When T.J. Vogel stepped into the sand trap on 18, he was able to get the ball out and stick it relatively close to the pin. After reading his line, he was ready to make his par putt.
Instead, he missed.
Despite a bogey on the final hole of the SunTrust Gator Invitational, Vogel finished the day at even par, making him three under for the tournament.
“I just didn’t execute some shots that I should have,” Vogel said. “I felt like everything was just a little bit off. I missed a few short par putts, and a few chips that I needed to get close to the hole.”
Vogel was hoping to get his second career win at home this weekend, but that honor went to Auburn’s Dominic Bozzelli, who also shot a 70 (E) to win by five strokes.
Vogel’s strong finish was good for second place, marking his fifth top-10 finish of the season.
“It definitely gives me confidence that even though I didn’t play my best, I still came in second,” Vogel said. “But obviously I wanted to win.”
Although Vogel had a solid final round, the rest of the Gators had some difficulties.
Florida dropped to third place, one stroke behind Arkansas and 17 behind Auburn.
“When you lose by a shot, that’s a little bit tougher to take than when you lose by 10 or 12,” coach Buddy Alexander said.
The Gators shot a final round of 300 (+20). Memphis and South Alabama were the only two schools out of 14 to have a worse final round, shooting a 305 (+25) and a 306 (+26).
“I think I mentioned on Monday that we’ve been a little inconsistent, and it showed up [Sunday],” Alexander said.
Redshirt senior Zach Lee came in 18th after shooting a tournament total 218 (+8). His final round consisted of two birdies, six bogeys and a double bogey, and although it was not as impressive as his first day of play, Alexander was still pleased with his overall performance.
“Competitive golf is not like riding a bike,” Alexander said. “(There’s) a lot of rust to knock off, but in general I would say this week was a step in the right direction for Zach.”
After watching some of his players struggle on the course Sunday, Alexander believes that some of their problems are handling adversity.
“Anytime you let your emotions get the best of you, typically in this game, bad things happen,” Alexander said.
“Those are some of the things we’ll be working on, and we’ll get better at it.”
Florida junior T.J. Vogel shot a final round 70 (E) to finish second individually Sunday at the SunTrust Gator Invitational.
