The Florida men’s golf team had a very forgettable SEC Tournament.
Entering the final round of stroke play, the Gators sat in last place of the 14 contending teams, trailing Auburn by 37 strokes. Though it made up ground on its final day, Florida’s play only amounted in an 11th place finish and an early exit home.
The Gators carded a 35-over 875 overall finish as a team. In order to move on to the weekend portion of the conference tournament, Florida needed to finish in eighth place or better. It fell 19 strokes short. South Carolina earned the No. 8 seed, while Auburn dominated the stroke play portion at Sea Island Golf Club with a 24-under performance.
In a weekend that was difficult to find any positives from, sophomore John Axelsen provided the lone light for UF. The sophomore posted a team-high 1 over three-round total leaving him tied for 16th for the tournament. He had just one birdie in his 6-over final round Friday, but still managed to finish in the top 20. Besides him, the four other performances for Florida were uncharacteristic for a team ranked nationally within the top 50, with all the remaining Gators finishing outside the top 40.
Chris Nido and Eugene Hong both finished 9 over, while senior Gordon Neale carded a 12-over performance leaving him tied for 52nd. Redshirt junior Blake Dyer rounded out Florida’s five with a team-worst 17 over to finish 63rd.
Despite the Gators’ poor performance, they still managed to move up the leaderboard enough to secure a record above .500. Because of this, the Gators punched their ticket to the NCAA Regionals where they’ll look to redeem this disappointing effort.
Follow Victor Prieto on Twitter @victorprieto_11 and contact him at vprieto@alligator.org.
Coach JC Deacon's Florida men's golf team went home early from the SEC Tournament, but still punched a ticket to NCAA Regionals.
