Florida begins play on Monday at Sherwood Country Club at 12 p.m. ET.
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Dates: Monday, Jan. 27 – Wednesday, Jan. 29
Location: Sherwood CC – Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Host: Pepperdine University
Course Par/Yardage: Par 71, 7081 yards
Format: 18 holes each day
Tee Times: 12 p.m. ET on Monday and TBA on Tuesday & Wednesday
Scoring: Scoreboard <https://scoreboard.clippd.com/tournaments/234021/scoring/participants>
Social Media: Twitter<https://twitter.com/GatorsGolf> | Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/gatorsmgolf/> | Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/GatorsMGolf/>
TEE OFF
The No. 14 Florida men’s golf team begins the spring season on the west coast at the Southwestern Invitational from Jan. 27-29.
LINE UP
No. 1 – Ian Gilligan
No. 2 – Jack Turner
No. 3 – Parker Bell
No. 4 – Luke Poulter
No. 5 – Zack Swanwick
Individual – Matthew Kress
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Florida is making its third total appearance in the tournament and first since 1987. The other lone outing was in 1986, when the Gators placed T3rd.
COMPETING TEAMS (NCAA Rankings as of Nov. 13)
Arizona (No. 11), California, Chattanooga, Duke (No. 24), Florida (No. 14), Pepperdine (No. 19), San Diego State, San Jose State, Texas (No. 5), UCLA (No. 10), UNLV, USC, Vanderbilt (No. 15) and Washington.
FALL RECAP
The Orange and Blue concluded the fall slate finishing top-9 in all four outings, highlighted by winning the Barbara Nicklaus Cup, finishing runner-up at the Sahalee Players Championship and shooting the lowest round of the fall (-11) in the final 18-holes of the first half of the season.
Individually, Ian Gilligan (71.0) and Jack Turner (71.1) paced the Gators in stroke average, top-10 finishes (2) and undefeated (3-0) in match play. Turner finished 4th twice and averaged -0.2 per round and -0.6 per tournament.
PRESEASON RECOGNITION
UF was tabbed No. 8 in the Golf Channel preseason rankings along with Parker Bell and Ian Gilligan named preseason all-americans by the network.
Gilligan also earned a spot on the Haskins Award Fall Watch List and was tabbed No. 8 in the PGA Tour U Rankings to begin the spring season.
NEW GATORS
The Orange and Blue welcomed two new golfers this season in Parker Sands (Edmond, Okla.) and Zack Swanwick (Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand). This summer, Sands won the 2024 Western Junior and the OGA (Oklahoma Golf Association) Junior Championship. Swanwick was the low amateur at the New Zealand Open and placed 3rd at the 2024 Austrian Masters of Amateur.
Recently, Florida announced the addition of transfer Noah Kent from Iowa. He will compete for the Gators starting next fall and is from Naples and played at Gulf Coast Prep.
THE TURN
The Gators host the 48th Gators Invitational Feb. 15-16 at Mark Bostick Golf Course.
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