UF MGOLF | Poulter tied for lead, Gators 9-under with seven shot lead at Bremerton Regional

Luke Poulter (-4) and Matthew Kress (-3) sit T1 and T3 as Florida began NCAA Regional play with a 9-under round one.

BREMERTON, Wash. – The Florida men’s golf team got off to a great start and leads the NCAA Bremerton Regional behind a 9-under opening round as Luke Poulter is tied for the individual lead at 4-under on Monday at Gold Mountain Golf Club.

The Gators 9-under 279 round one is the lowest since they shot 8-under in the final round of the NCAA Bath Regional in 2023 – UF’s SEC and National Championship season. It was Florida’s lowest opening round at regionals since a 12-under mark in 2018 at the Watson Course in Kissimmee, Fla., which was the last time Florida both led after the first 18-holes and won at regionals.

Florida leads by seven shots and will tee off tomorrow at 11 a.m. ET with No. 1 seed Arizona State (-2) and No. 10 seed Kansas State (-2) as after 54-holes, the top-5 teams and low individual on a non-advancing team, earn a spot in the NCAA National Championships at Omni La Costa from May 23-28. In nine regional appearances under head coach J.C. Deacon, Florida has advanced seven times and the last four straight seasons as the current streak began in Cle Elum, Washington in 2021.

Poulter carded a 4-under 68 in his first career round of regional play for his 12th par or better round, seventh in the 60s and second 68 of the postseason (round three of SEC Championship). Tied with Kansas State’s Cooper Schultz, he has one-shot lead over teammate Matthew Kress, who is tied for third at 3-under while he played his seventh career round of regionals and 34th postseason round (stroke and match play combined).

All four counting scores were under-par today for Florida as the top two in the lineup, Ian Gilligan and Jack Turner both made birdie on the 18th for 1-under 71s and are tied for 10th. Gilligan regrouped from 2-over at the turn with a 3-under bogey-free second nine. The non-counting score was from freshman Zack Swanwick (72, +2), who closed strong behind a bogey-free 2-under back nine.

Part of the first wave off, the No. 2 seed Gators got off to a great start, leading at 3-under through 4-7 holes completed and were atop of the leaderboard and under par the whole day on the Olympic Course of Gold Mountain Golf Club.

Poulter kicked off Florida’s surge and 8-under back nine as the redshirt-sophomore made five birdies in the six-hole stretch on holes 6-11 moving him into the solo lead as he won his first collegiate tournament this season at the Schenkel Invitational this spring. Fresh off advancing to final qualifying of the 2025 U.S. Open Championship on Thursday, he logged six birdies (tournament-high) with 10 pars and only two bogeys, which his first didn’t come until his 12th hole. He erased the bogey on the 12th hole with a birdie on the par4 13th.

Kress also made back-to-back birdies at turn like Poulter, who reached one back of his teammate with his fifth birdie of the round on the 16th. Between holes 10-16, Kress went bogey-free 4-under.

Florida entered the clubhouse with a two-shot lead as part of the first wave to finish 18-holes before ending with a seven-shot advantage and 10-shot lead inside the championship cut for round two.

Post Round Quotes – Head Coach J.C. Deacon
On a great start…
“A great start and great trip so far. Just really love this group. They really drive the ball and have the last two days. They have grown a lot this year. Showed a lot of maturity and made a ton of good decisions. We’re excited for the challenge ahead. This is a really hard golf course so to shoot nine-under is a heck of round of golf.”

On Luke Poulter’s play today…
“For Luke the moments never going to get the best of him. He has a great mindset for golf. Where he thinks he belongs, whether he does or not. He is made for this stuff.”

On Matthew Kress’ play today…
“When someone that works as hard as Matthew does, you know at some point is going to figure its self out. He has been putting in a ton of work with Dudley Hart (Associate Head Coach) this year trying to move the ball a little more left to right and getting more comfortable with that. He was behind me today so I got to look back and just to see him hitting those great shots in the big tournament, I am so happy for him. He has put in the work to good use and it’s really rewarding. I am proud of Matthew because I know he wasn’t happy with his performance at the SEC Championship. To get two guys shooting seven under between the them out here is outstanding golf.”
On message to team going into tomorrow…
“Nothing changes for us, it’s the same thing. Have to get up early and be ready to go. Just have to commit to shots. The big thing here is that we have been coaching them since Sahalee (fall opener in Seattle) and Zack Swanwick was reminding me today how firm it was then, which I didn’t remember. So we’ve been preparing for this moment all year from the thinking about the numbers and where to land ball. The firmer this course can get, I think the better it suits our team. There is lots of golf left, but nice to get off to a good start.”

Florida Leaderboard
Place

Name

Rd. 1

Par

Luke Poulter<https://floridagators.com/sports/mens-golf/roster/luke-poulter/16888>

-4

Matthew Kress<https://floridagators.com/sports/mens-golf/roster/matthew-kress/16886>

-3

T10

Ian Gilligan<https://floridagators.com/sports/mens-golf/roster/ian-gilligan/16884>

-1

T10