Florida and Vanderbilt face each other for the third consecutive season in match play at the SEC Championship.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The Florida men’s golf secured a spot in the SEC Championship Quarterfinals for the third consecutive season after finishing sixth at 10-under in the stroke play portion on Friday.
UF was led by true freshman Jack Turner, who posted a team-best T2 finish in his first conference tournament start. The performance ties the second-best finish from a Gator a true freshman at the SEC Championship with Camilo Villegas being the last in 2001. That year the Gators won the SEC and National Team and Individual Championships just like a season ago.
Vanderbilt and Florida will meet for the fourth time and third straight season at the SEC Championship. The two have met in the last two finals, splitting with the Gators winning 3-1-1 last season. This will be the first time the two met in the quarterfinals as the previous was in the semifinals in 2017 (first-year of match play) when Vanderbilt won 3-2.
Matthew Kress and Tyler Wilkes both enter with experience against Vandy in match play at SECs. Kress won 5&4 over Matthew Riedel last season as he went undefeated in match play (3-0) and clinched both the quarterfinals and semifinals. Wilkes dropped his lone match 2-Up to Reid Davenport in 2022. Out of the five competing for Vanderbilt tomorrow, four were in the lineup last year and three the season prior against the Gators.
The winner will take on either Tennessee or Texas A&M in the semifinals at 2 p.m. tomorrow with coverage on SEC Network+ starting at 4 p.m.
Turner teed off the round one back of eventual champion Jackson Koivun, a fellow freshman, who would go on to finish 12-under. Turner shot a final round of 71 (+1) for a career-best 54-hole score of 204 (-6). The finish tied his career-best as well and his round two of 65 (-5) was a new career-low for the Orlando native.
Florida had a final round of 281 (+1) to produce a team score of 830 (-10) and finish in 6th, their best stroke play score since a mark of 828 (-12) in 2022. The eight teams reaching match play are by seed; No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 Vanderbilt, No. 4 Georgia No. 5 Arkansas, No. 6 Florida, No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 8 Alabama.
Recording a top-25 in his SECs debut was sophomore Parker Bell. He carded his second under par round of the week with a 1-under 69 to finish even par (210) for the stroke play segment. Bell made three straight birdies to make the turn and battled out a trouble after a double-bogey and two bogeys in his next four holes with a big birdie putt on 18.
Finishing a shot back of one another featured Ian Gilligan in T30 at 1-over with Matthew Kress and Tyler Wilkes tied for 36th at 2-over.
SEC Quarterfinals vs. Vanderbilt Matches:
Jack Turner vs. Cole Sherwood – 8:20 a.m.
Ian Gilligan vs. Gordon Sargent – 8:30 a.m.
Parker Bell vs. Jackson Van Paris – 8:40 a.m.
Tyler Wilkes vs. Matthew Riedel – 8:50 a.m.
Matthew Kress vs. William Moll – 9 a.m.
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