Gator Country

Bank Vongvanij continued his stellar play in 2011. / Gator Country file photo by Tim Casey

Florida Men’s Golf senior Bank Vongvanij (Bradenton, Fla.) earned his third medalist honor of the 2010-11 season with his win at the Schenkel Invitational on Sunday in Statesboro, Ga.

With the victory, Vongvanij has three first-place finishes, three in the top five, one in the top 10 and one in the top 20 in the Gators’ first eight tournaments. His first win of the season came at the Isleworth Invitational on Oct. 26 and then followed with the Gators’ first tournament of the spring season at the JU Invitational on Feb. 1.

As a team, Florida came back from six strokes down behind leader Auburn to take the lead after the front nine holes, but let the Tigers find their way back in and tied it up at the end of the round. In the playoff, Auburn made birdie and shot four pars to seal the win.

“We had a good tournament, but a disappointing end,” said head coach Buddy Alexander. “In any sport, there’s a lot of momentum going into a playoff, but we couldn’t find a way to win. This was a big event and would have been a positive win for us.”

Sophomore Phillip Choi (Orlando, Fla.) shot all three rounds under par to finish in fourth place for the Gators. In 52 holes, Choi made 12 birdies against only four bogeys and one double bogey to finish six-under par in the tournament. He has now finished in the top 10 in the last seven of Florida’s eight events this season.

Redshirt-senior Andres Echavarria (Medellin, Colombia) and Tyler McCumber (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) both recorded top-20 finishes. Echavarria tied for 11th and McCumber tied for 20th after coming back from a tie at 48th after round two.

Junior Michael Furci (Sayville, N.Y.) made 13 birdies in the three rounds to finish in a tie for 55th place.

Playing individually for the Gators, sophomore Tommy Mou (Bradenton, Fla.) recorded a 219 and a tie for 25th.

Florida has a quick turnaround as it travels to Awendaw, S.C. for the Hootie @ Bulls Bay Invitational on March 27-29 for its last tournament before postseason play.

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