Florida Men's Golf Plays Host To SunTrust Gator Invitational This Weekend
Friday, February 8, 2008 | Men's Golf
The 12th-ranked University of Florida men's golf team seeks to defend its own tournament title for the fifth straight year as the Gators play host to the SunTrust Gator Invitational to open the spring season, Feb. 9-10, at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
Fourteen teams will play 36 holes on Saturday with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. ET. The final round will consist of 18 holes beginning at 8 a.m. ET Sunday. The final pairing is scheduled to tee off at 10:06 a.m. Sunday. Live scoring of the event can be found at www.golfstat.com as well as on www.gatorzone.com.
This year's field features six teams ranked in the current Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index Top 30, including No. 9 Duke, No. 13 Florida State, No. 18 Wake Forest, No. 25 Mississippi State and No. 30 Ole Miss. Other teams participating include Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, LSU, North Florida, South Alabama, South Florida and UAB.
“It is a solid tournament and a solid field,” said UF head coach Buddy Alexander. “Every one of the teams will be competitive. All of them are looking to get into the NCAA Tournament this year. We are going to have to play some pretty good golf.”
UF finished the fall campaign by winning the third-place match of the Callaway Golf Collegiate Match Play Championships last October. The Gators defeated South Carolina, 4-1, after falling to UCLA in the semifinals.
“The spring will be a lot better,” said Alexander. “I am pretty confident of that. We haven't played since October, which is actually a longer stretch of time than from the NCAA Tournament to the first tournament of the fall. As you can imagine, guys are ready to get out there. We are playing pretty well, and I am excited to see what we can do this weekend.”
Florida's spring hopes have been bolstered by the return of junior All-American Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.), who missed two tournaments in the fall to play for the United States at the Walker Cup. Horschel brings in a team-best scoring average of 70.50 into the weekend.
Senior Manuel Villegas (Medellin, Colombia), last year's Gator Invite individual medalist, ranked sixth in the SEC's fall scoring average at 72.08. In 2007, Villegas carded a six-under score of 204 to capture individual medal honors and lead Florida to its fourth straight Gator Invitational win. He earned his first career victory by six shots.
Florida has won its own tournament 21 times in the 30-year history of the event. The Gators have claimed the team title six out of the last eight years. With another team win, Florida could stretch its streak to five consecutive Gator victories, marking the longest streak of dominance since the Gators claimed nine straight between 1989-97.
The Mark Bostick Golf Course has been home to every Gator Invitational and will once again play to a par 70 and 6,701 yards. Alexander believes there is extra incentive to performing well on their own course in Florida's only home tournament of the season.
“This is their favorite tournament of the year other than postseason,” said Alexander. “We get more people out at the Gator (Invitational) than most college tournaments do. I know our players appreciate that and look forward to that. It's a big event for our guys.”
Sophomore Tyson Alexander (Gainesville, Fla.) has been penciled into Alexander's lineup, and he will be joined by junior Will Strickler (Charlottesville, Va.), Villegas, Horschel and junior Toby Ragland (Jacksonville, Fla.). Alexander started four of the Gators' five fall tournaments. Strickler will be making his third appearance of the season.
