Mark Leon enters his fifth season as assistant coach of the Florida Gators after spending the previous six seasons serving in the same roll with his alma mater, Penn State.
Leon and the Gators returned to competition in a three-tournament fall schedule that featured SEC only play to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Florida touted a new lineup that featured at least three newcomers in each tournament, recording its best finish at the Vanderbilt Legends Collegiate where a 24-under par score put the team in a tie for fourth place. Aiding in a winter regrouping, the Gators responded with back-to-back first place finishes in their first two tournaments, including the second straight win at the Gators Invitational.
The Gators qualified for their 54th NCAA Championship in program history after a gutsy final round in the Cle Elum Regional propelled the team into fifth place. Florida would see its season come to an end after three rounds of stroke play at the Championship, with Ricky Castillo qualifying individually for the final day of stroke play and ultimately finishing 12th in the field. Leon helped mold the freshman duo of Joe Pagdin and Tyler Wilkes. Pagdin was named the 2021 SEC Freshman of the Year and the pair were both names to the SEC All-Freshman Team. In addition, Ricky Castillo earned a spot on the Second-Team All-SEC. Castillo and Pagdin were both named to the Division I PING All-Region Southeast Team.
With guidance from Leon, the Gators were trending upwards before the 2019-20 season ended abruptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following a challenging fall campaign, Florida opened the spring with three-straight top-five finishes. Of those finishes, UF captured the team title at the VyStar Gators Invitational by an impressive 18 strokes, giving the Gators their first team win at Mark Bostick Golf Course since 2011.
Leon also helped mold the best one-two combination in the nation with junior John Axelsen and freshman Ricky Castillo. Both players received recognition at the national and league level following their outstanding play. Castillo was named the 2020 Phil Mickelson Outstanding Freshman Award honoree and SEC Freshman of the Year. He also earned a spot on the All-SEC First Team, NCAA Division I PING All-America First Team and appeared on the Ben Hogan Award Final Watch List. Alongside Castillo, Axelsen also earned First Team All-American and All-SEC First Team honors.
The Gators ended the 2018-19 season at the NCAA Regional in Pullman, Washington. Florida tallied four top-five finishes and seven top-10 finishes. Their best came at the Florida Gators Invitational where the finished in second place, just one stroke off the winner Vanderbilt. The Gators' arguably-best performance came in the last event of the regular season at the Robert Kepler Invitational, hosted by Ohio State. The Gators finished third with four Gators inside the top 25. Sophomore John Axelsen earned PING All-Region honors at the conclusion of the season.
His first season as a gator proved to be an exciting one for Leon. The 2017-18 campaign brought an individual conference champion and All-American in sophomore Andy Zhang. The Gators notched three titles, five top-5 and eight top-10 finishes throughout the season. They won the NCAA Regional in record-breaking fashion. After sitting at 25-under and five clear of the field entering the final round, Florida was chasing history. The team needed to shoot 12-under-par to tie the record for strokes under par.
The Gators shattered that mark, shooting a final-round 271 (-17), the lowest single round to par in program history. By the end of the tournament, they were 42-under-par to set the new program record by five strokes en route to winning the event by 12 shots. All five Gator players finished 2-under or better in the tournament, the only school in the field to accomplish the feat. Florida won the regional title for the first time since 2011 and fifth time overall.
The Gators advanced to the 54th NCAA Championships in program history, where they finished 18th.
Under Leon's guidance since the start of the 2011-12, the Nittany Lions advanced to the NCAA Tournament four seasons in a row while having 19 All-Region selections and a 2017 PING All-American honoree in rising senior Cole Miller.
Before joining the Nittany Lion coaching staff, he spent four years on the Canadian Tour. Leon had two top-10 finishes placing fourth in the 2008 Players Cup and tied for sixth in 2009.
Leon, a 2005 Penn State graduate, was a member of the Nittany Lion golf team from 2001-05 earning All-Big Ten honors in 2005, 2004 GCAA All-American recognition and All-Region selection in 2003, '04 and '05. He is fifth on Penn State's career scoring leaders list with a 73.79 average in the 134 rounds he played on the squad.
As a junior, Leon led the team to a great finish in the 2004 NCAA Championships. He posted a three-round, one-under par total of 279 (69-69-70-71) to tie for sixth, the best all-time finish in Penn State history.
The Mark Leon File:
Education: Bachelor of Arts – History, Penn State, 2005
Date announced as UF assistant coach: July 13, 2017
Coaching Career:
- Assistant Coach, Penn State, 2011-17
- Assistant Coach, University of Florida, 2017-present
Playing Career:
- Penn State, 2001-05
- Canadian Men's National Golf Team, 2006
- Canadian Tour, 2007-10
Playing Honors:
- Sixth in Players Cup (2009)
- Fourth in the Players Cup (2008)
- Medalist Canadian Amateur (2006)
- Quarterfinals at U.S. Amateur (2005)
- All-Big Ten (2005)
- Sixth at NCAA Championships (2004)
- GCAA All-American (2004)
- GCAA All-Region (2003, '04, '05)
