No. 18 Florida leads the Florida Gulf Coast University Classic by a staggering 31 strokes.
JC Deacon and the men’s golf team played the first two rounds of the FGCU Classic Monday, and they sit at 10-under par at the Old Corkscrew Golf Club in Naples.
Coming into the tournament, the Gators’ biggest concern was their tendency to start slow. But the team put those issues to bed when they came out red hot Monday, shooting 2-under in the first round and 8-under in the second round.
Deacon credited the team’s start to their competitive mindset.
“Our goal was to make sure that we had the best attitudes in the tournament, be the most patient and work really hard,” Deacon said in a release. “We did that, and obviously it resulted in some good scores.
Freshman Sam Horsfield and junior Ryan Orr are in a tie for first place with Central Florida’s Manuel Elvira at 4-under.
Right behind his teammates, sophomore Alejandro Tosti sits tied for fourth place at 3-under after shooting a 70-71 on Monday.
Senior Richard Donegan -- who is competing as an individual -- is in sixth place and had the lowest round of the day, a 4-under 68, before dropping three strokes in his second round.
Freshman Jorge Garcia got off to a rough start with a 4-over opening round, but bounced back with a 2-under second round to put himself in ninth place.
As a team, UF is in first place with nine of 10 competing Gators in the top 25 and five in the top 10.
Coach Deacon is looking forward to the third and final round today to see if his team can finish the tournament the same way they started.
““There is going to be a time this year when we need a really big final round, and tomorrow is a great chance to go out and prepare for that,” Deacon said. “I want us to be smart and to have a great attitude.
“Whether or not we have some ups and downs, we have to fight through it and make sure that we go out and put out a solid final round number.”
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Ryan Orr swings during Day 1 of the SunTrust Gator Invitational on Feb. 14, 2015, at the Mark Bostick Golf Course.
