Florida Gators
Puerto Rico Classic
Ragland Among Top 10 After First Round In Puerto Rico
Sunday, February 25, 2007 | Men's Golf
Sophomore Toby Ragland (Jacksonville, Fla.) matched his low round of the season with a three-under 69 on Sunday, leading the top-ranked University of Florida men's golf team to a score of 294 (+6) on the first day of the Puerto Rico Classic. The Gators stand in a tie for 13th place in the 18-team field after the first round of competition.
“We didn't play particularly well today at all, but sometimes golf works like that,” Florida head coach Buddy Alexander said. “We've got a lot of work ahead of us now if we want to be competitive in this tournament. We'll try to figure some things out tonight and hopefully come back tomorrow with a different mindset.”
Ragland, who earned a top-20 finish at last year's Puerto Rico Classic, birdied six holes on the day, including back-to-back birdie efforts on holes 16 and 17. He played the front nine in a two-under-par clip of 34 on Sunday, and brought his round home in 35 strokes to finish the day tied for seventh. His first-round 69 equals the season-low he posted in both the third round of the Preview Invitational and the first round of the Isleworth Invitational in the fall.
“One of the reasons I picked Toby to play in this tournament is that he's a gamer,” Alexander said. “I've said it time and again, Toby usually seems to help us out when we have a bad round as a team. I was certainly pleased with the way he played today, and hopefully we'll see the same tomorrow and Tuesday.”
Freshman Tim McKenney (Scottsdale, Ariz.) finished the day with a score of 73 (+1), rolling in four birdies along the way. Sophomore Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.) is two strokes behind his rookie teammate after posting an opening-round 75. Horschel played par golf over his last 17 holes of the day to bounce back from a triple-bogey on No. 1. Freshman Tyson Alexander (Gainesville, Fla.) and junior Manuel Villegas (Medellin, Colombia) both rounded out the Gator lineup with a five-over score of 77.
Action will continue at the Puerto Rico Classic at 7 a.m. EST on Monday. Live scoring can be accessed via www.gatorzone.com.
Team Scores Through Round One
| Place | School | Score |
| 1. | East Tennessee State | 273 (-15) |
| 2. | Georgia | 279 (-9) |
| 3. | Stanford | 281 (-7) |
| 4. | Oklahoma State | 282 (-6) |
| 5. | Clemson | 283 (-5) |
| T6. | Duke | 284 (-4) |
| T6. | Alabama | 284 (-4) |
| T8. | Georgia Tech | 287 (-1) |
| T8. | Kent State | 287 (-1) |
| T10. | Minnesota | 288 (E) |
| T10. | Texas | 288 (E) |
| 12. | Northwestern | 289 (+1) |
| T13. | FLORIDA | 294 (+6) |
| T13. | Virginia Tech | 294 (+6) |
| T13. | Purdue | 294 (+6) |
| T15. | North Carolina State | 297 (+9) |
| T15. | Illinois | 297 (+9) |
| 18. | Michigan | 304 (+16) |
Individual Top-10 Through Round One
| Place | Player | Score |
| T1. | Rhys Davies (East Tennessee State) | 65 (-7) |
| T1. | Cian McNamara (East Tennessee State) | 65 (-7) |
| T3. | Jonathan Moore (Oklahoma State) | 68 (-4) |
| T3. | Roberto Castro (Georgia Tech) | 68 (-4) |
| T3. | Matthew Savage (Stanford) | 68 (-4) |
| T3. | Brendon Todd (Georgia) | 68 (-4) |
| T7. | David Merkow (Northwestern) | 69 (-3) |
| T7. | Joseph Bramlett (Stanford) | 69 (-3) |
| T7. | Mark Harrell (Alabama) | 69 (-3) |
| T7. | TOBY RAGLAND (FLORIDA) | 69 (-3) |
| T7. | Matthew Swan (Alabama) | 69 (-3) |
| T7. | Sam Saunders (Clemson) | 69 (-3) |
Florida Results Through Round One
| Place | Player | Score |
| T7. | Toby Ragland | 69 (-3) |
| T44. | Tim McKenney | 73 (+1) |
| T59. | Billy Horschel | 75 (+3) |
| T71. | Manuel Villegas | 77 (+5) |
| T71. | Tyson Alexander | 77 (+5) |
-UF-
