Florida Gators
NCAA Regionals
No. 1 Men's Golf In First After Day 1 At East Regionals
Friday, May 21, 2004 | Men's Golf
Senior Camilo Villegas (Medellin, Colombia) fired a two-under 68 to lead the No. 1 ranked Florida men's golf team to a one-shot lead after the first round at the 2004 NCAA East Region Championships on Thursday at Yale Golf Course.
Florida shot a first-round score of 286 (+6) to lead the field of 27 teams, which features 11 of the top 30 ranked squads in the nation. Georgia was behind the Gators in second at 287 (+7), followed by Clemson and Georgia State in a tie for third at 288 (+8). The top 10 teams from each of the three regionals along with the top two players from each regional not on an advancing team will play in the NCAA Championships June 1-4 in Hot Springs, Va. Florida, looking to tie the school record for team wins in a season at eight, has advanced to NCAAs in 14 of the 15 seasons since regional play was adopted in 1989.
"It didn't seem like we played well throughout the day, but this is an ornery little course," Florida coach Buddy Alexander said. "We stumbled around early on and then made a nice rally on the back nine, but then we made some bogeys coming home. But there's a saying in golf that you can't win a tournament on the first day, but you can lose it. We didn't lose it and we'll certainly take our spot going into Friday."
Rhode Island's Kenneth Fahey and Wake Forest's Bill Haas share the individual lead after the first round after each carded a three-under 67 at the par 70, 6,749-yard course. Villegas is in sole possession of third at 68 (-2).
Villegas, who has placed in the top five in his last four tournaments, finished at one under on both the front and back nine in notching his seventh even or under par round in 10 career rounds at regional competition. One of only five players to shoot in the red on the first day, he's in the mix to become the first Gator in school history to finish in the top 20 four times in regional competition.
Sophomores Matt Every (Daytona Beach, Fla.) and James Vargas (Miami, Fla.) both carded scores of 72 (+2) and are tied for 19th. Every is in the hunt for his 10th top 20 finish in 12 tournaments this season, while Vargas, playing in his first collegiate tournament of the spring, is looking for his third top-20-finish in five tournaments this season.
Freshman Jessie Mudd (Louisville, Ky.) recorded a four-over 74 and is tied for 41st, while sophomore Brett Stegmaier (Madison, Conn.), who is competing less than 20 miles from his hometown, is in a tie for 72nd after a first-round score of 76 (+6).
The second round of play begins on Friday morning with the Florida set to tee off with the first group at 7:12 a.m. Live scoring can be found at www.golfstat.com
TEAM STANDINGS
| Place | Team | 1st Round | Over/Under Par |
| 1. | Florida | 286 | +6 |
| 2. | Georgia | 287 | +7 |
| T3. | Georgia State | 288 | +8 |
| T3. | Clemson | 288 | +8 |
| 5. | Penn State | 290 | +10 |
| 6. | Georgia Tech | 291 | +11 |
| 7. | Rhode Island | 292 | +12 |
| T8. | North Carolina | 294 | +14 |
| T8. | Auburn | 294 | +14 |
| T8. | Duke | 294 | +14 |
| T8. | UAB | 294 | +14 |
| 12. | Wake Forest | 296 | +16 |
| 13. | Tennessee | 297 | +17 |
| T14. | N.C. State | 299 | +19 |
| T14. | South Carolina | 299 | +19 |
| T14. | Vanderbilt | 299 | +19 |
| 17. | Georgia Southern | 302 | +22 |
| T18. | Augusta State | 304 | +24 |
| T18. | LSU | 304 | +24 |
| T18. | Georgetown | 304 | +24 |
| T21. | Jacksonville State | 306 | +26 |
| T21. | Maryland | 306 | +26 |
| T23. | Towson | 310 | +30 |
| T23. | Army | 310 | +30 |
| 25. | Yale | 311 | +31 |
| 26. | Binghamton | 312 | +32 |
| 27. | Long Island | 321 | +41 |
FLORIDA RESULTS
| Place | Player | 1st Round | Over/Under Par |
| 3. | Camilo Villegas | 68 | -2 |
| T19. | Matt Every | 72 | +2 |
| T19. | James Vargas | 72 | +2 |
| T41. | Jessie Mudd | 74 | +4 |
| T72. | Brett Stegmaier | 76 | +6 |
