The Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic in Dalton, Ga., at The Farm Golf Course has come to a close, which means the first tournament of the season for the Florida’s men’s golf team has been completed. J.C. Deacon made his coaching debut during the tournament and after a rough first day, the Gators steadily improved on the second day, and held their ground on the final round of play. UF finished in 13th place out of 14 teams after shooting 33-over-par.
No. 20 South Carolina ended up winning the tournament with a score of 16-under-par. The host of the tournament, No. 2 Georgia Tech, came in second place just one stroke behind the Gamecocks. Two other Southeastern Conference teams joined South Carolina in the top five, as No. 22 Auburn tied with Kennesaw State in third, while top ranked Alabama came in fifth place.
Senior J.D. Tomlinson led the way for the Gators, finishing the tournament at 6-over-par and in tie for 48th place. The Gainesville native shot a 5-over-par 77 in the first round, but he improved in the second round as he shot a 1-over 73. He completed the third and final round with an even-par 72. While Tomlinson had a productive day, Deacon was not pleased with the overall performance of the team.
“Today was very mediocre,” Deacon said in a release, “although J.D. (Tomlinson) played pretty well from start to finish.”
Senior Thomas Stewart ended the tournament at 7-over-par, which was good enough to be in a tie for 51st place. Stewart’s ten birdies over the three days of play were the most on the team. Redshirt sophomore Conor Richardson came in third for the Gators, as he finished 9-over-par for the tournament. Richardson had the most pars on the team with 33 to go along with nine birdies.
Sophomore Ryan Orr completed the tournament at 12-over-par, but he did have the lone eagle on the weekend for the Gators. Junior Richard Donegan struggled on in the final round as he shot an 85, 15-over-par. Donegan ended the weekend in 74th place, after finishing with a score of 28-over-par.
Deacon says this tournament will serve as a learning experience for him and for the team to get better as the season goes along.
“I definitely learned a lot. I know where we need to get better, it’s going to take a lot of hard work,” Deacon said. “We’ve got a lot of learning to do and things to enact, but we’re going to be fine. This team has a lot of good players, good kids and some leaders, and that’s what you need. We have to get better, and we can do that with some hard work.”
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J.D. Tomlinson tees off on Day 2 of the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 16 at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
