No. 18 Florida fell victim again at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational on Saturday afternoon, remaining in 15th place.
As a team, the Gators improved six strokes from Friday’s total score, shooting 22-over.
“Our score was better, but the course was too,” coach Buddy Alexander said. “We might have played a little better [Friday]. We were off to a decent start today and thought we could get a little something going.”
Junior J.D. Tomlinson shot 6-over (76), leading the Gators. Freshman Victor Tarnstrom, a Sweden native, improved four strokes from Friday’s total by exceeding to 4-over (74) on the day.
The Gators sit two points behind Clemson with a score of 608 while Alabama still leads the pack with a staggering lead of 2-under (558). Runner-up No. 3 Texas is 19-over (579) and Texas Tech fell to eighth place after being tied for third Friday.
“I think it’s just too much golf course for us right now,” said Alexander. “We’ve been playing hard and I think you learn the most about yourself and your team when you play poorly.”
Eric Banks fell to 57th place and is now standing at 13-over after shooting 6-over in the opening round.
The Gators will head into the third and final round of the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational on Sunday, teeing off at 9 a.m.
“We learned a lot about ourselves so far this weekend,” said Alexander. “Hopefully we can parlay that knowledge to use on the course tomorrow.”
Follow Lawrence Laguna on Twitter @LagunaLawrence.
