SEA ISLAND, Ga. – The Florida men’s golf team made a final-round charge, moving up four spots, but still came up five strokes short of champion Georgia Sunday in the SEC Championship at the Seaside Course of the Sea Island Golf Club. Florida carded the low total of the day — a 3-under-par 277 — and finished tied with Mississippi at 849, five strokes behind the Bulldogs.
Junior Bank Vongvanij led the last-day charge, carding a 4-under-par 66 that left him tied for sixth place at 2-under-par 208. The Bulldogs’ Russell Henley birdied the second sudden-death hole to win medalist honors from South Carolina’s George Bryan IV after both finished 54 holes tied at 6-under-par 204.
“The guys put up a heck of a fight today,” Florida coach Buddy Alexander said. “The team just dug a little bit too deep of a hole yesterday. The team played great and I’m proud of them.”
Vongvanij’s 66 was not only the low Florida round Sunday, but it was the second-lowest score of all competitors. He got off to a strong start and carded five birdies in his first nine holes. Vongvanij made a bogey on his 13th hole before carding five-straight pars to close out the tournament.
“Bank came out smoking and that was nice to see,” said Alexander. “It was good to see him bust out of his slump he’s been in lately.”
Redshirt junior Andres Echavarria finished a consistent weekend of play in a tie for 12th. Echavarria shot an even-par 70 after carding five birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey. He posted a tournament score of 1-over-par 211.
Senior Tyson Alexander shot a 2-over-par 72 and climbed six places on the leaderboard to finish the tournament in a tie for 26th with a total score of 7-over-par 217. Fellow senior Tim McKenney made the biggest jump on the leaderboard after finishing the second round in a tie for 46th, jumping 20 spots to join Alexander in 26th place after shooting a 1-under-par 69. Freshman Phillip Choi finished in a tie for 32nd at 8-over 218 following his final round of 72.
Only 23 strokes separated Georgia from Vanderbilt, which claimed 10th place.
SEC MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
At par-70, 6,991-yard Sea Island (Ga.) Golf Club, Seaside Course
TEAM SCORES: 1. Georgia 844 (283-277-284) (+4); 2. (tie) Florida 849 (280-292-277) (+9) and Mississippi 849 (288-284-277) (+9); 4. Arkansas 853 (278-286-289) (+13); 5. Louisiana State 856 (283-288-285) (+16); 6. Kentucky 857 (296-276-285) (+17); 7. Auburn 859 (280-292-287) (+19); 8. Tennessee 861 (283-285-293) (+21); 9. South Carolina 864 (282-288-294) (+24); 10. Vanderbilt 867 (284-298-285) (+27); 11. Mississippi State 875 (282-292-301) (+35); 12. Alabama 878 (297-289-292) (+38).
TOP 10 (and ties) INDIVIDUAL SCORES: 1. (tie) George Bryan IV (South Carolina) 204 (70-66-68) (-6) and Russell Henley (Georgia) 204 (70-67-67) (-6); 3. Jonathan Randolph (Mississippi) 206 (69-68-69) (-4); 4. (tie) Hunter Hamrick (Alabama) 207 (69-67-71) (-3) and Andrew Loupe (Louisiana State) 207 (70-68-69) (-3); 6. (tie) Bank Vongvanij (Florida) 208 (70-72-66) (-2) and Ben Fuqua (Kentucky) 208 (73-68-67) (-2); 8. (tie) Bryden Macpherson (Georgia) 209 (67-71-71) (-1) and Brad Mason (Mississippi State) 209 (71-71-67) (-1); 10. (tie) Harris English (Georgia) 210 (73-68-69) (E) and David Lingmerth (Arkansas) 210 (70-69-71) (E).
FLORIDA SCORES: T6. Bank Vongvanij 208 (70-72-66) (-2); T12. Andres Echavarria 211 (69-72-70) (+1); T26. Tyson Alexander 217 (70-75-72) (+7) and Tim McKenney 217 (75-73-69) (+7); T32. Phillip Choi 218 (71-75-72) (+8).