Next Stop? Gators Advance to National Championship
Grayhawk Bound; Gators Advance to National Championships
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. - The Florida men's golf team took third in Palm Beach Regional to advance to the 2022 National Champions on Wednesday.
Florida advances to its 55th NCAA Championship and fifth under head coach J.C. Deacon, and have only missed qualifying once. The Gators have claimed the championship title in 1968, 1973, 1993 and 2001. Individually, Florida has touted the top finisher twice - Bob Murphy in 1966 and Nick Gilliam in 2001.
UF has made the championship in 17 of the last 19 tournaments as its 55th appearance is fifth most in the nation behind Oklahoma State (74), Texas (66), USC (58) and Arizona State (57).
The other qualifying teams out of the Palm Beach Regional are Vanderbilt, Florida State, South Florida, and College of Charleston along with individual Zach Byers from Gardner-Webb.
After moving from T5 to third in round two, Florida shot 4-under (284) for the second straight day with three in the lineup finishing under at PGA National, home of the Honda Classic.
Fred Biondi ended runner-up and battled FSU's Brett Roberts, who won the individual crown, edging Biondi out by two strokes. The All-SEC First Team member, Biondi posted a 70 (-2) behind a clean 5-under on the front nine with his second eagle (hole 6, par 5, 488 yards) of the regional. On par 5s this week, Florida shot a combined 38-under as he shot -12 for an average of 4.0 and never posted above par on them.
The Gators posted three total eagles in the final round as Quentin Debove also recorded one on hole six. He was subbed in the lineup in the No. 5 spot today and posted an even 72, capped off by a birdie on 18. Debove's birdie to start the back nine pushed UF in solo second.
UF's final eagle of the day came from Ricky Castillo (T15) who smacked a shot on hole 16 (par 4, 434 yards) known as part of the 'Bear Trap', that bounced to the left of the cup and then rolled in. His team-leading fifth eagle helped erase a triple in the prior hole as he went 1-under.
Mirroring Castillo, John DuBois (T11) finished 1-under and posted three birdies in a four hole (3-6) stretch. He consistently cut one stroke off each of his rounds - 73, 72 and 71. Rounding out the lineup was Yuxin Lin in T30.
The 2022 NCAA Championship will take place at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., from May 27-June 1.
Scores Florida Individual Place Player Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Score
T2 Fred Biondi 72 69 70 211 (-5)
T11 John DuBois 73 72 71 216 (E)
T15 Ricky Castillo 77 70 71
218 (+2)
T30 Yuxin Lin 73 73 78 224 (+8)
*Tyler Wilkes 76 75 X 151 (+7)
*Quentin Debove X X 72 72 (E)
X indicates not played