For the second straight tournament, No. 18 Florida sprung to life in round two after burying itself beneath the competition in round one.
UF had the best round two score of any team on Monday, finishing the day with a 1-over 289 at the Tavistock Collegiate in Windermere, Florida. The Gators moved up four spots into eighth place and are 16-over par for the tournament at Isleworth Country Club.
So far, the Tavistock Collegiate has played out eerily similar to the Jerry Pate National, which the Gators competed at in Birmingham, Alabama, on Oct. 5. At the Jerry Pate, the Gators began with a disappointing opening round (7-over) and came roaring back to finish in second place after incredible second and third rounds.
Coach JC Deacon was confident the team would flip the script with their backs against the wall, just as they did in Alabama.
"We had a great practice session and a great team meeting last night," Deacon said in a release.
"And I told the guys in the meeting that I knew that they were going to come out and play well today. We just needed to figure out how to do that in the first round, but they came out really focused this morning."
Sophomore Alejandro Tosti led the way for UF, shooting a 2-under 70 on Monday and is now tied for seventh individually.
"The biggest thing for Ale was composing himself after that 7 he made on his second hole yesterday," Deacon said. "He’s probably played better than anyone in the whole field since then."
Junior Ryan Orr was the other low Gator on Monday, logging a 1-under 71 and putting himself in the top 20.
Individually, Cal’s Collin Morikawa leads all golfers at 7-under. ASU’s Max Rottluff and Jon Rahm are in second and third, respectively.
As a team, California holds a commanding lead at 7-under and is the only team below par through two rounds. No. 1 Illinois is in second place at 2-over, followed by No. 19 Arizona State in third.
The Gators will look to climb further up the leaderboard today when they tee off for their third and final round at 8 a.m.
Follow Matt Brannon on Twitter @MattB_727
Alejandro Tosti putts during the 2015 SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 14.
