Men?s Golf Team Finish Seventh At The Mercedes-Benz Collegiate

Tuesday, February 7

Ponte Vedra, FL

12:00 AM

Florida Gators

Mercedes-Benz Collegiate

Men?s Golf Team Finish Seventh At The Mercedes-Benz Collegiate

Tuesday, February 7, 2006 | Men's Golf

The No. 4 Florida Men's Golf team opened the 2006 spring season by finishing seventh at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate on Tuesday. The Gators recorded a team score of 320+289+305 = 914 (+50) and finished 18 strokes behind tournament winner UCLA.

After battling inconsistency during the fall, senior Brett Stegmaier (Madison, Conn.) responded with a steady performance during the tournament. Stegmaier moved up seven positions on the leader board to earn his first top-10 finish of the season. He recorded scores of 78+72+74 = 224 (+8), which was good enough to finish tied for eighth.

Stegmaier is no stranger to success at the Sawgrass C.C. In four appearances at the Mercedes-Benz Collegiate, he has recorded a top-10 finish three times. His best performance came last year when he tied for sixth-place.

“He did this last year,” Florida coach Buddy Alexander said. “He had a tough fall and came back strong in the spring, so I hope we're on the same trail. It's nice to see him play decent.”

A trio of Gator golfers finished the three-round tournament with a score of 230 (+14). In his return home, freshman Toby Ragland (Jacksonville, Fla.) carded a third-round score of 75 (+3) to move into the top-25. Freshman Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.) and senior Matt Every (Daytona Beach, Fla.) both carded a third round score of 78 (+6) to finish tied for 25th.

Sophomore Manuel Villegas (Medellin, Colombia) held his ground during the third round by carding an 80 (+8) for a second consecutive day and tied for 62nd-place. Playing as an individual, sophomore Jessie Mudd (Louisville, Ky.) improved each day by recording a 78 (+6) on Tuesday.

Florida had a tough start to the day, recording only three birdies on the front-nine. The team rallied with 11 birdies on the back-nine led by Every and Stegmaier with three each.

“We didn't play very smart, but it was a tough day to play,” Alexander said. “We had a chance to move up considerably, but it didn't happen. We'll do a little regrouping and fix some of the makes we made this week.”

Texas Tech's Oscar Floren edged UCLA's Erik Flores to win the individual medal. Floren fired back-to-back rounds of 73 (+1), which was the difference on Tuesday. Flores, who carded a tournament-best 68 on Sunday, carded a 74 in the third round to finish second.

Florida will return to action on Feb. 18 when it hosts the Gator Invitational at the University Golf Course.

Team Results

Place	School	Score	Par
1	UCLA	290+304+302 = 896	+32
2	Texas Tech	301+295+305 = 901	+37
T3	Alabama	300+300+305 = 905	+41
T3	South Carolina	308+297+300 = 905	+41
5	Georgia State	304+294+314 = 912	+48
6	LSU	308+290+315 = 913	+49
7	Florida	320+289+305 = 914	+50
8	Tennessee	313+301+302 = 916	+52
9	North Florida	308+305+307 = 920	+56
10	Auburn	313+299+314 = 926	+62
11	Missouri	312+302+313 = 927	+63
12	Coastal Carolina	319+300+309 = 928	+64
13	Texas-Arlington	309+307+315 = 931	+67
14	UAB	318+308+308 = 934	+70
15	Mercer	317+324+313 = 954	+90

Top-10 Individuals

Place	Name	School	Scores	Par
1	Oscar Floren	Texas Tech	71+73+73 = 217	+1
2	Erik Flores	UCLA	68+76+74 = 218	+2
T3	Dustin Johnson	Costal Carolina	73+73+74 = 221	+5
T3	Gator Todd	Alabama	75+72+74 = 221	+5
5	Andrew Dresser	Texas Tech	71+75+76 = 222	+6
T6	Kevin Campbell	UCLA	73+73+77 = 223	+7
T6	Florian Fritsch	South Carolina	74+74+75 = 223	+7
T8	Brett Stegmaier	Florida	78+72+74 = 224	+8
T8	Steve Tiley	Georgia State	75+72+77 = 224	+8
10	Mark Anderson	South Carolina	79+74+72 = 225	+9

Florida Results

Place	Name	Scores	Par
T8	Brett Stegmaier	78+72+74 = 224	+8
T25	Toby Ragland	82+73+75 = 230	+14
T25	Billy Horschel	79+73+78 = 230	+14
T25	Matt Every	81+71+78 = 230	+14
T63	Manuel Villegas	82+80+80 = 242	+26
T66	Jessie Mudd	85+80+78 = 243	+27