Kress Does it Again; Florida-Vanderbilt SEC Finals Rematch
Matthew Kress celebrates with head coach J.C. Deacon after winning his hole to send the Gators to the SEC Match Play Finals tomorrow.
Saturday, April 22, 2023

Kress Does it Again; Florida-Vanderbilt SEC Finals Rematch

Matthew Hutchison
Matthew Kress secured both match-clinching points for the Gators on Saturday.

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. - Matthew Kress has started to make his name known at the SEC Championship and at Sea Island Golf Club. In his postseason debut, he clinched both match play matches on Saturday, sending the Florida to the match-play finals on Sunday. 

After not playing in his first-year, Kress has had an impressive last three days. He erased seven shots in round two of stroke play with a 67 (-3) on Thursday to move Florida into third-place and then followed with a final round of 69 (-1) on Friday. He continued his postseason debut securing the match clinching point twice today with the final sending the Gators to a rematch with No. 4 Vanderbilt for the SEC title. 

A native of Saratoga, Calif., he led off Florida in the semifinals vs. No. 2 Texas A&M, winning the first four holes with two birdies and didn't drop a hole until on eight. Kress sent the Gators into celebration with a par on 18 to win his match 2 Up as UF won the match 3-2. The victory was the second straight over the Aggies in the semifinals as eight of the ten total players were featured in the matchups last season. 

Florida grabbed the first point off the board from John DuBois. He bounced back after a 6&5 setback in the quarterfinals with a 3&2 victory over his opponent, who he defeated last year in 19 holes to send the Gators to the finals. 

The Gators quickly moved to 2-0 with another 3&2 win, this time from Fred Biondi. After dropping his first hole, he responded with back-to-back wins and held steady at the turn. His win on 16 turned the attention to 18 where Kress added to his postseason story. 

Tomorrow will serve as a rematch to last year's finals as UF was narrowly edged 3-2 with the match coming down to the final hole. The battle for the conference will be live on SEC Network with Gator Great and former Florida golfer Steve Melnyk on the call. The match will start at 8 a.m.
 
Scores
Player Opponent  Score
Matthew Kress Vishnu Sadagopan 2 Up - Florida
John DuBois   William Paysse 3&2 - Florida
Fred Biondi Daniel Rodrigues 2&1 - Florida 
Yuxin Lin Phichaksn Maichon 3&2 - Texas A&M
Ricky Castillo Sam Bennett 2UP - Texas A&M


 
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