Southern Highlands Next up for No. 7/11 Gators

Sunday, February 26

Las Vegas, N.V. / Southern Highlands

12 p.m. (18 Holes)

Florida Gators

Southern Highlands Collegiate

Southern Highlands Next up for No. 7/11 Gators

Saturday, February 25, 2023 | Men's Golf

Live Scoring

The three-day tournament features nine top-25 teams and begins on Sunday, Feb. 26.

By: Matthew Hutchison

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Dates: Sunday, Feb. 26 - Tuesday, Feb. 28
Location: Las Vegas, Nev. - Southern Highlands
Host: University of Nevada - Las Vegas
Course Par/Yardage: 72 / 7,510 yards
Format: 18 holes each day
Tee Times: 12 p.m. ET on Sunday and TBA Monday and Tuesday
Scoring: Golf Stat
Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

TEE OFF
After back-to-back victories to start the spring season for the second consecutive year, the No. 7 /11 Florida men's golf team travels to the Southern Highlands Collegiate (Feb. 26-28)

LINEUP
No. 1 - Fred Biondi
No. 2 - Ricky Castillo
No. 3 - Yuxin Lin
No. 4 - John DuBois
No. 5 - Giovanni Manzoni
Ind. - Quentin Debove

COMPETING TEAMS (Golfstat rankings)
No. 4 North Carolina, No. 7 Illinois, No. 8 Georgia Tech, No. 9 Oklahoma,, No. 14 Pepperdine, No. 15 Texas A&M, No. 16 Texas, No. 25 San Diego State, Georgia, New Mexico, SMU, TCU, UCF and UNLV (host)

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Gators will make their 20th appearance all-time in the tournament as they won in their debut in the fall of 1992. Florida claimed the title again in 2018 and won by four strokes to finish 5-under. The last appearance two outings (2020 & 2022) were both fourth-place finishes as last season Fred Biondi shot 11-under to end runner-up.

For the third time, the individual champion will receive an exemption into the Shriners Children's Open, which will take place Oct. 12-15, 2023, at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas

LAST TIME OUT
Ricky Castillo claimed his third collegiate victory via playoff as Florida defended its home course and won the VyStar Credit Union Gators Invitational.

The Gators finished 14-under and won the event for the 29th time in program history by 18 strokes. Florida has won the first two spring tournaments by a combined 41 strokes.

EARLY HARDWARE
Fred Biondi and Miguel Leal collected some early honors to start the spring slate. Biondi earned his third career SEC Golfer of the Week award as Leal received his first, being named SEC Freshman of the Week.

The Gators added more with Ricky Castillo earning conference golfer of the week award last week, marking back-to-back seasons that Florida has claimed the award to start the spring season.

IN THE RANKINGS
The Gators are ranked No. 7 by Golfweek and No. 11 by Golfstat.

Individually, the first spring Arnold Palmer Cup Rankings came out with four in the Orange and Blue ranked for the International team; No. 9 Yuxin Lin, No. 10 Giovanni Manzoni, No. 18 Fred Biondi and No. 19 Quentin Debove.

A SEASON AGO
After a bumpy start early in the fall, the Gators concluded with a top-5 finish at Isleworth which carried momentum into the spring with back-to-back victories to start. The latter included winning the VyStar Gators Invitational for the 28th time and third consecutive en route to Fred Biondi tying the tournament record at 196 (-14) for his first career collegiate title.

The spring featured eight straight top-5 finishes with a runner-up performance at the SEC Championship and advancing to the match play finals for the first time in program history. John DuBois laid claim to the SEC Individual Championship for his first collegiate victory.

Florida secured its 32nd NCAA Regional bid and took a third place finish to advance its 55th appearance in the National Championships. On day three of stroke play, the Gators used late birdies on the back nine to make the first cut. UF concluded the season with a 10th place finish and only seven strokes from making match play. The finish marked the highest under head coach J.C. Deacon and best since a 9th place performance in 2007.

TOUR U
Following a breakout season, Fred Biondi earned the No. 1 ranking in the preseason PGA TOUR University Velocity Global Class of 2023 Rankings as a total of four Gators placed in the top-25. The next three Florida golfers were ranked in consecutive order with Ricky Castillo (No. 19), John DuBois (No. 20) and Yuxin Lin (No. 21) as the four selections were the most of any school as both North Carolina and Pepperdine had three.

Currently, Biondi holds the No. 3 spot with Castillo jumping two spots, six total in the last two weeks, to No. 14, Lin is No. 17 and DuBois right outside the top-25 at No. 29.

PRESEASON NODS
Prior to the start of their senior seasons, Fred Biondi and Ricky Castillo were named to the Preseason Haskins Award Watch List. The award is considered the most prestigious award in collegiate golf, and is presented annually to the most outstanding male golfer.

Heading into the spring, Yuxin Lin and Biondi were selected to the Ben Hogan Award Watch List, presented annually to the top collegiate men's golfer.

THE CHAMP
Winning his first collegiate title, John DuBois became the 25th Gator to win the SEC Individual Championship, which is the most by any school in the conference. He tied for the third-lowest round (64, -6) in SEC history as concluded the stroke play portion of the tournament setting career lows in round (64), tournament score (204) and best finish (1).

The native of Windermere, Fla., followed his historic performance by sending the Florida men's golf team to the SEC Championship Finals with his victory on the playoff hole in the semifinals vs. No. 1 Texas A&M. He teed off the 18th 1-down and won the hole to force extras. DuBois nearly eagled the hole (565 yards, par 5) as he two putted from seven feet for another memorable moment. The junior went 2-1 in the match play portion of the SEC Championship as he played in all 27 rounds for the first time in his career.

ROOKIE GATORS
Florida welcomed four newcomers this season in Parker Bell (Tallahassee, Fla.), Toby Bishop (Wales, United Kingdom), Will McGriff (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) and Luke Poulter (Orlando, Fla.).

GATOR GREAT COACHES
Last fall, head coach J.C. Deacon announced the addition of Dudley Hart as the next assistant coach. The Gator Great spent the last four seasons as the volunteer assistant coach. He was four-time All American, the 1987 SEC Freshman of the Year and a two-time PGA Tour winner.

To start last spring, Deacon again took the program to another level with the addition of Gator Great and former FedEx Cup Champion, Billy Horschel, as a volunteer assistant coach. He was a four-year (2006-09) member of the Gator golf team, three-time (2006-07, 2009) first-team All-American and two-time (2007 & 2009) SEC Player of the Year with over 280 professional outings.

THE TURN
The Orange and Blue return out west to the NIT (March 17-18) hosted by Arizona then wrapping up the regular season at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational (April 1-2).