The UF men’s golf team struggled in its first round of the season, although coach Buddy Alexander is looking on the bright side.
After the opening round of the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational, the Gators sit tied for 10th overall with a team score of 290 (+10). Five teams trail behind UF, including last year’s national champion Augusta State.
“To be honest, I saw a lot of positive things from our guys out there today,” said Alexander. “Obviously, we aren’t excited about being tied for 10th place, but the field is pretty compacted.”
Stanford sits atop the leaderboard at three-under while Oklahoma State finished second five shots back. Auburn, Alabama and Ohio State are tied for third at five-over.
Among the “positive things” Alexander saw was junior T.J. Vogel’s stellar play. In his first tournament with Florida after transferring from Southern California, Vogel made four birdies and 13 pars en route to an opening round 2-under 68.
One of Vogel’s birdies came on the par-5 15th hole. He finished his back nine turning in 33 strokes.
Vogel is tied for third place individually, only two shots behind Stanford’s Andrew Yun.
“T.J.’s play today was big for us,” Alexander explained. “One of our goals going into the season was to get T.J. back to being T.J. on the course and he certainly played like that today.”
The Gators’ returning upperclassmen had a difficult time adjusting to the par-70, 7,142-yard Olympia Fields Country Club North Course.
Juniors Tyler McCumber and Tommy Mou each finished 3-over 73. Senior Michael Furci and freshman J.D. Tomlinson tallied rounds of 76 (+6) and 77 (+7) respectively.
“Tyler didn’t have his best stuff today but I thought that he did a good job of battling out there and I think Tommy struck the ball well but just wasn’t able to score,” said Alexander.
“Michael and J.D. had rough days out there today but I have confidence that they’ll bounce back and play well for us tomorrow and Sunday.”
Collectively, the Gators recorded 22 bogeys and two double bogeys.
Despite such glaring statistics, Alexander is keeping a short memory.
“We just have to come out and put a few good rounds together tomorrow,” he said.
