It was a disappointing and frustrating first tournament for first-year coach J.C. Deacon.
The Florida men’s golf team finished in 13th place out of 14 teams at the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic in Dalton, Ga.
The Gators entered the final round of play in last place before finishing the tournament 33-over-par, which was good enough to finish ahead of Middle Tennessee State.
"We’re taking some steps in the right direction, but there is some work to go and it’s not OK to be mediocre here and that’s what we are right now," Deacon said. "So we’re going to have to work a little bit harder than everyone else."
After the first day of the tournament, Florida sat at the bottom of the leaderboard after shooting 24-over-par, which was 12 strokes behind both North Florida and Middle Tennessee State.
Deacon noticed that players felt OK after the first round.
But Deacon wasn’t satisfied with the team being at the back of the pack after the opening round and the players’ poor performance has to motivate them to not settle for last place.
In response to the first day, UF bounced back in the second round and shot an even-par round to stay at 24-over.
It was a complete turnaround from the first day as the team and Deacon said it was important for the team to come back and improve after the rough first day.
"That was huge in so many little ways, J.D. Tomlinson, who’s a senior and going to be a leader for us this year…and if he’d birdied out the last, we had a chance to shoot even and another mini milestone," Deacon said.
"We talked about it on the tee, how were we going to do this and how big would it be for the guys if we could get an even par round in and sure enough he hit three great shots and made about a six footer for birdie."
The Gators played steady in the final round of competition, shooting 9-over-par to give them their 13th-place finish.
UF will have a week off to improve their game, before heading off to Zionsville, In., for the two-day Wolf Run Intercollegiate tournament which starts on Sept. 20.
Deacon said the team will have to focus on doing the small things right during the off week, so they could prepare to be their best in next weekend’s tournament.
"There’s not a magic pill. We’re not going to change this whole thing overnight,"Deacon said, "but if we do the little things right consistently, we’re going to be OK."
Follow Luis Torres on Twitter @LFTorresIII
J.D. Tomlinson tees off on Day 2 of the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 16 at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
