M. Golf to Compete in John Hayt Invitational
Friday, February 26, 2010 | Men's Golf
The No. 3 UF men's golf team won't have too travel far for their next tournament, making the trip north to Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. for the John Hayt Invitational on Feb. 28-March 1. The Gators will tee off at the par-72, 6,895-yard Sawgrass Country Club.
Florida is coming off its first place showing at the SunTrust Gator Invitational. The Gators dominated the competition, finishing 18 strokes below the second place finisher. The win gave Florida its first of the 2009-10 season and seventh-straight Gator Invitational crown. The veterans led the way for Florida, with seniors Tim McKenney (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Tyson Alexander (Gainesville, Fla.) and redshirt junior Andres Echavarria (Medellin, Colombia) all tying for third place. Each member of Florida's lineup finished in the top-10 as junior Bank Vongvanij (Bradenton, Fla.) and freshman Phillip Choi (Orlando, Fla.) tied for seventh.
It's clear that head coach Buddy Alexander liked what he saw at the Gator because he will be taking the same team with him to Ponte Vedra Beach. In addition to Alexander, McKenney, Echavarria, Vongvanij and Choi, freshman Tyler McCumber (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) will be participating as an individual.
The No. 3 Gators enter the Gator Invitational as the highest-ranked team in the tournament field according to Golfweek's rankings. The squad joins No. 12 Alabama, No. 13 TCU and No. 24 Tennessee as the only teams featured in the top-25. Alabama, Tennessee and LSU are the other Southeastern Conference teams playing in Ponte Vedra. Although the Gators will compete against several teams that they've already seen in 2009-10, they will also be seeing some new faces on the course. For the first time this season, Florida will compete against Furman, Mercer, N.C. State, Tennessee and Tulsa.
Live scoring and official results will be available at www.GatorZone.com or www.golfstat.com.
Tournament Field (Golfweek/Sagarin Rating)
Alabama (12)
Coastal Carolina (73)
Duke (33)
Florida (3)
Furman (77)
Georgia Southern (81)
LSU (34)
Mercer (152)
NC State (27)
North Florida (29)
TCU (13)
Tennessee (24)
Tulsa (89)
UAB (122)
UCF (63)
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