Gator Country

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. * Freshman Tim McKenney (Scottsdale, Ariz.) posted his second-consecutive round of 69 (-1) on the final day of the NCAA Championships at Golden Horseshoe Golf Club, leading the University of Florida men’s golf team to a share of ninth place with a total of 1133 (+13). The Gators shot a five-over 285 as a team on Saturday, holding pace with Minnesota for the 28th top-10 finish in school history.

“At the beginning of the year, finishing in the top-10 at the NCAA Championships was a goal of ours,” Florida head coach Buddy Alexander said. “You obviously want to win a national championship, but finishing in the top-10 of such a great field is quite an accomplishment. I’m proud of the way we battled and hung in there this week.”

McKenney’s final-round 69 was his second-consecutive round under par, and combined with his third-round effort to mark a new career-best 36-hole total (138). He got off to a quick start on Saturday, rolling in back-to-back-to-back birdies on holes 11, 12 and 13 to move to three under after four holes. Three-straight bogeys from holes 18-2 brought him back to even in the second half of his round, but he fought back with a birdie on the par-three seventh to earn his third red number of the NCAA Championships. McKenney finished the tournament with a one-over 281 to grab a team-best share of 22nd place.

“I have to tip my cap to Tim McKenney,” Alexander said. “To have a freshman be your low guy and break par on three of the four days is amazing. He got things going in the right direction early in the week, and he was able to come up with an impressive performance.”

Sophomore Toby Ragland (Jacksonville, Fla.) also got off to an impressive start on Saturday, hitting the turn at four under for the day after playing a spotless nine holes that featured a quartet of birdies. He ran into some trouble on the front nine, finding himself one over with one to play, but rebounded for a closing birdie that lowered his score to even par for the final round. The performance was the second round at par or better this week for Ragland, who finished in a tie for 29th place with a total of 282 (+2). Fellow sophomore Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.) birdied four holes on the day en route to a one-over 71, bringing his tournament total to 284 (+4) and earning him a tie for 35th.

Junior Tyler Brown (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) capped his season with a second-straight round of 75 (+5), finishing the tournament in 80th place with a total of 300 (+20). Brown’s classmate, junior Manuel Villegas (Medellin, Colombia) finished with a final-round 80 (+10) to conclude the tournament in a 64th-place tie with a mark of 292 (+12).

“Any time you play at this level, it is a learning experience,” Alexander said. “These guys got a lot out of playing today, and they can carry that into next year. We’ve got everyone coming back, we’ve got talented guys that we didn’t even bring on this trip and we’ve got a lot of good things to look forward to. We’ll take a few days to rest, then we’ll regroup and start all over again.”

Stanford earned the team title with an 11-under, 1109-stroke performance, while Southern California’s Jamie Lovemark took the individual medal with a final-round 64 that put his final total at 271 (-9).

Team Scores
Place School Score
1. Stanford 275-278-275-281 = 1109 (-11)
2. Georgia 282-289-269-281 = 1121 (+1)
T3. Lamar 285-287-278-275 = 1125 (+5)
T3. Charlotte 279-283-276-287 = 1125 (+5)
5. Coastal Carolina 277-281-272-298 = 1128 (+8)
6. Alabama 284-283-271-291 = 1129 (+9)
7. UCLA 283-280-283-284 = 1130 (+10)
8. Georgia Tech 288-275-280-288 = 1131 (+11)
T9. Minnesota 278-276-294-285 = 1133 (+13)
T9. FLORIDA 278-290-280-285 = 1133 (+13)
T11. Texas 278-288-284-286 = 1136 (+16)
T11. South Carolina 291-278-280-287 = 1136 (+16)
T13. Duke 294-278-277-291 = 1140 (+20)
T13. Florida State 283-288-280-289 = 1140 (+20)
15. Oklahoma State 287-279-285-291 = 1142 (+22)
16. Tennessee 284-287-280 = 851 (+11)
17. Georgia State 286-282-284 = 852 (+12)
T18. East Tennessee State 280-280-294 = 854 (+14)
T18. Southern California 289-286-279 = 854 (+14)
T18. Arizona State 286-290-278 = 854 (+14)
T21. North Carolina 289-283-283 = 855 (+15)
T21. Vanderbilt 284-285-286 = 855 (+15)
23. Michigan State 283-287-287 = 857 (+17)
24. Arizona 290-287-281 = 858 (+18)
25. Tulsa 284-291-284 = 859 (+19)
26. Wake Forest 293-287-285 = 865 (+25)
27. Louisville 288-292-288 = 868 (+28)
28. Texas Tech 293-294-282 = 869 (+29)
29. New Mexico 293-288-291 = 872 (+32)
30. Auburn 295-291-287 = 873 (+33)

Individual Top-10
Place Player Score
1. Jamie Lovemark (Southern California) 72-71-64-64 = 271 (-9)
2. Kyle Stanley (Clemson) 70-69-65-69 = 273 (-7)
3. Rob Grube (Stanford) 64-71-69-70 = 274 (-6)
T4. Chesson Hadley (Georgia Tech) 72-67-66-70 = 275 (-5)
T4. Zach Sucher (UAB) 68-67-70-70 = 275 (-5)
T4. Daniel Summerhays (BYU) 74-63-68-70 = 275 (-5)
T4. Michael Thompson (Alabama) 72-71-66-66 = 275 (-5)
8. Jon Curran (Vanderbilt) 70-64-72-70 = 276 (-4)
T9. Andrew DiBitetto (Charlotte) 68-72-70-68 = 278 (-2)
T9. Dustin Johnson (Coastal Carolina) 67-68-70-73 = 278 (-2)
T9. Chris Kirk (Georgia) 68-73-69-68 = 278 (-2)
T9. Adam Mitchell (Georgia) 72-72-65-69 = 278 (-2)
T9. Matt Savage (Florida State) 67-69-70-72 = 278 (-2)
T9. Cameron Tringale (Georgia Tech) 67-68-69-74 = 278 (-2)

Florida Results
Place Player Score
T22. Tim McKenney 66-77-69-69 = 281 (+1)
T29. Toby Ragland 72-69-71-70 = 282 (+2)
T35. Billy Horschel 71-73-69-71 = 284 (+4)
T64. Manuel Villegas 70-71-71-80 = 292 (+12)
80. Tyler Brown 71-79-75-75 = 300 (+20)

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