Gators Travel West for Desert Mountain Intercollegiate
Thursday, March 5, 2015 | Men's Golf
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida men's golf team travels out West this week to take on the 12-team field at the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate. Held in in Scottsdale, Ariz., the two-day tournament begins on Friday and is hosted by the University of Michigan.
The Gators are coming off a fourth-place team finish at the SunTrust Gator Invitational, where they posted a season-low 854 in front of the home crowd at their lone home tournament of the spring. Individually, Florida has landed a Gator in one of the top-three spots in its last four tournaments, most recently with A.J. Crouch taking second at the Sea Best Invitational and J.D. Tomlinson sharing second at the SunTrust Gator Invitational.
When the Orange and Blue tee off at Desert Mountain Outlaw Course Friday, it will mark the beginning of a month-long stretch in which the team will see action in four tournaments to wrap up the regular season.
Head Coach JC Deacon
On the Desert Mountain Intercollegiate:
“We haven't played for a little while. It's pretty unfamiliar for us out there with the elevation and the conditions, so we're trying to take it day-by-day and learn as much as we can during the practice rounds to be prepared. I think we're in good shape. The guys are playing well, and the team's been working hard, so I feel pretty good about what we've been doing.”
On competing in three tournaments in the next three weeks:
“It's going to be a big grind. I worked on the math the other day, and we have nine competitive tournament rounds in the next 18 days. That's unheard of. We need to get a lot of rest, a lot of water and take it easy as much as we can in between, but the guys love playing golf, and that's why they came to Florida, so I hope we'll really enjoy it, too.”
On the team's improvement this season:
“I couldn't agree more. The atmosphere's changed a lot. It's a positive working atmosphere now. They guys know what I expect and what John (Handrigan) expects. They're working hard and rallying around each other and really becoming a team, and that's helped them all to step their levels up.”
Course Information: The Desert Mountain Outlaw Course is a par-72, 7,107-yard course.
Tournament Information: The tournament will run Friday-Saturday, March 6-7, and is hosted by the University of Michigan.
Format: Two-day,54-hole tournament, with 36 holes played the first day and 18 holes played the second day. The first round Friday will begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. MST, and the second round will follow with continuous play. On Saturday, tee times for the final round will begin at 8:30 a.m. MST off of the No. 1 and No. 11 tees.
The Gators' Lineup:
A.J. Crouch (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Alejandro Tosti (Rosario, Argentina)
Eric Banks (Truro, Canada)
Ryan Orr (Belleair, Fla.)
J.D. Tomlinson (Gainesville, Fla.)
Ryan Celano (Naples, Fla.)*
*Denotes playing as an individual
Eyeing the Competition: The field consists of 12 teams from six conferences. Florida has faced two of the squads previously this year, as it finished ahead of Saint Mary's and St. John's at the Homewood/Hilton Garden Airport & FGCU Classic in October.
Tournament Field (Golfweek's Top 25):
FLORIDA
Georgetown
Marquette
Michigan
Nebraska
Ohio State
Oregon (19)
Purdue
San Francisco
St. John's
Saint Mary's
Toledo
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.
