On Sunday, Sam Horsfield worked on his short game.
The UF freshman, who was recently named a semifinalist for the Ben Hogan Award, sat at the back of the range at the Mark Bostick Golf Course and, for three hours, hit chip after chip, only stopping to scrape the dirt off the face of his wedge.
"I just put my headphones in and was just kinda in my own world," Horsfield said.
"Just chipping away."
This was the kind of dedication second-year coach J.C. Deacon was looking for as No. 6 Florida begins the three-day Southeastern Conference Championship today in St. Simons, Georgia.
The Gators, who haven’t won an SEC title since 2011, will play 54 holes at the Seaside Course against some of the best team’s in college golf.
The 14-team field features No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Vanderbilt, No. 5 LSU and No. 9 Alabama.
In addition, some of the country’s best golfers will be teeing it up on 6,898-yard trek, including Alabama’s Robby Shelton and Georgia’s Lee McCoy.
On March 13, McCoy, the eighth-ranked player in the country, finished fourth at the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship.
"It’s a big tournament," Deacon said. "But you just put your work in and have the right attitude, and you go and play."
Horsfield will open up the lineup for the Gators.
Come the final round, Horsfield, the winningest freshman in UF history and one of only six UF players to collect at least three wins in a season, will be looking to raise a first-place trophy for the fourth time this season.
Freshman Jorge Garcia will play the two-spot for Florida. Garcia is coming off a 13th-place finish at the Mason Rudolph Championship on April 3, his best tournament finish since a fourth-place outing at the Sea Best Invitational a month earlier.
For the second tournmament in a row, Gordon Neale will be featured in the Gators’ lineup. The freshman, who struggled with injuries at the beginning of the year, held a three-shot lead with nine to play at the Mason Rudolph Championship. He finished second at 5 under par — the best finish of his career.
Sophomore Alejandro Tosti and junior Ryan Orr round out the Gators’ five-man lineup.
"I think that the SEC is probably the best conference in college golf," Horsfield said. "We gotta play our best.
"If we play our best, hopefully we’ll come out on top."
Contact Ray Boone at rboone@alligator.org and you can follow him on Twitter @rboone1994.
Sam Horsfield watches his ball roll toward the cup during Day 1 of the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 20, 2016, at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
