A sense of disappointment struck the Florida men’s golf team after finishing fourth in the SunTrust Gator Invitational this weekend.
The Gators, hosting their only home tournament of the year, entered the weekend with hopes of competing for first place but fell a little short.
The team finished fourth overall, a huge jump from last year’s 11th place finish, but the Gators still felt like they didn’t play their best this weekend.
"We just haven’t been playing great," coach J.C. Deacon said. "We didn’t play great at TPC, we kind of just hung in there and grinded it out and we came in second. You play against great teams - you’ve got to bring your best stuff and we just didn’t have it this week."
Despite not having their best stuff, there were bright spots for the Gators, one being the play of senior J.D. Tomlinson. Tomlinson finished tied for second at 3-under-par, two strokes off the lead.
Tomlinson was tied for the lead going into Sunday’s final round and led the Gators all weekend.
"He’s really starting to become a leader and really make it about the team and I think that’s helped him," Deacon said when asked about Tomlinson’s growth this season. "I just think this is kind of a springboard for the rest of the semester. He’s going to be a big player for us."
Tomlinson, a Gainesville native, said earlier in the week that he hoped to contend for the top spot this weekend and that he looked forward to playing in front of hometown fans.
"It was awesome. I had a lot of family, a lot of friends, come in and out," said Tomlinson. "At any time there could have been twenty people so it was awesome to have their support and just be able to play in my home city."
The Gator Invitational was the last time Tomlinson and fellow senior Eric Banks will play a home tournament for the Gators, but the duo aren’t looking to dwell on this fourth-place finish.
"Well it’s a huge improvement from last year. Last year was a struggle, but I think everyone on the team is playing pretty solid," Tomlinson said. "It wasn’t our best week. I think we can compete with any team here. We’ve got the whole spring left so I think this is a good building block moving forward."
Banks finished tied for 23rd at 7-over-par.
Freshman Alejandro Tosti finished tied for 11th after shooting 4-over-par, while junior A.J. Crouch finished tied for 19th at 6-over-par and sophomore Ryan Orr finished tied for 46th at 15-over-par for the Gators.
"We’ve got to clean up the details. There’s still a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that’s not good enough and that’s where we need to get better," Deacon said. "It’s off-the-course stuff that we really need to tighten up to get to the next level."
Follow Ryan Summers on Twitter @RyanSummers18
J.D. Tomlinson swings during Day 1 of the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 14 at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
J.D. Tomlinson swings during Day 1 of the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 14 at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
