PGA: The Open Championship - Second Round

Men’s Golf Summer Recap

Hardware, accolades, deep tournament runs and a major championship highlighted the Gators summer.

By Matthew Hutchison

The end of the 2020-21 men’s golf season was a whirlwind. From not qualifying for match play at the SEC Championship to rallying in the final round of the NCAA Regionals to qualify for the NCAA Champions. When the campaign came to a disappointing end, head coach J.C. Deacon was already thinking of ways the team can grow this summer. 

And the team responded.

I was very pleased with our summer. Our guys made a huge effort to travel and play a challenging schedule. That’s only going to make us more experienced and prepared for this coming season.
J.C. Deacon

The summer kicked off at the Arnold Palmer Cup as the Gators were the only school with three men competing at the event - Ricky Castillo (USA), Yuxin Lin (International) and Joe Pagdin (International). Deacon also served as the head coach for the International side. 

Team USA Curtis Cup

For the UF golfers, the Saturday morning foursome matches highlighted the weekend as all three scored for their respective teams. In Sunday's singles play to wrap up action, Castillo got the better of Pagdin, 2&1, to score for the USA, which secured the 33-27 win in the Palmer Cup. 

Castillo built off the team victory in his next two outings. The first was at the Western Amateur in late July, where he qualified for the top 16 (quarterfinals) for the third consecutive time.  Lin, Pagdin and Tyler Wilkes all played at the tournament as well. 

The junior made another quarterfinals run a few weeks later in the U.S. Amateur when he won a three hole playoff in the previous round. Castillo was put to test at Oakmont as he qualified for match play and won two match play contests all while experiencing two weather delays in a 24 hour window. 

Ricky Castillo

Also making appearances at the Western Am and qualifying for match play in the U.S. Am was Lin. However, his summer highlight came at the grand stage. 

At just 20-years-old he played in his fourth major tournament after two appearances in the Masters (2018 & 2020) and The Open (2018). Lin made the cut of a major for the first time in his career and was one of two amateurs to enjoy the weekend as he turned in his lowest round of 69 (-1) in round one. The junior posted nine birdies to lead all amateurs and finished +6 overall.

He originally qualified for the event by winning his second Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in 2019, tying reigning Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, as a two-time winner.

Yuxin Lin at The Open

Back in the Sunshine State a congregation of Gators - Fred Biondi, John DuBois, Quentin Debove, Manny Girona, Ryan Hart, Christophe Stutts - competed in the 104th Florida Amateur. Both Stutts and Debove entered as clubhouse leaders in round one behind a 67 (-5). Tied for third after day one, Biondi began his push and sank a forty foot birdie putt that set up a short-par putt to be crowned champion in the final round. Just behind the champ were teammates Stutts (5th), Debove (T7) and Dubois (T12). 

I grew up playing a bunch of Florida Junior Tour events, so winning here means a lot. It's the biggest event for Amateurs in Florida and it's an honor.
Fred Biondi

The Gators continued to dominate tournaments in their backyard as the Florida Open was next up. DuBois took home the Low Amateur title as he finished tied for 3rd overall and fired a final round of 65 with three eagles. He ended 11-under with the next closest amateur three strokes back. 

DuBois had another solid outing in the offseason at the 80th Monroe Invitational, finishing T7 at 4-under. Wilkes also competed and climbed the leaderboards with a 67 and 66 in the final two rounds to sit T12 at 2-under. 

Tyler Wilkes
John DuBois

In the NYS (New York State) Amateur, Hart got off to a fantastic start by going 4-under in his final 12 holes to sit T2 (-2). 

Ryan Hart

Overseas, Giovanni Manzoni put the Gators on the map. He collected the Low Amateur crown on the Challenge Tour, the second-tier of professional golf in Europe, at the Italian Challenge Open. The senior concluded at 9-under for T9 with the next closest amateur four strokes behind. His performance earned him exemption to the Italian Open on the European Tour from Sept. 2-5. 

Following his hardware, Manzoni rode his momentum to place 2nd at the Swiss International Amateur Championship with a 7-under-par performance.

Gio Manzoni
It’s really nice to have this much experience on our roster. It feels like a veteran team and I’ve never had that before. Dudley Hart (Volunteer Assistant) has brought a ton of energy to our group and I’m so excited to see what we can accomplish together.
J.C. Deacon

The 2021-22 season tees off at the OFCC/Fighting Illini Invitational on Sept. 17. 

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