No birdies and 13 bogeys.
That was the hole UF’s men’s golf team had dug itself through the first six holes on Day 2 at the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational.
The Gators had entered the day in a tie for fifth with an opportunity to move ahead of third-place Texas Tech, who was just one stroke ahead.
The team fell apart instead and plummeted five spots to 10th place after scoring a combined 11 over. UF’s second round on Monday was 13 strokes worse then its score on Sunday and is tied for the third-worst score of any team in the tournament thus far.
The team settled down some after a nightmarish start — three Gators birdied the seventh hole — but the damage had been done by that point. UF was five strokes over par as a team on the front nine alone. It combined for six strokes over par on the back nine, but sophomore Chris Nido’s abysmal back nine heavily contributed to that burden.
Nido (E) entered the day in a tie for fourth place on the individual leaderboard and continued that form into the first nine holes, where he finished 2 under.
However, his back nine featured no birdies and a four-hole stretch where he was 6 over par. The sophomore finished his round at 4 over, putting him in a tie for 17th place with teammate Aden Ye.
Ye (E) was the only Gator to match or improve on his first round card. The freshman had a relatively clean round by matching his three bogeys with three birdies for his second-straight even outing.
Sophomore John Axelsen (+3) had a round that was three strokes worse than his opening 18.
Axelsen’s front nine had four bogeys and only one birdie. He recovered with three birdies on the back nine but added one bogey and a double bogey for an even back nine. The sophomore is in a tie for 32nd place ahead of Tuesday’s final round.
Freshman Eugene Hong (+6) and senior Gordon Neale (+9), who are in a tie for 49th and 61st, respectively, rounded out the rest of the team.
The Gators are in a tricky position where they most likely won’t move down in the standings, but it will take a lot to move up at all. They are eight strokes ahead of UCF but six strokes behind ninth-place Illinois and seven strokes behind eighth-place LSU. Vanderbilt leads the tournament at 18 strokes under par.
Follow Brendan Farrell on Twitter @Bfarrell727 or contact him at
bfarrell@alligator.org.
Gordon Neale finished over par for the second day in a row at the Tavistock Collegiate Invitational with a 5-over round on Monday. UF dropped from fifth to 10th and no Gator broke even in the second round.
