Horschel Wins SEC Championship, UF Finishes Third

Sunday, April 19

Sea Island, GA

12:00 AM

Florida Gators

SEC Championships

Horschel Wins SEC Championship, UF Finishes Third

Sunday, April 19, 2009 | Men's Golf

After shooting a final-round 71 (-1) on Sunday, senior Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.) took home the 2009 SEC Championship Individual Medal, with a three-day total of 206 (-10). Horschel led the UF men's golf team to a third place finish at Frederica Golf Club in Sea Island, Ga.

Horschel carried the team all weekend, playing all three rounds under par and beating Mississippi State's Carlos Sainz by two shots. Horschel got off to a blistering start in the first two rounds, shooting 68 (-4) on Friday and 67 (-5) on Saturday. His final round 71 (-1) was good enough to hold on for the win. It was Horschel's third-lowest tournament score in relation to par in his collegiate career, and his first win since he shared the medalist honors at the 2007 NCAA East Regional.

“I'm elated for Billy,” said head coach Buddy Alexander. “He played beautifully all week. He's a senior and he's worked extremely hard and he wanted a ring. Now he's going to get one as an individual.”

Florida shot even-par 288 on Sunday and totaled 865 (+1) for the tournament. Georgia ran away from the field, shooting under par as a team in each round and finishing at 15-under 849. The Gators were in second for a good portion of the final round, but Arkansas fought back and took second place at two-under 862.

Junior Tyson Alexander (Gainesville, Fla.) enjoyed his best round of the tournament on Sunday, opening with four birdies in his first seven holes. He dropped a few strokes but sank two more birdies and carded a final round 70 (-2). He moved up 17 spots on the leader board to finish in a tie for 17th at three-over 219.

“We got off to a much better start today,” said Coach Alexander. “Tyson put us in position to catch Arkansas, but we couldn't quite get it done. We knew coming into the tournament that Georgia was the team to beat.”

Senior Will Strickler (Charlottesville, Va.) had a solid round for the second straight day and shot even-par 72. He finished in a tie for 21st at four-over 220 for the tournament. Fellow senior Toby Ragland (Jacksonville, Fla.) got off to a good start with a one-under par round on Friday, but a 76 (+4) on Saturday and a 75 (+3) on Sunday put him in a tie for 31st at six-over 222.

Rounding out the lineup was junior Tim McKenney (Scottsdale, Ariz.), who came in at four-over 76 in the third round. His 54-hole total of 227 (+11) put him in a tie for 43rd.

“I thought the team had a decent showing this week,” said Coach Alexander. “I was proud of the way the way they battled hard, but we've still got a few things to work on before the NCAA Regionals.”

Florida will now wait to find out its destination for the NCAA Regionals, to be held May 14-16. After a change by the NCAA, there are six possible sites the Gators could travel to: Galloway, N.J. (host Columbia), Austin, Texas (host Texas), Daly City, Calif. (host San Francisco), Sorrento, Florida (host UCF), Bowling Green, Kent. (host Western Kentucky) or Stillwater, Okla. (host Oklahoma St.). The 2009 NCAA Championship will be held at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio May 26-30.

TEAM RESULTS

	School	Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Total	To Par
1	Georgia	282	281	286	849	-15
2	Arkansas	290	283	289	862	-2
3	FLORIDA	292	285	288	865	+1
T4	LSU	301	294	277	872	+8
T4	South Carolina	293	286	293	872	+8
6	Alabama	308	284	281	873	+9
7	Kentucky	297	285	294	876	+12
8	Ole Miss	296	290	292	878	+14
9	Mississippi St.	293	290	301	884	+20
10	Vanderbilt	292	293	301	886	+22
11	Tennessee	305	292	291	888	+24
12	Auburn	301	300	302	903	+39

INDIVIDUAL TOP-10

	Player	School	Rd. 1	Rd. 2	Rd. 3	Total	To Par
1	Billy Horschel	Florida	68	67	71	206	-10
2	Carlos Sainz	Mississippi St.	71	68	69	208	-8
3	John Peterson	LSU	71	71	68	210	-6
4	Brian Harman	Georgia	70	72	69	211	-5
T5	Bud Cauley	Alabama	73	70	69	212	-4
T5	Harris English	Georgia	70	74	68	212	-4
T5	David Lingmerth	Arkansas	70	69	73	212	-4
8	Jordan Blann	Kentucky	67	70	76	213	-3
9	Andrew Landry	Arkansas	73	71	70	214	-2
T10	Wesley Bryan	South Carolina	75	69	71	215	-1
T10	Adam Mitchell	Georgia	72	69	74	215	-1