OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Senior Bank Vongvanij finished second individually and two of his Florida Gators teammates also finished in the Top 10 as Buddy Alexander’s golf team opened its fall season by capturing the Olympia Fields Invitational Sunday.
Vongvanij carded a closing even-par 70 at the venerable old club designed by two-time British Open champion Willie Park Jr. and opened in 1915. He finished with a 3-under-par total of 207, three strokes behind medalist Peter Uihlein of Oklahoma State. Florida sophomore Tyler McCumber closed with a 70 and finished tied for fifth at one-over 211, a stroke ahead of a group tied for seventh that included Gator senior Andres Echavarria, who closed with a 73.
The Gators, who had totaled 280 in the first two rounds, combined for a 285 in the final round to finish at 5-over-par 845, seven strokes ahead of Oklahoma State and defending NCAA champion Augusta State. Florida’s winning total was seven shots better than the previous tournament record set by host Illinois in 2008.
“This is a big win for us,” Alexander said. “I don’t know if these guys realize how tough this tournament is. They made it look easy with their consistency this weekend.”
Sophomore Phillip Choi and junior Michael Furci finished in a tie for 36th and 58th, respectively.
The Gators finished ahead of 10 schools ranked in Golf World’s preseason Top 25 and five that finished in the top 10 at last year’s NCAA Championship. Last year the Gators finished sixth in the tournament. The last time the Gators won the first tournament of the year was in 2005, when they finished in first at the Inverness Invitational.
Florida returns to action for the Jerry Pate Invitational on Monday, Oct. 11 in Birmingham, Ala.
OLYMPIA FIELDS INVITATIONAL
At par-70, 7,205-yard Olympia Fields (Ill.) Country Club
Number in parentheses before school is its preseason ranking in the Golf World Top 25:
Final scores: 1. (8) Florida 845 (280-280-285) (+5); T2. (1) Oklahoma State 852 (286-280-286) (+12) and (3) Augusta State 852 (280-286-286) (+12); 4. (15) Alabama 857 (285-283-289) (+17); 5. (11) Texas 858 (289-282-287) (+18); 6. (19) Duke 861 (286-284-291) (+21); 7. Ohio State 865 (282-289-294) (+14); 8. (16) Illinois 866 (287-291-288) (+26); T9. Purdue 870 (291-285-294) (+30) and (2) Stanford 870 (287-288-295) (+30); 11. Northwestern 872 (290-292-290) (+32); 12. California 875 (290-296-289) (+35); 13. Indiana 878 (286-293-299) (+38); 14. (13) Florida State 879 (304-287-288) (+39); 15. (12) Arizona State 884 (296-301-287) (+44).
Top 10 individuals: 1. Peter Uihlein (Oklahoma State) 204 (69-65-70) (-6); 2. Bank Vongvanij (Florida) 207 (70-67-70) (-3); T3. Bud Cauley (Alabama) 209 (66-70-73) (-1) and Patrick Reed (Augusta State) 209 (72-70-67) (-1); T5.Tyler McCumber (Florida) 211 (68-73-70) (+1) and Bobby Hudson (Texas) 211 (69-70-72) (+1); T7. Andres Echavarria (Florida) 212 (72-67-73) (+2), Eric Chun (Northwestern) 212 (68-72-72) (+2), Scott Langley (Illinois) 212 (71-71-70) (+2) and Yaroslav Merkulov (Duke) 212 (67-73-72) (+2).
Florida scores: 2. Bank Vongvanij 207 (70-67-70) (-3); T5. Tyler McCumber 211 (68-73-70) (+1); T7. Andres Echavarria 212 (72-67-73) (+2); T36. Phillip Choi 219 (74-73-72) (+9); T58. Michael Furci 224 (70-74-80) (+14).