Friday marked the conclusion of the SEC Championship rounds before match play. The championship is a postseason event held at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons, Georgia.
At the tournament, the Gators had one of their own, junior John DuBois, finish as the individual champion.
“John winning the tournament is incredible,” Florida head coach J.C. Deacon said. “He has always been capable of it. You look at his golf swing and there are very few as good as his.”
This was DuBois’ first individual victory of his college career. He’s also the 25th Gator in program history to win the title, making Florida the school with the most SEC Championship individual victories.
DuBois started off the final round strong with back-to-back birdies during stroke play. He lost the lead at the turn toVanderbilt’s Gordon Sargen, the No. 13 ranked golfer in the nation..
The two were neck and neck on the back nine until DuBois sank a birdie on the 16th to go up a stroke. He took the trophy on 18 after a 40-foot approach shot and a successful two-putt.
DuBois is unranked on Golfstat, but placed ahead of six golfers ranked inside the top-25. The Windermere, Florida product finished with a career-low 6-under-par 64 Friday and exited St. Simons with a 6-under-par 204 tournament.
When it comes to the rest of the team, UF saw a number of strong finishes. Junior Ricky Castillo posted a 3-under-par 207 to finish tied for fifth.
Sophomore Tyler Wilkes and junior Fred Biondi both carded three-over-par 212 tournaments, tying them for 25th. Junior Yuxin Lin wrapped up competition tied for fifteenth with a one-under-par 209.
“We’ve worked harder than I’ve ever seen a team all Winter long,” Deacon said. “We didn’t take our foot off the gas and it's paying off now.”
DuBois contributed to his team finishing in third at the tournament during stroke play. Match play resumes Saturday to crown a team victorious.
Contact Lillian Randolph at lrandolph@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @lillyrrandolph.
