Gators Resume Spring Season at Schenkel Invitational

Friday, March 15

Statesboro, Ga. / Forest Heights Country Club

10:30 a.m. (18 Holes)

Florida Gators

Schenkel Invitational

Parker Bell tess off at TPC Sawgrass at the Sea Best Invitational this season.

Gators Resume Spring Season at Schenkel Invitational

Thursday, March 14, 2024 | Men's Golf

Live Scoring Schenkel Program

The three-day event begins on Friday at Forest Heights Country Club.

By: Matthew Hutchison

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
Dates: Friday, March 15 - Sunday, March 17
Location: Statesboro, Ga. - Forest Heights Country Club
Host: Georgia Southern University
Course Par/Yardage: 72 / 7,123 yards
Format: 18 holes each day
Tee Times: 10:30 a.m. on Friday and TBD on Saturday and Sunday
Scoring: Golf Stat
Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

TEE OFF
The No. 17 Florida men's golf team resumes the spring season at 44th annual Schenkel Invitational this weekend.

LINE UP
No. 1 - Ian Gilligan
No. 2 - Tyler Wilkes
No. 3 - Matthew Kress
No. 4 - Parker Bell
No. 5 - Jack Turner
Individual - Quentin Debove
Individual - John DuBois
Individual - Luke Poulter

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Gators are set to make their 34th appearance in the 44th annual Schenkel Invitational, one of the most prestigious golf tournaments in collegiate golf. The event was created to honor Hall of Fame broadcaster Chris Schenkel, who was the first to cover The Masters on television, the first to anchor a live telecast of the Olympics and the first to call a nationally broadcast college football game.

Florida last appeared in 2018 and participated in the inaugural event in 1971, finishing runner-up. The Gators have won the event four times (1972, 1975, 2004 2017), finished top-5 on 23 occasions and have had six medalists, including Andy Bean and Phil Hancock

COMPETING TEAMS
Army, Campbell, Florida, FGCU, Georgia Southern, Kentucky, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi State, NC State, Notre Dame, Southern Carolina, UAB, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

LAST TIME OUT
The Gators finished 4th at the Southern Highlands Collegiate behind Ian Gilligan's solo victory, his first as a Gator and fifth collegiate win. His medalist honor also earned him an exemption into the PGA Tour's Shriners Open this fall. It marked back-to-back seasons a Florida golfer has won the event with Yuxin Lin winning last season.

HASKINS WATCH LIST
Ian Gilligan was named to the first Spring Haskins Award Watch List, honoring the best golfer in collegiate golf. Gilligan has had a hot start to the spring with finishes of 2-3-1 and match play win in the first four spring events. He recently won his fifth collegiate tournament and first as a Gator, at the Southern Highlands Collegiate. The victory also earned him an exemption into the PGA Tour's 2024 Shriners Open and back-to-back SEC Golfer of the Week honors.

FALL RECAP
UF highlighted the first half of the season with the victory at the Georgetown Intercollegiate with a 17-shot victory behind Matthew Kress' first collegiate victory and the 22nd all-time under head coach J.C. Deacon.

Kress leads the team in stroke average (70.8) followed behind transfer Ian Gilligan, who are both tied for a team-best four top-25 finishes out of five fall tournaments.

PROMOTED
Prior to the 2023-24 season getting underway, head coach J.C. Deacon announced the promotion of Gator Great and assistant coach Dudley Hart to Associate Head Coach.

Hart was also named an assistant coach for Team USA at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup this summer at Lahinch Golf Club in Lahinch, Ireland from July 5-7.

NEW GATORS
Florida welcomed three newcomers this season in freshmen Rylan Shim (Centreville, Virginia), and Jack Turner (Orlando, Fla.) and All-American transfer Ian Gilligan (Reno, N.V.)

HISTORIC SEASON REWIND
It was a historic season for the Gators in 2022-23 that led to the program's fifth National Championship and 16th SEC Championship.

Florida captured a national title for the first time in 22 years last week as the Gators swept NCAAs with Fred Biondi winning the NCAA Individual Championship. It was the third UF golfer (Nick Gilliam 2001, Bob Murphy 1966) to achieve the honor and second time in 30 years the program swept both titles. Florida is one of seven schools to achieve the mark twice. The Gators won the NCAA team title, individual title and conference title in the same season for the first time in program history.

Head Coach J.C. Deacon was tabbed both the SEC and National Coach of the Year for the first time in his career as assistant coach Dudley Hart earned National Assistant Coach of the Year. It was the first time in history that UF won both awards in the same season.

UF reached match play at nationals for the first time in program history after playing in the fourth round of stroke play for the fifth time overall. Florida finished stroke play in 2nd with a score of 1118 (-2), its lowest all-time at Grayhawk and first under par team score at the NCAAs since 2006. The 1,118 was the lowest round score at the National Championships in program history. A final round of 279 (-1) marks the third consecutive under round after back-to-back 2-under 278s in round two and three. The 2-under performance by UF is the best round at the NCAA Championships since the opening round in 2007.

Florida made its 56th NCAA Championship appearance this year, ranking fifth most in the country after a third-round comeback at Bath Regional saw Florida erase a seven-shot deficit led by a trio of rounds in the 60s by Yuxin Lin (66, -5), John DuBois (69, -2) and Ricky Castillo (69, -2).

The Gators won the SEC Championship title for the first time in 12 years. The Gators got revenge and defeated No. 1 Vanderbilt 3-1-1 at Sea Island after falling 3-2 in 2022. Senior John DuBois, the 2022 SEC Individual Champion, sank a 15-footer for the match-clinching point.

Florida claimed six team titles and six individual titles this season, the most since seven in 2003-04 as it was the sixth time the Gators have won at least six events in a season. The six medalist honors tied the program record in a season and only the third time in Florida history, the others were in 1989-90 and 2010-11.

Prior to the postseason, the Orange and Blue won four regular season tournaments, including the season opener and finale. At the Augusta Haskins Award Invite, Florida finished 39-under par, to tie second all-time in program history by par and only three shots away from the record (-42). At the Gators Invitational, Florida won its home event for the fourth straight year the 29th time overall in the tournament's 46th occurrence.

Four golfers (Fred Biondi, Ricky Castillo, John DuBois and Yuxin Lin) all earned PING All-American honors, tied for the most selections by a school this year and tied the Florida record. It was the seventh time the Gators had four selections with the last time being in 2006. Biondi, Castillo, Lin and Quentin Debove were also selected to the PING All-Region Team. The trio of Biondi, Castillo and Lin collected All-SEC honors with Matthew Kress collecting freshman team recognition.

Success was also obtained off the course with Biondi, DuBois and Quentin Debove being named GCCA All-American Scholars, which marked the third consecutive years with multiple honorees under Deacon and most selections in a single season in program history.

THE CHAMP RETURNS
Following the national championship victory, senior John DuBois announced his return for his 5th year.

DuBois finished undefeated (3-0) in match play at the NCAA National Championship, including winning his semifinals and finals matches 1Up with victories on 18. He also finished T18 in the stroke play portion with rounds of 70-70-69-72 for a 1-over 281.

A postseason hero, DuBois secured the match-clinching point for Florida's first SEC Championship in 12 years vs. No. 1 Vanderbilt behind his 15-foot par putt. The senior was 3-down multiple times, including through 11 holes. He went 2-1 in match play and owns a career record of 7-2 in postseason match play (SECs and NCAAs).

A PING All-American selection this year, he won the 2022 SEC Individual Championship for his first collegiate win. Unranked by Golfstat at the time, he defeated the No. 1, 2, 8, 12, 13 and 17 ranked players. He became the 25th Gator to win the conference individual title, the most by any SEC school with his first of multiple clutch shots on 18 at Sea Island Golf Club.

DuBois also sent Florida to the SEC Championship Match Play Finals for the first time in program history last year with the match-clinching victory in extra holes (19) after he teed off the 18th hole 1-down.

At the 2023 NCAA Bath Regional, DuBois helped the Gators overcome a seven-shot deficit with a final round of 1-under 69.

THE TURN
Florida concludes the regular season at the Calusa Cup (April 7-8) in Naples, Fla. The SEC Championship is set for April 24-28 at Sea Island GC in St. Simons Island, Ga.