Florida trailed Clemson 12-11.5 after two rounds on Monday. The Tigers swept UF’s men’s and women’s teams 3.5-2.5 in both matches to take the lead heading into the final round Tuesday.
The Gators, though, sealed the victory in the third round behind dominant individual performances against Charlotte. The men’s team won 5-1, while the women’s side forced a 3-3 tie to effectively shut Clemson out of first place.
UF secured a narrow win by half a point at the Barbara Nicklaus Cup in Dublin, Ireland on Monday and Tuesday. The Gators outlasted Charlotte, Clemson and Ohio State at the match-play event, and three golfers went undefeated through all three rounds of play.
The event marked the first victory of the Fall season for Florida’s men’s and women’s squads.
This tournament is named after Jack Nicklaus’ wife, also known as the “first lady of golf”, and is unlike any competition the Gators have participated in this season.
The winner is determined by the combined points of the men’s and women’s teams through three rounds of match play, with the winner of each hole being awarded one point. Both Florida teams faced Ohio State and Clemson on Monday and Charlotte on Tuesday.
Florida sophomore Jack Turner, who won all three of his matches, made a strong comeback in round three after trailing by one hole for most of the front nine. He proceeded to win the first two holes on the back nine and maintained a two-hole lead throughout the stretch. The Orlando native eventually secured a win behind a three-hole advantage with two holes left to play.
UF senior Ian Gilligan and sophomore Sophie Stevens also won all of their matches and provided crucial round three victories.
Gilligan remained in control for the majority of his two-hole win against Charlotte sophomore Seb Cave. Furthermore, he won every match by two holes or more and recorded 14 birdies, marking the most of all individuals competing.
Stevens recorded a hard-fought victory in round one for UF’s women’s squad against Ohio State freshman Marina Joyce-Moreno, overcoming a one-hole deficit by winning holes 12 and 13. The sophomore also found success in round two, as she led for the entirety of her match against Clemson graduate transfer Allison Paik. She then recorded a four-hole win against Charlotte sophomore Mia Gray in her final match on Tuesday.
Freshmen Addison Klonowski and Parker Sands were the only Florida golfers to lose every match. Sophomore Ines Archer, who went 0-2-1, also struggled. She recorded 19 bogeys, the fifth most in the field, and is yet to finish a tournament under par this season for the Gators.
The Florida men’s squad defeated Ohio State 4-2 in round one, but the women’s team was unable to do the same, losing 3.5-2.5.
Freshman Siuue Wu found success in her collegiate match-play debut with a 2-0-1 finish. Her most notable match occurred in round one, when she trailed by just one hole in the final three holes of play. Wu won the next two holes to retake the lead and eventually earned a one-point win that guided the Gators to a first place finish.
Florida’s men’s team will return to stroke play Oct. 20-22 at the 54-hole Williams Cup in Wilmington, North Carolina, while the women’s team will next compete at the 54-hole Ally Challenge in West Point, Mississippi, Oct. 21-23.
Contact Aiden Wacksman at awacksman@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter at @aidenwacksman.
