special to do it at home.”
On the underclassmen, specifically Luke Poulter…
“Luke [Poulter], he’s kind of a veteran because this is his third year at Florida and he knows the ins and outs, but he just hasn’t played a lot. He is really special. I am so excited about him, his ball striking and his composure. The big moment he had there on 18, he had to get down in three from 227 yards and just took the most beautiful five iron in there and then two-putted. He’s just mentally [there], which is such a big deal in golf and he knows he’s really good. He’s got the swagger, and we need that.”
On Ian Gilligan and his playoff win…
“Well, he had to hit his drive in the pouring rain. It was left, and he didn’t like it very much. He had 220 or 227 to the flag, which makes that hole play so long up the hill and with the cold and rain. He just hit a beautiful five iron right at the flag, came up a little short and then lagged it up there to about a foot. He made it really easy on himself, but being able to hit that five iron in that moment when he knew the tournament was on the line, I think that says a lot about how much he believes in himself. I got to walk 36-holes with him two weeks ago in California and he is looking like a super star. He’s got a chance to be really, really special. He’s got it all.”
On being tested by the weather delay…
“With that and how tight the leaderboard was and having to play Oklahoma State was gonna be a great test for us, and then you add the weather on top of that. It was what our team needed, just the challenge of it all and they were up for it and came out on top by one. Then Ian [Gilligan] gets it done in the playoff. That was pretty much a dream Sunday for the Gators.”
Ian Gilligan
On the last playoff hole…
“Coach [Deacon] and I were talking about strategy and to that pin it’s pretty tough so I just tried to hit something in the fairways so I could get some spin. Justin [Matthews] hit a pretty good shot in there to probably fifteen feet and then he hit it down just off the back where it’s a really hard to put. So I felt like I was in a pretty good spot, and you know he [Justin] three putted and I just kind of lagged it up there.”
On his mentality in the playoff…
“Yeah we had the delay, and I still had two holes to go in regulation so I knew we were tied. So I had to make a birdie to win it [the individual titile] and on the 18th I made par, I had a bad three put on 17 for par but on 18 it was playing super hard because the rain started picking up again. To make a par I was really happy with that and then got into the playoff, but not too much changed. Just try and grind and it was playing much harder so just pars are going to be good.”
On the team’s performance…
“We knew Oklahoma State was definitely the best team that was also going to be here and we didn’t want to lose on our home turf. So it was really close for a while there and obviously super stoked that the guys were able to come through when we needed it and got it done on our home soil.”
On if there was a difference for the team today…
“No, I don’t think so. I think we definitely knew we hadn’t all played out best at the same time, and I feel like we still haven’t. The good thing about team golf is even if someone who is in the starting five has a bad first or second round they always can count if they have a good last round so everyone was really trying their hardest obviously to try and get a good round in and I know the conditions made it tricky with the wind and the rain but the guys grinded it out and were able to edge Oklahoma State.”
On him and JC in California…
“Yeah we worked together, I don’t think he walked with me but he was there with me in the practice round and we’ve been working together in practice a lot. But yeah we’ve had some good practice sessions for sure.”
On if he thought close to a victory before the weekend…
“Yeah for sure, I played well in our tournament two weeks ago in California. I got second and barely missed a put on the last. I felt like my game has still been pretty good. Going into this weekend, obviously everyone knows the course really well, so I just knew to just try and avoid some big mistakes and just play my game and I’ll be in a good spot.”
On if his wins build confidence or add pressure…
“I think it’s a bit of both. Obviously when you’re kind of a bigger name in golf, an amateur or whatever, there’s definitely going to be more eyes on you. I think you can kind of take it two ways but I think its definitely something that I embrace and excited to just go out and keep proving that I’m one of the best players and obviously want the team to keep getting better because nationals and SECs is obviously are goals as a team and i think we have a great chance. Just gotta keep improving, and the focus is to keep getting better and see where it takes us.”
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