As the Gators continued to drop in the leaderboard at the NCAA Championships, junior Tyler McCumber finished strong. McCumber was able to card a solid 72 (+1) on Thursday to wrap up the season with a second place finish.
His final round consisted of four birdies against five bogeys. Although it wasn’t his best round of the tournament, it was still good enough to help him finish with a total of 211 (-2), making him the only Gator to finish under par.
This was McCumber’s fourth top-five individual finish.
“I can’t say enough about how Tyler played this week,” coach Buddy Alexander said. “He just played some terrific golf all week and to finish tied for second at NCAAs is a big deal.”
After starting out in second place, Florida finished the tournament at tied for 12th. Their placement stopped them from competing in today’s match play, which will consist of only the top-eight teams.
Thursday’s round was not only the last of the season, but the last round as a Gator for senior Michael Furci. He finished his final collegiate tournament with a 73 (+2).
“It always stings when you see a guy like Michael play his last round,” Alexander said. “He’s a great kid, and he played well for us all week.”
Like Furci, freshman J.D. Tomlinson shot a 73 (+2) on Thursday for an impressive comeback after shooting an 82 (+11) on Wednesday and a 76 (+5) on Tuesday.
Despite the huge drop from the first day, Alexander hopes that this tournament will help the Gators improve for next season.
“We’re obviously disappointed that we didn’t make the match play but I’m proud of our guys and thought they did a great job of battling all week,” Alexander said. “Hopefully we can learn from this and gain some valuable experience for down the road.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
