The Florida men’s golf team has come within a match of winning the SEC Championships for two consecutive years.
It reached the semifinals each time but was eliminated by Vanderbilt in 2017 and Alabama in 2018.
Now, the Gators have another chance to take home the title starting on Wednesday when they travel to St. Simons Island, Georgia.
“We’ve worked really hard this year to be ready for this tournament,” coach J.C. Deacon said in a release. “The SEC Championship is such an exciting event.”
This year, UF will be without Andy Zhang and Alejandro Tosti for the conference tournament. Zhang won the SEC individual title in 2018 before leaving Florida to turn professional. Tosti, who graduated last year, won the SEC individual title in 2017.
This means that the Gators must rely on senior Gordon Neale and sophomores Chris Nido and John Axelsen if they are to claim the conference title.
The trio was part of the starting lineup in the 2018 SEC Championships, but they all failed to shoot under par in stroke play. Neale tied for 21st with a score of 2 over, Nido’s score of 13 over tied him for 59th and Axelsen tied for 16th thanks to a 1-over score.
Neale and Nido played well in the final round of the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate on Saturday. Their 3-under scores on the last day propelled UF to a third-place finish.
Florida will be in good position to win the tournament this year if Neale and Nido replicate their performances from this past weekend.
Redshirt junior Blake Dyer and freshman Aden Ye round out the rest of the Gators’ starting lineup. They competed in the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate as well, with Dyer tying for 17th (4 over) and Ye tying for 33rd (8 over).
The 2019 SEC Championship will be Dyer’s fourth appearance of the season.
Ye has started four times and finished in the top-25 on three of those.
Despite his team’s elimination from the past two tournaments, Deacon is confident in his team’s ability to claim the 2019 title.
“We are playing the best golf we’ve played all year, and the timing couldn’t be any better,” Deacon said. “It’s time to shine.”
Follow Bryan Matamoros on Twitter @bmatamoros_ and contact him at bmatamoros@alligator.org.
Senior Gordon Neale tied for 21st at the SEC Championship last season. He finished tied for 11th in his last outing at the Robert Kepler Intercollegiate.
