The Florida men’s golf team traveled over 2,500 miles for its Sept. 7-8 season opener at the Sahalee Players Championship in Seattle, Washington. The tournament featured two 18-hole rounds on the first day of competition and an additional 18-hole round on the second.
Florida golfers faced a slew of challenges in its 2024 debut including a variety of grasses. Despite the adverse conditions, the Gators finished second in the 13-team event that hosted eight teams in the Golf Channel’s top 25 rankings.
UF was off to a rough start early in the first round. Although junior Parker Bell earned the Gators’ first birdie of the season on hole two, the squad accumulated five team-bogeys through the first three holes alone, creating an uphill battle for Florida.
The struggles continued as junior Ian Gilligan double-bogeyed hole nine and Bell followed through with back-to-back bogeys on three and four. The Gators then dropped to T10 on the leaderboard.
Redshirt freshman Rylan Shim, who made his collegiate debut, and sophomore Jack Turner were bright spots for UF on the front nine. Shim made par through the first seven holes while Turner went bogeyless between holes three through seven.
Shim, though, couldn’t carry his success into the eighth and ninth holes. He double-bogeyed both and finished 4-over at the turn.
Bell bogeyed hole nine as the Gators fell to 12th place. Florida desperately needed to spur some momentum.
No Florida golfers finished the front nine with a score of par or better. The Gators needed to prevent their early setbacks from growing deeper on the back nine.
Bell, Shim and Turner opened holes 10-13 with a combined score of 1-under. Despite their efforts, Florida couldn’t keep up with the competition and remained near the bottom of the leaderboard.
The Gators fell to 13-over as Gilligan recorded a double-bogey on hole 10. Florida’s inconsistent play continued as Shim and Bell recorded a combined three-straight bogeys on holes 14-16.
Florida finished round one in 11th place at 12-over 300.
UF had the opportunity to respond as the squad was set to play the second 18-hole round. It did just that, climbing five spots on the leaderboard by the end of play Sunday.
The early holes on the front nine once again presented issues for Florida. Junior Matthew Kress, Turner and Gilligan recorded bogeys on hole one. However, the Gators soon found their stride and made significant advances on the leaderboard.
All of Florida’s golfers in the second round made par or better scores on holes four through six as Florida made the turn hovering around 10th place.
The squad increased its efforts even more so on the back nine, accumulating 14 birdies and climbing four more spots on the leaderboard.
UF’s success continued as it recorded four more birdies through holes 13-14. The Gators showed impressive resiliency throughout their climb up the leaderboard and broke into the top seven.
Florida recorded five birdies on holes 17-18, finishing round two 5-under 283 while ending the day T6 with a total score of 7-over 583 behind Shim and Turner, who led the way for the Gators.
Shim made his mark in the back nine with four birdies, including two on the final two holes. He finished the second round 5-under 67 with no bogeys. Turner also finished strong with a birdie on hole 18 and recorded all four of his birdies on the back nine of round two.
While Florida entered the final round nearly twenty strokes behind first place, it still had the opportunity to end the event on a positive note by placing within the top three.
The men’s squad continued its success from the previous day into the opening holes Sunday. Turner and Shim recorded birdies while Gilligan sank a par-five eagle on hole two.
However, Florida’s momentum slowed. Four Gators recorded bogeys on hole three and Shim double-bogeyed hole five to increase UF’s score to 9-over on the team leaderboard.
Florida managed to quickly rebound from its three hole slump as four Gators sank birdies on hole six, moving the squad to fifth place at 7-over.
Five team-bogeys increased Florida’s score to 8-over. But other teams in the field were also struggling and the Gators held on to fifth place at the turn.
Turner, Gilligan and Bell, who competed against each other at the Western Amateur over the summer, paved the way for Florida on the front nine. All three shot par or better and Gilligan recorded the best score of the trio at 2-under 34.
It was clutch time for the Gators on the back nine. On the most important holes of the tournament, Florida executed to a tee and secured itself a top three finish.
Shim kicked off the action on the back nine with a statement. He sank a par-five eagle putt on hole 11 followed by back-to-back birdies on holes 13 and 14 from Kress to push Florida into a tournament-best fourth place in a tie with Oklahoma State.
Florida once again advanced on the leaderboard as Bell made par or better scores through the final eight holes and Gilligan concluded tournament play with a birdie on hole 18.
The strong finishes didn’t stop there for UF. Shim and Turner also recorded birdies on hole 18, capping off the Gators’ solid late push for a second place finish in their first action of the 2024-25 season.
The Gators finished round three 3-under 285 and secured second place with a 4-over 868 final score. Turner and Gilligan both earned top 10 individual finishes with 2-under 214 and par-216 outings, respectively.
Freshman Zack Swanwick made his collegiate debut in the individuals section. The New Zealand native placed T39 at 7-over 223.
Florida will next be in action at the Fighting Illini Collegiate in Chicago. The 54-hole event will take place Sept. 20-22.
Contact Aiden Wacksman at awacksman@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter at @aidenwacksman.
