Gators Card Season-Low Second Round at Nike Golf Invitational

Monday, October 3

Dallas, TX

All Day

Florida Gators

Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational

Alejandro Tosti led the team with a 66 in the second round.

Gators Card Season-Low Second Round at Nike Golf Invitational

Monday, October 3, 2016 | Men's Golf

By: Turner F. Street

FORT WORTH, TX. – The University of Florida men's golf team shot a season-best 275 second round on Monday to move up to second place at the Nike Golf Collegiate Invitational. Four players shot even-par or better to help the team rise to eight-under for the tournament, only trailing the leader by one stroke.

Junior Alejandro Tosti fired a 66 for the Gators in the second round. The four-under round propelled Tosti 12 spots up the leaderboard and into a tie for fourth place.

Sophomore Gordon Neale carded five birdies on his way to scoring one-under par for the round. Sophomores Jorge Garcia and Ryan Celano both finished their rounds at even-par.

Vanderbilt University's -4 (276) put it in the team lead at the end of the second round with a total of nine-under. Oregon's Wyndham Clark and Stanford's Maverick McNealy both shot four-under par 66s, placing them in a tie for the lead at six-under.

Head Coach J.C. Deacon

(on Alejandro Tosti's performance) "He had a big breakthrough. We've been working on his reactions and attitude towards adversity. He missed a very short birdie putt on the first hole and he made the decision that he was going to have a great attitude and show some resilience and he did that today and turned in a 66 and really helped the team. I'm happy for him today."

(on how the rest of the team help pick up Sam Horsfield during a rare off-round for him) "That's how it should be at the University of Florida. We should have five players all playing at a level where they can win golf tournaments and that what (associate head coach) John (Handrigan) and I expect and that's what the players expect as well. This is exactly how it should be. We shouldn't have to rely 100 percent on one player or another player, it should be a five-man unit playing their tails off every day. That's what we have going on right now and that's why we're in contention with a chance to win tomorrow."

(on what the team needs to win the tournament on the final day) "We've got to focus on the things that we can control. We've got to play one shot at a time, we've got to do all the things that we've been talking about as a group to do. It's more important in the bigger moments. If we can stay within ourselves and just handle those things that we can control, then we're going to have a very successful day tomorrow. This is why we all work hard, to have opportunities like we have tomorrow against Vanderbilt and it's going to be a really exciting day."

Leaderboard
Team:
1.     Vanderbilt -9 (275-276-551)
2.     Florida -8 (277-276-552)
3.     Georgia +3 (285-278-563)
4.     Oklahoma +4 (273-291-564)
5.     Oregon +5 (285-280-565)
6.     Southern Cal +6 (283-283-566)
7.     Stanford -9 (285-284-569)
T8. Wake Forest +11 (280-291-571)
T8. Texas +11 (282-289-571)
10. Washington          +15 (286-289-575)
T11.Clemson +18 (286-292-578)
T11.Duke +18 (287-291-578)
13. TCU +24 (290-294-584)
T14.Ohio State +29 (292-297-589)
T14.Arizona +29 (295-294-589)

Players:
T4.          Alejandro Tosti     -4 (70-66-136)
T13.        Ryan Celano        E (70-70-140)
T13.        Jorge Garcia E (70-70-140)
T22.        Gordon Neale      +1 (72-69-141)
T32.        Sam Horsfield +4 (67-77-144)
Full Leaderboard

Follow the Gators: The Orange and Blue will tee off the third round in Fort Worth, TX., Tuesday