The awards mark the 10th consecutive season Florida has golfers earn recognition.
NORMAN, Okla. – Florida men’s golfers Ian Gilligan and Jack Turner collected PING All-Region honors the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) announced Saturday at the NCAA National Championship.
Through 18 holes, Florida sits in 8th behind a 7-over 295 opening round and is five shots back of leaders Arizona and Virginia. The Gators tee off round two at 10:57 a.m. ET as John DuBois is tied for 3rd behind a bogey-free 3-under 69 and is two shots back of the lead.
The awards mark the 10th consecutive and every season Florida has had golfers earn the recognition under head coach J.C. Deacon. A total of 22 Gators have been selected over the last 10 years and seventh occurrence with two or more selections.
Gilligan earned the accolade for the second-time in his career and Turner his first, adding to a strong freshman season after being named to the All-SEC Freshman Team.
Heading into to the NCAA National Championship:
After transferring from Long Beach State prior to the season, Gilligan has proven he belongs on the big stage and in the SEC. The junior was named to the All-SEC Second Team and two-time SEC Golfer of the Week, and earned GCAA/SWING U Golfer of the Month for February. He was also named to Team USA for the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup. He won his first tournament as a Gator and fifth collegiate at the Southern Highlands Collegiate this spring, earning him an exemption into the PGA Tour’s Shriners Open. In his SEC Championship debut, Gilligan won his quarterfinal matchup in 20 holes vs. Gordon Sargeant of Vanderbilt.
A native of Reno, N.V., Gilligan began the spring portion with finishes of 2-3-1 and a stretch of 12 consecutive rounds of par or better, including six straight in the 60s. In his first Gators Invitational start, he tied the program record for round (by score) with a 62. His stroke average of 70.9 ranks second on the team as he also tied for the team-leading three top-5, five top-10, and leads with 10 top-25 finishes. In 33 rounds this season, 30 have counted, 20 for par or better, 10 in the 60’s, team-highs wtih 124 birdies and six eagles.
Leading Florida in stroke average with a mark of 7065, Turner has put together a strong rookie campaign and was tabbed to the SEC All-Freshman team.
After finishing T78 in his collegiate debut, he has placed T14 or better in six tournaments, including two runner-up finishes and solo third. The Orlando, Fla. native is tied for the team-high in top-10 (5) finishes and par or better tournaments (5). In 23 rounds, 15 have been for par or better. He also is 2-0 in match play.
A two-time SEC Golfer of the Week, the freshman was in the No. 3 spot for the SEC Championship. He recorded a T2 performance, which tied the second-best finish by a Gator true freshman at the SEC Championship with Camilo Villegas, who placed T2 in 2001. He shot an opening round of 2-under 68 and followed up with a bogey-free 5-under 65 in round two to produce a 54-hole score of 204 (-6). In match play vs. Vanderbilt, Turner found himself down two with three holes remaining and brought the match all squared heading to the final hole of regulation and won 1-up over senior Cole Sherwood.
In five of his postseason rounds, five of them have been for under par; 68 (-2), 65 (-5), 70 (-2) and 69 (-3).
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