No. 10/12 UF Men's Golf Makes Familiar Trek To Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational This Weekend
Thursday, March 13, 2008 | Men's Golf
The No. 10/12 University of Florida men's golf team competes at the 29th annual Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational this weekend, March 14-16, at the Forest Heights Country Club.
The 54-hole tournament features 18 holes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday with tee times getting underway at 9 a.m. ET. Live tournament scoring can be found at www.golfstat.com.
Five of the nation's top 15 teams will be in attendance. Four of the Southeastern Conference's top five squads are set to compete, including No. 2 Alabama, No. 8 Tennessee and No. 11 Auburn. The 18-team field is the largest Florida will see this spring.
“This is another solid field and pretty similar to the tournament at Sawgrass (John Hayt Invitational),” said UF head coach Buddy Alexander.
Forest Heights Country Club will play to a par-72 and test golfers at 6,962 yards. The club has hosted the event on numerous occasions since opening in 1947. It is a familiar track to Florida, who is playing in its 10th straight Schenkel Invitational and 23rd overall.
The 23 appearances make the Schenkel Invite the most frequented trip on the Gators' schedule in program history. The SunTrust Gator Invitational is the only other tournament Florida has more appearances in with 31.
The Gators first played in the Schenkel in 1971 and own three tournament titles in 22 previous starts. Florida claimed first place in 1973, 1975 and most recently in 2004. The Gators took fifth last season with a 54-hole total of 881 (+17). The first five teams in last year's standings all came from the SEC.
This weekend's tournament will have specific ties to head coach Alexander. Alexander served as the head coach at tournament host Georgia Southern from 1977-80. He was a two-time All-American for the Eagles and graduated from the school in 1975.
The Gators return to the course less than a week removed from an eighth place finish at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship in Las Vegas. UF posted a 54-hole total of 30-over 894 to claim sole possession of eighth.
Junior Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.) recorded his third top-10 finish of the season as he tied for 10th place with UNLV's Seung-su Han. Horschel carded a final-round 74 that left him at 1-over 217 overall.
It marked the 19th top-10 placing of Horschel's career, which ranks sixth all-time in UF history. The All-American trails Dudley Hart and Brian Gay for fifth place in that category. Both Hart and Gay ended their respective careers with 22 top-10s.
Horschel will serve as Florida's No. 1 in this weekend's lineup. Alexander is slated to go with his eighth different lineup of the season. Four golfers who played in the Southern Highlands Collegiate – Horschel, senior Manuel Villegas (Medellin, Colombia), junior Will Strickler (Charlottesville, Va.) and senior Tyler Brown (Jacksonville, Fla.) – all continue in the rotation.
Alexander has elected to start sophomore Tyson Alexander (Gainesville, Fla.), who did not compete in Las Vegas. Alexander owns a third-place finish to his credit this season at the SunTrust Gator Invitational.
“We are working on some things to tighten up his swing a bit,” Alexander said. “He's the longest guy on our team. We are doing a few things that will make him shorter and a little straighter.”
Horschel remains the team leader in scoring average at 71.40. That figure ranks as the fourth-best mark in the SEC and has earned him a No. 28 national ranking in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Individual Index. Villegas' tally of 72.29 is second on the squad and 15th in the league.
UF has three golfers in the Golfweek/Sagarin Individual Index Top 50. Joining Horschel are Brown (39) and Villegas (41). All of Brown's six rounds this season have been counted in the Gators' cumulative scores.
