Florida Men's Golf Travels to Ponte Vedra for John Hayt Invitational
Friday, February 25, 2011 | Men's Golf
No. 3 Florida Men's Golf travels to the Sawgrass Country Club to compete in the John Hayt Invitational on Feb. 27-March 1 in Ponte Vedra, Fla.
The John Hayt Invitational features 15 teams from across the country and five teams from the Southeastern Conference: Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, LSU, Tennessee, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Jacksonville, Mercer, Ole Miss, UNF, TCU, Tulsa, UAB and UCF. Of the 15 schools, four are featured in the Golf World/Nike Golf Coaches' Poll Top 25: Florida (3), LSU (9), Auburn (10) and Arkansas (17).
The Gators have faced all of the teams in the field with the exception of Arkansas and Tulsa this season, including nine of the teams at the SunTrust Invitational on Feb. 12 and 13. Florida will meet SEC foe Auburn for the third time in the 2010-11 season after finishing a spot behind the Tigers at the Jerry Pate Invitational and a spot in front of them at the Gator Invitational. Auburn is the only team in the field that has finished in front of UF this season.
Florida is led by SEC Golfer of the Week senior Bank Vongvanij (Bradenton, Fla.) who has recorded five top-five finishes in the Gators' five tournaments of the 2010-11 season including two first-place honors and two second-place finishes. Vongvanij boasts an SEC-best 69.9 stroke average, but has never finished higher than 38th in the John Hayt Invitational.
Sophomore Phillip Choi (Orlando, Fla.) is also showing impressive strides for the Gators with his four top-10 finishes and 71.7 stroke average.
Also playing for the Gators are sophomore Tyler McCumber (Ponte Vedra, Fla.), junior Michael Furci (Sayville, N.Y.) and freshman Payne Denman (Riverwatch, Tenn.) will make his Florida debut. Redshirt senior Andres Echavarria (Medellin, Colombia) is returning to his native Colombia to compete in a Nationwide Tour event and will not compete for the Gators.
The three-day tournament will begin on Sunday, Feb. 27 at 8 a.m. Check www.GatorZone.com for updated news and results and Golfstat.com for live scoring.
