Senior Bank Vongvanij (Bradenton) and the No. 1 University of Florida Men’s Golf team (Golfstat) look to kick off their spring season on Monday as they travel to Ponte Vedra Beach for the JU Invitational.
The two-day tournament takes place at Stadium @ TPC, a 72 par, 7,214 yard course, and features 14 teams in addition to Florida: No. 23 Wake Forest, Jacksonville, Clemson, East Carolina, Liberty, North Florida, East Tennessee State, Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville State, Mercer, Georgia State, James Madison, Old Dominion and Charleston Southern.
This marks the third year the JU Tournament has been played and the first time Florida has competed. East Tennessee State won the tournament in 2010.
Of the 15-team field, UNF and Clemson both qualified for the 2010 NCAA Tournament and finished 14th and tied for 16th, respectively, in the 30-team field. The only team Florida has seen so far in the 2010-11 season is Georgia State, who finished 11th out of 12 at the Jerry Pate Invitational.
The Gators, led by Vongvanij, earned national recognition after a successful fall in which they finished in the top three in all three tournaments they played, including a first-place finish at the Olympia Fields Invitational in Sept. Vongvanij, the No.1 player in the country according to Golfstat, recorded three top five finishes, including a first-place win at the Isleworth Invitational and a second-place finish at Olympia Fields.
Also returning for Florida this year is redshirt senior Andres Echavarria (Medellin, Colombia), who competed in two tournaments in the fall and boasts a 71.3 stroke average going into the spring.
The Gator sophomore class rounds out the other three golfers in the lineup with Phillip Choi (Orlando), Tyler McCumber (Ponte Vedra Beach) and Tommy Mou (Bradenton). McCumber recorded two top-five finishes and Choi had two top-10 finishes in three tournaments in the competitive fall season.
Players are set to tee off at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 31 and at 8:40 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 1.