Florida Hosts the 37th Annual SunTrust Gator Invitational
Friday, February 13, 2015 | Men's Golf
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida men's golf team will host its only home tournament of the year, the SunTrust Gator Invitational, on Saturday and Sunday at the Mark Bostick Golf Course. The Gators are coming off back-to-back runner-up team performances and look to continue their success as they take on the 14-team field this weekend.
The Orange and Blue finished second at the Sea Best Invitational last week, led by A.J. Crouch's individual runner-up performance. Crouch will hold the top spot in the Gator lineup this weekend, followed by Ryan Orr and Alejandro Tosti, who both recorded top-20 finishes at the Sea Best event.
Rounding out the lineup are Eric Banks, who earned a share of fourth last week, and J.D. Tomlinson, who has the team's leading stroke average (73.13). Ryan Celano and Conor Richardson will play as individuals.
Arkansas won the tournament last year with a score of 9-over 849. Florida's squad finished 11th at the 2014 event and is seeking to lift the team trophy for the first time since 2011. UF has captured a total of 23 titles throughout the tournament's 37-year history, including eight consecutive titles from 2004-11.
Ten Gators have earned individual medalist honors throughout the years. However, the 2014 individual crown went to Mercer's Trey Rule, who defeated Florida State's Hank Lebioda in a playoff. The pair both recorded a 4-under 206.
Head Coach JC Deacon
On playing at home:
“I'm really excited to host our SunTrust Gator Invitational for 2015. The guys have been working really hard and playing a ton of golf out there, so it will be nice to have a tournament on familiar turf.”
On the advantages and disadvantages of playing at home:
“The only disadvantage that I can think of is the distractions. A lot of families, friends and familiar faces will be in town, so we have to do our best to block that out. The advantages are endless. It's at our own facility, we get to sleep in our own beds and play on a golf course that we see every single day. The Mark Bostick Golf Course is playing really tough right now, the greens are firm and there are some intricacies that you need to know to be successful out there. We've done our work out there, so we should be ready to go.”
On the status of the team:
“We're on a really good track right now. We've been playing good golf, and we beat some great teams last week in Jacksonville, so I think we just need to keep doing the same things, keep working hard and try not to put too much pressure on ourselves.”
Course Information: The Mark Bostick Golf Course is a par-70, 6,701-yard course.
Tournament Information: The tournament will run from Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 14-15, and is hosted by the University of Florida. Admission is free, and spectator parking is available at the Campus Church of Christ, located at 2720 SW 2nd Ave.
Format: Two-day,54-hole tournament, with 36 holes played the first day and 18 holes played the second day. The first round Saturday will begin at 9 a.m. with a shotgun start, and the second round will start at approximately 1 p.m. with continuous play. On Sunday, tee times for the final round will range from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. off the No. 1 and No. 10 tees.
The Gators' Lineup:
A.J. Crouch (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Ryan Orr (Belleair, Fla.)
Alejandro Tosti (Rosario, Argentina)
Eric Banks (Truro, Canada)
J.D. Tomlinson (Gainesville, Fla.)
Ryan Celano (Naples, Fla.)*
Conor Richardson (West Palm Beach, Fla.)*
*Denotes playing as an individual
Eyeing the Competition: The field consists of 14 teams from nine conferences. SEC squads Arkansas and Vanderbilt will participate, as well as in-state opponents Central Florida, Florida State, Jacksonville University, North Florida and USF. Florida State, USF and Vanderbilt are ranked as top-25 squads by Golfweek's latest ranking.
Tournament Field (Golfweek's Top 25):
Arkansas
College of Charleston
FLORIDA
Florida State (2)
Georgia Southern
Georgia State
Jacksonville
Liberty
Mercer
North Florida
UAB
UCF
USF (21)
Vanderbilt (7)
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.
