Florida Men's Golf Prepares for NCAA Championships
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 | Men's Golf
Head coach Buddy Alexander and the Florida men's golf team will seek their fifth national championship title this week at the Karsten Creek Golf Course in Stillwater, Okla. The first three rounds of the 30-team tournament will begin with round one on Tuesday, May 31 and continue through Thursday, June 2, playing 18 holes each day. The top eight teams after 54 holes will advance to match play, beginning on Friday, June 3 through the championship round on Sunday, June 5.
The Gators come in the tournament as the fifth-seeded team of the 30 participating, behind Oklahoma State (1), UCLA (2), Alabama (3) and Georgia Tech (4). The tournament is being played at Oklahoma State's home course.
Florida has had a record-breaking season, winning five tournaments, the most since the 2003-04 season. In addition, three different players have won six individual tournament titles, matching Florida's all-time high of medalists in a season with 1990's team. Those three players also rank in the top five of the lowest single-season stroke averages in Florida history: Senior Bank Vongvanij (Bradenton, Fla.) ranks first (70.70 in 33 rounds), sophomore Phillip Choi (Orlando, Fla.) ranks fourth (71.00 in 33 rounds) and redshirt-senior Andres Echavarria (Medellin, Colombia) ranks fifth (73.02 in 24 rounds). The only other Gator in the top five is Camilo Villegas, who had the lowest average in two different seasons.
In addition to Vongvanij, Choi and Echavarria, sophomores Tommy Mou (Bradenton, Fla.) and Tyler McCumber (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) round out the lineup. Mou is coming off a career-low round after shooting two-under par in the third round of the NCAA Southeast Regional tournament to give the Gators a first-place finish. McCumber returns to the lineup after sitting out at the regional tournament with a broken finger.
Florida is scheduled to tee off at 1:40 p.m. ET with Georgia Tech and Augusta State. Live scoring is available at www.golfstat.com and www.ncaa.com and updates will be available each day on www.GatorZone.com.
