The Florida men’s golf team is currently in third place after two rounds at the Gary Koch Invitational Saturday at Old Memorial Golf Club in Tampa. Buddy Alexander’s team totaled 560 (16-under-par) after two trips around at the par-72, 7,389-yard Old Memorial Golf Club (an 11-under 277 followed by a 5-under 283).
The fall tournament is named after former Gators All-American Gary Koch, who played on the PGA Tour and is now a golf commentator for NBC Sports and a member of Old Memorial.
“The course was really easy,” said head coach Buddy Alexander. “It’s not like any type of course we will play in the post-season. I think the scores depict the course and not really how we played. I think we did similar to what we did in Chicago in that we had a couple guys play well and a couple guys struggle. It’s up to me to make sure they we play more consistently and we will work on that. I think tomorrow will be a different story in that the golf course will be tougher.”
Senior Tyson Alexander (Gainesville, Fla.) led the Gators with two solid rounds on Saturday. Alexander is currently in a tie for seventh after carding a five-under 67 in his first round, followed by a one-under 71 in his second for a total score of 138. He finished the afternoon with 11 birdies, the second-most of any golfer in the field.
Two Gators – redshirt junior Andres Echavarria of Colombia and freshman Phillip Choi of Orlando – are are currently tied for 13th place after carding a five-under 139. Another freshman making his debut, Tyler McCumber of Ponte Vedra, was tied for 46th place at 1-over-par 145. Sophomore Max Kieffer of Germany is in 69th place at 150.
Junior Bank Vongvanij of Bradenton, who is playing as an individual, is tied for seventh with Alexander after carding similar rounds of 67 and 71.
GARY KOCH INVITATIONAL
At Old Memorial Golf Course, Tampa
Par: 72. Length: 7,389 yards
Team scores: 1. Texas Tech 550 (-26) 271-279; 2. Florida State 554 (-22) 274-280; 3. Florida 560 (-16) 277-283; 4. Virginia 561 (-15) 282-279; T5. Augusta State 564 (-12) 286-278 and Georgia Southern (-12) 281-283; 7. Louisiana State 568 (-8) 275-293; 8. North Carolina 569 (-7) 281-288; T9. Mississippi 570 (-6) 285-285 and Auburn 570 (-6) 290-280; 11. North Florida 571 (-5) 290-281; 12. Kentucky 573 (-3) 288-285; 13. UAB 574 (-2) 287-287; 14. East Tennessee State 577 (+1) 294-283; 15. South Florida 597 (+21) 295-302.
Individuals (Top 10): 1. Seth Lauer (Florida State) 133 (-11) 66-67; 2. John Peterson (LSU) 134 (-10) 67-67; 3. Kyle Kopsick (Auburn) 135 (-9) 72-63; T4. Nils Floren (Texas Tech) 136 (-8) 66-70 and Chris Ward (Texas Tech) 136 (-8) 69-67; 6. Brian Scherer (Texas Tech) 137 (-7) 69-68; T7. Tyson Alexander (Florida) 138 (-6) 67-71, Bank Vongvanij (Florida) 138 (-6) 67-71, Henrik Norlander (Augusta State) 138 (-6) 71-67, Brian Belden (Kentucky) 138 (-6) 69-69, Ben Kohles (Virginia) 138 (-6) 68-70 and Brooks Koepka (Florida State) 138 (-6) 68-70.
Florida team scores: T7. Tyson Alexander 138 (-6) 67-71; T13. Andres Echavarria 139 (-5) 70-69 and Phillip Choi 139 (-5) 68-71; T46. Tyler McCumber 145 (+1) 73-72; 69. Max Kieffer 150 (+6) 72-78. Note: Bank Vongvanij, who is competing as an individual, is T7 138 (-6) 67-71.
MEN’S TENNIS: SEMINOLE INVITATIONAL
The Florida men’s tennis team continued action on the second day of the Seminole Invitational hosted by Florida State University in Tallahassee, Fla., on Saturday.
Junior Erik Corace of Naples scored a pair of victories for the Gators, defeating teammate/freshman William Federhofer of North Miami (6-2, 6-4) as well as Danny Manlow of Alabama-Birmingham (6-3, 7-5).
Fellow Gators Johnny Hamui of Wesley Chapel and Daniel Cash of Norway both dropped their only matches of the day. Max Gregor of Mississippi State beat Hamui, 6-3, 3-6, 10-7. Anderson Reed of FSU beat Cash, 4-6, 6-2, 10-8.
All four players were competing in the A Division. Hamui and Cash did combine for an 8-2 victory over North Florida’s Moritz Buercher and Kurt Gattiker in doubles.
WOMEN’S TENNIS: ITA ALL-AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIPS PRE-QUALIFIER
Florida’s Claire Bartlett of Chattanooga, Tenn., won a pair of singles matches and advanced to the third round of Riviera/ITA All American Championships Pre-Qualifying Tournament Saturday at the Los Angeles Tennis Club.
Bartlett’s matches were part of the early rounds that took the court on the West Coast, while Gator freshman Allie Will of Boca Raton won her first-round match 7-6 (6), 6-1 over Clemson’s Ina Hadziselimovic. Sophomore Joanna Mather of Duluth, Ga., dropped her first-round outing against Cal Poly’s Suzie Matzenauer, 6-3, 2-6, 6-1.
Bartlett topped Texas A&M’s Morgan Frank, 7-5, 1-6, 6-3, before taking down Illinois’ Chelcie Abajain, 6-4, 6-1.
The two-day event serves as a feeder into the qualifying draw that takes place Oct. 6-7 at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Competitors need to win three pre-qualifying matches to earn one of the eight open slots in the 64-player qualifying event.
WOMEN’S LACROSSE: FLORIDA WINS TWO EXHIBITIONS
The Florida lacrosse team started its fall season off with a bang on Saturday, scoring a combined 49 goals in two games against Jacksonville University and Rollins College. The Gators took down the Dolphins in the first game, 22-4, and followed up with a 27-6 victory over the Tars.
In the first match at the Florida Lacrosse Facility, two first-year programs met on the field with Florida taking control early on against Jacksonville. Sophomore Rachael Zimmerman of Englewood, Colo., totaled seven points on five goals and two assists.
In game two against Rollins, it was much of the same. Freshman Cori Gary of White Hall, Md., totaled 12 points on five goals and seven assists. Freshman Ashley Bruns of Ellicott City, Md., and freshman Colby Rhea of Abington, Md., each had five goals. Zimmerman had two goals and two assists to finish with 11 points on the day.
Freshman goalkeeper Cara Canington of Bel Air, Md., collected the two victories, totaling six saves in the two games.
Florida travels north for the prestigious Princeton Fall Tournament on Oct. 17. They will play five 30-minute running clock games against five of the NCAA quarterfinalists from 2009, including NCAA runner-up North Carolina and five-time defending national champion Northwestern. The Gators also play Syracuse, Penn and Princeton.