The Florida men’s golf team finished tied for third Sunday in the Gary Koch Invitational at Old Memorial Golf Club in Tampa. The Gators totaled 4-over 292, their highest team total in three rounds, to finish at 12-under-par 852 along with Virginia in the 15-school event that honors the former Florida All-American and current PGA Tour/NBC commentator.
Florida State captured the team championship, shooting a final round of 8-under 280 to finish at 30-under-par 834, 18 shots better than Florida, which was two strokes behind Texas Tech.
“I thought that Florida State played great,” Florida coach Buddy Alexander said. “I would say it was an average showing for our team but we learned a lot. I learned a lot about the team and we will work on some things as we prepare for the Isleworth Invitational.”
Redshirt junior Andres Echavarria of Colombia shot an even-par 72 and climbed three spots to finish tied for 10th at 211. Senior Tyler Alexander, who was tied for seventh in the individual portion of the tournament, shot a final round of 75 to finish tied for 17th at 3-under-par 213.
Freshmen Phillip Choi of Orlando and Tyler McCumber of Ponte Vedra Beach finished tied for 24th at 1-under-par 215. Choi shot 76 while McCumber shot a 2-under-par 70. Sophomore Max Kieffer of Germany finished tied for 64th at 9-over-par 225.
“I’m pretty pleased with the freshmen’s performance this weekend,” Alexander said. “I know this was a learning process for them and I’m certain that they’ll take what they learned this weekend and get better.”
Junior Bank Vongvanij of Bradenton, who played as an individual, tied for sixth place with a 7-under-par total of 209 after a 1-under-par 71.
“I have to give a shout out to Bank,” Alexander added. “He had a good showing and I’m happy for him. He will have many more chances to be a part of our top-five, especially if he continues to play the way that he is playing.”
Auburn’s Kyle Kopsick finished at 15-under-par 201 with a final round of 66 following rounds of 72 and 63. The old record was 205 set by Florida’s Matt Every in 2003.
GARY KOCH INVITATIONAL
At par-72, 7,389-yard Old Memorial Golf Club, Tampa, Fla.
Team scores: 1. Florida State 834 (-30) 274-280-280; 2. Texas Tech 850 (-14) 271-279-300; T3. Florida 852 (-12) 277-283-292 and Virginia 852 (-12) 282-279-291; 5. North Florida 854 (-10) 290-281-283; 6. Augusta State 855 (-9) 286-278-291; 7. Auburn 858 (-6) 290-280-288; 8. Louisiana State 861 (-3) 275-293-293; 9. Georgia Southern 862 (-2) 281-283-298; 10. Mississippi 866 (+2) 285-285-296; 11. Kentucky 870 (+6) 288-285-297; 12. East Tennessee State 871 (+7) 294-283-294; 13. North Carolina 874 (+10) 281-288-305; 14. UAB 877 (+13) 287-287-303; 15. South Florida 902 (+38) 295-302-305.
Individuals: 1. Kyle Kopsick (Auburn) 201 (-15) 72-63-66; 2. Seth Lauer (Florida State) 203 (-13) 66-67-70; 3. John Peterson (LSU) 204 (-12) 67-67-70; 4. Brooks Koepka (Florida State) 205 (-11) 68-70-67; 5. Chris Ward (Texas Tech) 208 (-8) 69-67-72; T6. Bank Vongvanij (Florida) 209 (-7) 67-71-71, Henrik Norlander (Augusta State) 209 (-7) 71-67-71 and Ben Kohles (Virginia) 209 (-7) 68-70-71; 9. Chris Kennedy (North Florida) 210 (-6) 70-69-71.
Florida scores: T10. Andres Echavarria 211 (-5) 70-69-72; T17. Tyson Alexander 213 (-3) 67-71-75; T24. Phillip Choi 215 (-1) 68-71-76 and Tyler McCumber 215 (-1) 73-72-70; T64. Max Kieffer 225 (+9) 72-78-75. T6. Bank Vongvanij 209 (-7) 67-71-71 was playing as an individual.
MEN’S TENNIS: HAMUI-CASH PREVAIL
The Florida men’s tennis team won a doubles championship and the runner-up title in singles action as the Seminole Invitational hosted by Florida State University wrapped up on Sunday in Tallahassee.
Johnny Hamui of Wesley Chapel and Daniel Cash of Norway won the doubles championship. First they beat Central Florida’s John Beigart and Blaze Schwartz, 8-3, and then beat Daniel Moser and Tyrone Ewels of UAB, 8-2.
In the singles championship, Erik Corace of Naples lost to South Florida’s Mark Oljaca, 6-2, 7-6 (3).
Next up is the ITA All-American tournament in Tulsa, Okla. Hamui and Antoine Benneteau of France will participate in the qualifying rounds while Andre Lacroix of France is part of the main draw.
WOMEN’S TENNIS: FRESHMEN IMPRESSIVE
Florida’s Claire Bartlett of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Allie Will of Boca Raton lost their respective singles matches in the final round of the pre-qualifying draw for the Riviera/ITA All American Championships Sunday afternoon at the Los Angeles Tennis Club.
Will, who won her second-round match 6-0, 6-3 late Saturday over Texas’ Krista Damico, lost to UNLV’s Kristina Nedeltcheva, 6-2, 6-4, in the third round of pre-qualifying action, where Bartlett fell to Akron’s Zara Harutyunyan, 6-3, 6-3.
The two-day event served as a feeder into the qualifying draw that takes place Oct. 6-7 at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
While Bartlett’s action at the Riviera/ITA All American has finished, Will continues action in the doubles event, where she teams with fellow freshman Lauren Embree of Marco Island in the 32-team qualifying draw aiming to earn one of four open spots in the 16-team main draw. Senior Marrit Boonstra of the Netherlands and sophomore Joanna Mather of Duluth, Ga., also team up in the qualifying event. Each team needs to win three qualifying matches to earn one of four open spots in the 16-team doubles draw.
Embree also earned spots in the 64-player qualifying singles draw and will play North Carolina State’s Lenka Hojckova in the first round that begins on Tuesday. Boonstra was awarded an automatic berth into the main singles event, which will be played Oct. 8-11 at the Riviera Tennis Club.