KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- On a wet first day of the NCAA Regionals, the top four in the Gators lineup combined to record just four bogeys.
Florida carded a season-best 12-under-par and are tied for the lead with host UCF. Both schools are seven shots above the cut line as the top five teams in the regional will advance to the NCAA Championships in Stillwater, Okla.
The Gator top three of
Gordon Neale,
Andy Zhang and
John Axelsen all sit inside of the top 10 of the leaderboard while
Chris Nido is tied for 21th.
Zhang, who at one point lived on the Watson Course, was bogey-free Monday carding all four of his birdies on the back nine. Neale and Zhang are both one shot off the individual lead at four-under while Axelsen (-3) is two off the lead.
After being on the course for a little over an hour, play was suspended due to heavy rain in the Kissimmee area. The delay did not seem to faze the Gators who led for nearly the entire first round and were nine-under-par after play resumed.
This is the fourth time this season the Florida has led after 18 holes of play including the Trinity Forest and Southern Highlands, both tournament the Gators won.
Florida will be paired with UCF (-12) and Kent State (-8) in round two tomorrow. The first tee time is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. (ET) as
Alejandro Tosti will be the first Gator player out on the course.
Coach's Take
On today's first round:
"Obviously, a very nice start for the Gators today. It was fun watching our guys prepare for and enjoy some tough conditions," -- Coach
J.C. Deacon
On handling adversity:
"That's the big difference I'm starting to see with this team, adversity just isn't that big of a deal anymore. We have a long way to go, but today was a great foundation to build on. I'm excited to see us play even better," -- Coach
J.C. Deacon
Scores After Round One:
Team:
| T1 |
Florida |
276 (-12) |
| T1 |
UCF |
276 (-12) |
| 3 |
Kent State |
280 (-8) |
| 4 |
South Florida |
282 (-6) |
| T5 |
North Carolina |
283 (-5) |
| T5 |
Vanderbilt |
283 (-5) |
| 7 |
Arizona |
284 (-4) |
| 8 |
Jacksonville State |
286 (-2) |
| T9 |
Purdue |
288 (E) |
| T9 |
Colorado State |
288 (E) |
| 11 |
St. Mary's (CA) |
289 (+1) |
| 12 |
Coastal Carolina |
290 (+2) |
| 13 |
Georgetown |
297 (+9) |
| 14 |
Central Connecticut |
303 (+15) |
Florida Individual
Tee Times:
Tuesday Rd. 2 – 7:30 a.m. (ET)
Follow the Action
Play will continue on Tuesday, May 15th. Live scoring will be available on
GolfStat.com. A complete recap with full results will be posted on FloridaGators.com following each day's play.
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