On a 7544-yard golf course, the Gators found themselves starting off on the wrong foot.
No. 18 Florida ended round one of the Tavistock Collegiate on Sunday at a combined 15-over par and in 12th place out of 15 schools.
UF will look to dig itself out of the hole in rounds two and three today and tomorrow at the Isleworth Country Club in Windermere, Florida.
Rough starts aren’t anything new for coach JC Deacon and the Gators. UF also finished its previous opening round at an uninspiring 7-over par in the Jerry Pate National on Oct. 5.
"I think we are all really disappointed with today," Deacon said in a release.
"We didn’t come ready to play. We’ve been struggling this year getting off to good starts and it kind of reared its head again today."
Alejandro Tosti (T30) had both the Gators’ best score and best storyline of the opening round. After shooting a 7 on the par-3 second hole, Tosti came back to finish the day with nothing but pars and two birdies.
"He obviously got off to a horrendous start, but he kept it in perspective and realized that he had a lot of holes left," Deacon said.
"He played about as good as anyone in the field the last 16 holes of the day. I’m really proud of him, and I know he’s going to keep it up the next two days."
Freshman Jorge Garcia and junior Ryan Orr are each tied for 49th, both scoring 4-over 76s.
Freshman Sam Horsfield, who has two top-five finishes through his first three tournaments, started off with back-to-back birdies, but cooled down and closed the day with a 5-over 77.
As a team, California leads the tournament at 9-under par with all players in the top 20. No. 24 South Carolina is in second at 4-under, and No. 17 Arizona State follows at 3-under.
Individually, Cal’s Collin Morikawa holds the outright lead after shooting a 5-under 67. Dylan Meyer of Illinois and Max Rottluff of ASU finished tied for second at 4-under.
Just outside of Orlando, Isleworth is a de facto home course for the Gators. Earlier in the week, Deacon stressed the importance of staying focused with friends and family around.
And on Sunday, Deacon confirmed his suspicions that distractions outside of Orlando could affect the team.
"I don’t think our focus level was quite where it needed to be before the tournament," Deacon said.
"We’ll come back better tomorrow."
Follow Matt Brannon on Twitter @MattB_727
Alejandro Tosti putts during the 2015 SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 14.
