A rough third round hurt the Florida men’s golf team chances of finishing the Crooked Stick Intercollegiate at Carmel, Ind., on a high note Tuesday.
The Gators (+44) slipped from the their top-five position after the first two rounds on Monday to finish seventh out of 14 teams.
“Another disappointing day,” coach Buddy Alexander said. “Happy for J.D. (Tomlinson), he played nicely. He’s had a really good semester.”
Tomlinson (+3) finished the tournament in fourth place to claim his second consecutive top-five finish this fall. Tomlinson scored rounds of 72, 75 and 72.
“Really proud of that given he struggled in the spring and in the summer,” Alexander said. “Tip of the cap to him for turning things around.”
Freshman Ryan Orr (+8) finished the tournament tied for 17th place.
Orr shot a 72 in the first round and a 74 in the final round to end the tournament with his first top-20 finish as a Gator.
“Ryan Orr is doing a great job as a freshman,” Alexander said. “He’s got a lot to learn but is soaking things in the right way.”
Florida surrendered its fifth-place spot from Round 2 to TCU (+36). Georgia, who led the field after the second round, fell to third place to end the tournament shooting 17-over. Arkansas (+11) jumped to first place to win the tournament.
The Gators will compete in their final competition of the fall season in two weeks at Kiawah Island, S.C., teeing off a three-day event at the Kiawah Invitational at the Ocean Course on Oct. 27-29.
In hopes to recover from this tournament, coach Alexander insists on his team staying consistent.
“As a team though, we have to get tougher,” Alexander said. “It was a tough golf course. You have to move forward and stay in the present, and we didn’t.”
Follow Lawrence Laguna on Twitter @LagunaLawrence.
