Gators men's golf coach J.C. Deacon exits the team plane (hardware in hand) after returning to Gainesville from the NCAA Championships in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Deacon, Gators Bring Championship Hardware Home
Thursday, June 1, 2023 | Men's Golf, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Over the course of the previous 40 minutes, the NCAA Men's Golf Championship match-play final Wednesday night had turned in the University of Florida's favor. The Gators needed to win just one of the two matches left on the Grayhawk Golf Club course in Scottsdale, Ariz., with both fifth-year senior Fred Biondi, already with the individual title tucked away, with a 1-up lead on his Georgia Tech opponent and sitting pretty in the center of the 18th fairway and senior Ricky Castillo standing on the 18th tee also enjoying a 1-up advantage in his match.
That's when Castillo pulled a Rangefinder out of his bag and through the pseudo-binoculars began giving Deacon play-by-play of Biondi's second shot about 320 yards away.
He's taking the club back. Ball's in the air. I think he hit it solid. He's holding his finish. It's on the green.
Castillo then piped a 3-wood down the middle of the fairway, grabbed his bag and the two began making the walk — almost certainly — to a national championship.
Deacon thought it a good time to get nostalgic.
"This will probably embarrass Ricky. I don't know why I did it — I guess because I'm an idiot — but I said to him, 'When you were 11 years old I knew this was going to happen to us,' " Deacon said. "We both just started bawling. I'm literally covering my eyes with the camera guys coming over and we're like, 'We better get our [stuff] together. We were going to look like idiots if we lose this match and they saw us out here crying."
Deacon recalled that moment Thursday night in front the Mark Bostick Golf Course Clubhouse, the facility that serves as Gators headquarters. He told it while cradling the 2023 NCAA championship trophy and probably with every tear drained from his body following the emotional title-claiming charge of less than 24 hours earlier.
Biondi finished with a routine par that clinched UF's 3-1 victory and fifth national championship in program history.
For what it's worth, Deacon and Castillo watched from the fairway and cried into each other's arms, which was pretty much what every other Gator was doing on the 18th green Wednesday. On Thursday, a group of about 50 UF fans, mostly from the team's Gator Golfers Boosters Club, showed up at Bostick late in the afternoon to greet their champions with a triumphant homecoming that prompted some repeat emotions.
"We're going to talk about it all over again," Deacon said. "I'm going to try and keep it together this time."
Here's how Florida's last six weeks went:
April 19-23 — Finished third in the stroke-play portion of the SEC Championships at St. Simons Island, Ga., then defeated Ole Miss, Texas A&M and No. 1-ranked Vanderbilt in a two-day span in the match play competition to capture the program's first league crown since 2011.
May 15-17 — After a rocky front nine on the opening day of their NCAA regional at Bath, Mich., the Gators got hot on the second day and mostly stayed hot the rest of the way, though did need a rally from seven shots down to finish above the top-five cut line with a fourth-place finish of 12-under, which was good enough for a five-shot cushion on the non-qualifiers.
May 26-31 — Biondi came from five shots back on Monday's final day of stroke play to become the third individual NCAA champion in Gators history, joining Bob Murphy (1966) and Nick Gilliam (2001), and was the catalyst for a team that for the first time advanced to the match-play format of the championships that was instituted in 2009. UF got out of stroke play as the No. 2 seed after playing at a combined 2-under for the four rounds. In the Tuesday morning quarterfinals, the Gators trailed Virginia, then fought back for a 3-2 win anchored by senior Yuxin Lin securing the winning point after rallying from down three with seven holes remaining. In the afternoon semifinals, the Florida trailed rival Florida State 2-0, only to rally again, this time with wins by Biondi and senior John DuBois for the tie, then with Castillo finishing the grueling marathon with a 21-hole match victory that sent the Gators to the championship round.
Then came Wednesday. And the tears.
"I thought I was on Cloud 9 after winning the SEC," redshirt freshman Matthew Kress said. "I don't know what's higher than that?"
Whatever it is, the Gators could have floated on it from the dry Arizona heat back to the North Florida first-day-of-June humidity.
As for Deacon's account of his moment with Castillo.
Embarrassed, Ricky? "No."
True story? "Oh yes."
The sign (with 2023 championships updated) greeted the Gators when they returned home Thursday.
The story of this team, Deacon said while working on just three hours of sleep, will be one of perseverance and resilience, but also one of growth, maturity and a commitment to becoming the best they could be.
Deacon credited assistant coach Dudley Hart, the former Gator and UF Hall-of-Famer, with changing the culture upon his arrival two years ago. He sent a shoutout to strength/conditioning coach Markus Fuerst, who had the team in good enough shape to play (and walk) eight rounds over seven days in near 100-degree temperatures. He acknowledged virtually everyone who touched his program.
And, of course, he acknowledged his players. 2001 NCAA medalist Nick Gilliam (left) was among those at Bostick Golf Course Thursday afternoon to welcome back the 2023 NCAA champion Gators and 2023 NCAA medalist Fred Biondi (right).
"The special thing about this team? It was always someone," Deacon said. "Matt Kress shoots 67, 69 in final two rounds of SECs and then goes 3-0 in match play. John DuBois goes 2-1 in match play at SEC, then 3-0 this week. Xuxin has a really tough second match against Florida State — didn't play very well at all — then rolls the [Georgia Tech] guy in the finals. Just always getting a contribution from someone. It seemed like every day someone new stepped it up."
He wanted to say he was the proudest coach in the country, but what Deacon didn't say (and wouldn't) is that he can be considered one of the best in the country, also. When he was hired in 2014, the Gators were coming off a season when they finished 12th in the SEC and were ranked 85th in the country.
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