Gators to Open Spring Season at Sea Best Invitational
Friday, January 30, 2015 | Men's Golf
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida men's golf team returns to action next week, when it travels to Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., to take on the field at the Sea Best Invitational.
When the Gators tee off at the TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley Course on Monday, it will be the team's first competition since the fall season finale in October. There, at the Florida Gulf Coast Invitational, the Orange and Blue recorded a runner-up finish, highlighted by junior A.J. Crouch's individual title.
Florida posted a sixth-place showing at the Sea Best Invitational event last year. This year's squad will see some familiar faces on the course, as they'll go up against five teams they played with in the fall (Florida State, North Carolina, North Florida, Tennessee and UNLV.)
Freshmen Ryan Celano and newcomer Alejandro Tosti sit atop the Gators' lineup. The young pair is joined by sophomore Ryan Orr, senior J.D. Tomlinson and junior A.J. Crouch. Senior Eric Banks will make the trip as well to compete as an individual.
Head Coach JC Deacon
On the Sea Best tournament:
“TPC Sawgrass is a fantastic course and place for us to practice and get our first spring event under our belt. There are some really good teams coming. We're going to be able to measure up and see where we are, so, as a group, we're really looking forward to it.”
On the team's focus in the break between the fall and spring seasons:
“The main focus was checking our work ethic and seeing what we were bringing to the table. The guys have really responded. A bunch of them played in tournaments over the break, competed, stayed sharp and came back and had a really good qualifying this past weekend. In places one through eight, I think there were seven shots separating those guys. All of a sudden, as a coach, the decisions are becoming a lot harder of who to take and who deserves a chance. That's a great problem to have. The scores were a lot better in general and the group is a lot tighter.”
Course Information: The TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley Course is a par-71, 6,977-yard course.
Tournament Information: The tournament will run from Monday-Tuesday, Feb. 2-3, and is hosted by Jacksonville University.
Format: Two-day,54-hole tournament, with 36 holes played the first day and 18 holes played the second day.
The Gators' Lineup:
Freshman Ryan Celano (Naples, Fla.)
Freshman Alejandro Tosti (Rosario, Argentina)
Sophomore Ryan Orr (Belleair, Fla.)
Senior J.D. Tomlinson (Gainesville, Fla.)
Junior A.J. Crouch (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Senior Eric Banks (Truro, Canada)*
*Denotes playing as an individual
Eyeing the Competition: The field consists of 15 teams from seven conferences. SEC squads Tennessee and Texas A&M will participate, as well as in-state opponents Jacksonville, North Florida and Florida State. Two teams are ranked as top-25 squads by Golfweek's latest ranking, with Florida State and North Carolina sitting in the No. 2 and No. 12 spots, respectively.
Tournament Field (Golfweek's Top 25):
Coastal Carolina
FLORIDA
Florida State (2)
Jacksonville
Jacksonville State
Liberty
McNeese State
North Carolina (12)
North Florida
Old Dominion
Tennessee
Texas A&M
UNLV
USC Upstate
Winthrop
Follow the Gators: Live scoring will be available on GolfStat.com. A complete recap with full results will be posted on GatorZone.com following the day's play.
For complete coverage of the Gators' men's golf program, visit GatorZone.com, follow @GatorZoneGolf on Twitter and 'like' the University of Florida Men's Golf page on Facebook.
