Florida Gators

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Having an afternoon tee time seemed to be a curse at Grayhawk Golf Club, but the Florida men's golf team ignored the phrase and was clutch on the back nine to make the top-15 cut at the NCAA Championships on Sunday.
 
Entering the day in a three-way tie for the final 15th spot, the Gators entered the final seven holes four strokes ahead of the cut as the group of Texas A&M, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech were all battling for the final qualifying spots.
 
Followed by two chip-in birdies on 18 and a birdie on 17, Florida advanced by six strokes for the fourth and final round of stroke play. It marks the fourth time in program history and second under head coach J.C. Deacon the Gators advance to round four of stroke play since the match play format was added in 2009. The last occurrence came in 2016.
 
Paired with Georgia Tech today, only Florida and the Yellow Jackets were afternoon wave teams to make the cut today. The Gators shot a 286 (+6), one stroke away the career-low under Deacon at the championships that was set yesterday. 
 
Tomorrow there will be another cut as the top-8 teams advance to match play. Currently, UF is five strokes back from eighth place Arkansas.
 
Leading the lineup was Fred Biondi, who was tabbed an All-Region selection earlier in the day. Biondi shot a 67 (-3) for his 12th round in the 60s and 15th under-par en route to total 101 birdies on the season. He chipped in his final birdie on 18 that erupted the crowd to finish tied for 25th. The shot was his second chip-in birdie of the day as he had one on six to end 2-under bogey-free on the front.
 
Another shot that brought spectators to their feet was from Ricky Castillo. Also, a PING All-Region selection for the third straight year today, he chipped in from the bunker that bounced twice and dribbled in. He went 1-under on the back nine after going +5 on the front.
 
The second Gator to finish under-par was Yuxin Lin (T17), who was the third selection to the Southeast PING All-Region team. He went bogey-free on the front at -2 behind back-to-back birdies on four and five. The Junior erased a rough start to the back and sent a dart to set up for a short birdie putt on 14. He added his fourth of the day on 17 right after Biondi's loud chip-in.
 
Finishing a stroke from one another, John DuBois turned in a 76 (+6) and Tyler Wilkes a 77 (+7), who subbed in No. 5 spot today.
 
The Orange and Blue tee off tomorrow at 1:11 p.m. ET with Georgia and Texas Tech, and look to make match play for the first-time in program history. 

Scores

Florida Individual

Place	Player	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Score
T17	Yuxin Lin	74	71	69	214 (+4)
T25	Fred Biondi	75	73	67	215 (+5)
T76	John DuBois	75	72	76	223 (+13)
T87	Ricky Castillo	81	69	74	224 (+24)
---	Tyler Wilkes*	---	---	77	77 (+7)
---	Quentin Debove	76	82	---	158 (+18)

*Subbed in for round three 

Team Leaderboard

Place	School	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Score
1	Oklahoma	287	275	277	839 (-1)
2	Oklahoma State	289	277	277	843 (+3)
3	Vanderbilt	282	282	281	845 (+5)
4	North Carolina	288	281	280	849 (+9)
5	Pepperdine	294	282	277	853 (+13)
6	Arizona State	290	292	277	859 (+19)
7	Texas	291	291	278	860 (+20)
8	Arkansas	294	286	286	866 (+26)
T9	Auburn	285	296	288	869 (+29)
T9	Texas Tech	297	287	285	869 (+29)
11	Florida	300	285	286	871 (+31)
12	Georgia	291	292	289	872 (+32)
13	Oregon	285	300	291	876 (+36)
T14	Ole Miss	297	287	293	877 (+37)
T14	Georgia Tech	298	289	290	877 (+37)
---	Top-15 cut	---	---	---	---
16	Texas A&M	300	287	292	879 (+39)
17	Kansas	286	297	297	880 (+40)
18	Stanford	295	290	297	882 (+42)
T19	Arizona	286	306	291	883 (+43)
T19	Wake Forest	303	285	295	883 (+43)
T21	Florida State	291	300	296	887 (+47)
T21	Brigham Young	295	302	290	887 (+47)
23	Ohio State University	300	300	293	893 (+53)
24	North Florida	306	298	291	895 (+55)
25	Georgia Southern	295	305	297	897 (+57)
26	Liberty	290	303	305	898 (+58)
27	Utah	297	311	296	904 (+64)
28	South Florida	303	304	300	907 (+67)
29	East Tennessee St.	297	308	306	911 (+71)
30	College of Charleston	305	313	295	913 (+73)