SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -
Fred Biondi led the Florida men's golf team in the opening round of the NCAA Championships on Friday with a 1-under 69 as the Gators also shot its best round all-time at Grayhawk. UF is in seventh place as less than three strokes separate the six teams in front of them.
Florida was the first team to tee off the in the morning, paired with Florida State and Pepperdine. The Gators finished with a round of 283 (+3), a 17-shot improvement from its round one of last year. Also the score was two shots better than its previous low, which was a 285 in round two last season.
Biondi started off strong with a birdie on 10 (par-4, 390) to move Florida to 2-under after
Ricky Castillo made back-to-back on 10 & 11. Castillo's outing this weekend will mark his third time playing at the National Championships at Grayhawk. One of 15 in the field to accomplish the feat, he sits T31.
Over holes 12-16, UF found its score to +3 heading to 17-18. A birdie-birdie finish for
Yuxin Lin before making the turn with a birdie on 17 from Biondi, cut it to +1 at the turn. He is tied for 14th.
Ranked No. 3 in PGA Tour U Rankings, Biondi again made another big putt for birdie that helped Florida get back to even par on four (par-5, 562). He sank his final birdie on an up-hill putt on eight (par-3, 188).
Battling back after sitting +2 with four holes remaining,
John DuBois went par-birdie-birdie-par to close out his round. He turned in an even par round of 70 to place T19. A stroke behind him was Castillo with a 71 (+1) and the final counting score of 73 (+3) by Lin in T70
Florida tees off round two tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. ET.
