STATESBORO, Ga. – Florida men’s golf coach Buddy Alexander isn’t a perfectionist but he has high standards, and even though his Gators moved from fifth to first place in the Chris Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational, Alexander was not satisfied.
“I was not all that excited about the way we played today,” said Alexander, who has coached a pair of NCAA championship teams in Gainesville and also was quite the golfer himself, as his 1986 U.S. Amateur trophy will attest.
“I know it sounds kind of crazy but it just seems like we wasted a lot of shots out there,” Alexander continued. “I’m not saying we played poorly. I just thought we would pick up maybe a few more shots than we did.”
Junior Tim McKenney of Scottsdale, Ariz., shot a second-round, four-under-par 68 to tie for the individual lead and Florida shot one-under 287 as a team to gain a share of first place with South Carolina at three-over 579 heading into Sunday’s final round. Tennessee is third at 580.
McKenney scattered seven birdies throughout his round and was at four-under-par 140 along with Augusta State’s Taylor Floyd (71) and North Carolina State’s Matt Hill (69).
Florida senior Will Strickler of Charlottesville, Va., bounced back from his worst round of the season by shooting 10 shots better with his one-under 71. Senior Billy Horschel of Grant shot a one-over 73 and was tied for 20th at 145. Junior Tyson Alexander of Gainesville shot a 75 and was at four-over 148, tied for 40th. Freshman Mu Hu of China shot 77 for 152, tied for 70th with Strickler.
“We’re in a good spot,” Alexander added. “We have a chance to win the golf tournament tomorrow. We need to be more conservative with our shot saving and our putting.”
Team scores: 1. Florida 579 (+3) (292-287) and South Carolina 579 (+3) (291-288); 3. Tennessee 580 (+4) (287-293); 4. North Carolina State 582 (+6) (295-287); 5. Kentucky 584 (+8) (297-287) and Georgia Southern 584 (+8) (291-293); 7. North Carolina 586 (+10) (302-284); 8. North Florida 587 (+11) (290-297); 9. Louisiana State 588 (+12) (296-292) and Mississippi 588 (+12) (295-293); 11. Oklahoma 590 (+14) (293-297), Vanderbilt 590 (+14) (296-294) and Virginia 590 (+14) (296-294); 14. Augusta State 591 (+15) (298-293); 15. Georgia State 592 (+16) (295-297); 16. Auburn 595 (+19) (294-301); 17. Iowa 596 (+20) (302-294); 18. Notre Dame 609 (+33) (311-298).
Top 10: 1. Tim McKenney (Florida) 72-68—140 (-4), Taylor Floyd (Augusta State) 69-71—140 (-4) and Matt Hill (N.C. State) 71-69—140 (-4); 4. Sang Yi (LSU) 69-72—141 (-3); 5. Darren Blair (N.C. State) 70-72—142 (-2), Logan Blondell (Georgia) 71-71—142 (-2) and Andy Winings (Kentucky) 71-71—142 (-2); 8. James Kania (Kentucky) 74-69—143 (-1), Henrik Norlander (Augusta State) 71-72—143 (-1) and Glenn Northcutt (Auburn) 69-74—143 (-1).
Florida golfers: T1. Tim McKenney 72-68—140 (-4); T20. Billy Horschel 72-73—145 (+1); T40. Tyson Alexander 73-75—148 (+4); T70. Mu Hu 75-77—152 (+8) and Will Strickler 81-71—152 (+8).