Dates: Monday, May 16 – Wednesday, May 18
Location: Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. – PGA National (Champion Course)
Host: Florida Atlantic University
Course Par/Yardage: 72 / 7,048 yards
Format: 54-hole stroke play (18-18-18)
Tee Times: 7:30 a.m. ET on Monday and TBA other days
Live Scoring: Golf Stat
Social Media: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
TEE OFF
The No. 2 seed Gators stay in the ‘Sunshine State’ and open play up at the Palm Beach Regional on Monday at PGA National.
FLORIDA LINE UP
No. 1 – Ricky Castillo
No. 2 – Fred Biondi
No. 3 – Yuxin Lin
No. 4 – John DuBois
No. 5 – Tyler Wilkes
Alternate – Quentin Debove
THE FIELD
1. Vanderbilt
2. Florida
3. Notre Dame
4. Florida State
5. Purdue
6. New Mexico
7. South Florida
8. Little Rock
9. College of Charleston
10. Indiana
11. San Diego
12. Davidson
13. Loyola Maryland
14. Charleston Southern
INDIVIDUALS
1. Nick Lyerly, UNC Greensboro
2. Tobias Jonsson, Mercer
3. Henrik Lilja, Campbell
4. Ross Funderburke, Furman
5. Zack Byers, Gardner-Webb
FORMAT
The three-day event will consist of 54 holes (18 each day) and at the conclusion of play, the top five teams as well as the top individual finisher not on an advancing team will advance to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., from May 27-June 1.
A total of 81 teams and 45 individuals (not on a competing team) will play across six regional hosts – Florida Atlantic, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Pacific, Texas A&M and Yale. Thirteen teams and 10 individuals will compete at each of three regionals while the other three regionals will have 14 teams and five individuals.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Gators have qualified for 32 of the 33 all-time men’s golf regionals and each year under head coach J.C. Deacon as Florida won the inaugural East Regional (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) in 1989. UF has claimed a total of six team titles (1989, 1992, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2018) and six individual titles – Brain Gay (1993), Brad Lehmann (1994), Camilo Villegas (2001), Billy Horschel (2006 & 2007) and Andy Zhang (2018).
Last year, Ricky Castillo punched the Gators’ ticket to the NCAA Championship as he drained a 75-footer for birdie in the final round of the Cle Elum (Washington) Regional.
LAST TIME OUT
Florida finished runner-up at the 2022 SEC Championship after advancing to the finals for the first time since the match play format was added in 2017, defeating No. 6 Georgia (quarterfinals) and No. 2 Texas A&M (semifinals). John DuBois became the 25th Gator to win the SEC Individual title, the most by a school in the conference as it marked his first collegiate win.
SEC AWARDS
Four Gators earned SEC awards prior to regional play. Fred Biondi and John DuBois both earned first team honors for the first time in their career while Ricky Castillo collected his second straight second team nod followed by Tyler Wilkes on the community service team.
BIONDI BREAKOUT
Posting a breakout season, Biondi led the team in stroke average (69.8), 18-hole average (-1.2) and 54-hole average (-3.7) relation to par. A native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, he claimed two collegiate titles, including his first at the VyStar Gators Invitational where he finished 14-under at 196 to tie the tournament record and third all-time in tournament score by par in three rounds in program history..
A member of the Spring Haskins Award Watch List, he was named Golf Week Player of the Week and twice SEC Golfer of the Week this season. He has shot nine rounds in the 60s with five straight and four consecutive tournaments under-par. Biondi also led the team in birdies per round (4.0) and second in total birdies with 83.
THE CHAMP
Winning his first collegiate title, John DuBois became the 25th Gator to win the the SEC Individual Championship, which is the most by any school in the conference. He tied for the third-lowest round (64, -6) in SEC history as concluded the stroke play portion of the tournament setting career lows in round (64), tournament score (204) and best finish (1).
The native of Windermere, Fla., followed his historic performance by sending the Florida men’s golf team to the SEC Championship Finals with his victory on the playoff hole in the semifinals vs. No. 1 Texas A&M. He teed off the 18th 1-down and won the hole to force extras. DuBois nearly eagled the hole (565 yards, par 5) as he two putted from seven feet for another memorable moment. The junior went 2-1 in the match play portion of the SEC Championship as he played in all 27 rounds for the first time in his career.
GATOR GREAT COACHES
In the fall, head coach J.C. Deacon announced the addition of Dudley Hart as the next assistant coach. The Gator Great spent the last four seasons as the volunteer assistant coach. He was four-time All American, the 1987 SEC Freshman of the Year and a two-time PGA Tour winner.
To star the spring, Deacon again took the program to another level with the addition of Gator Great and former FedEx Cup Champion, Billy Horschel, as a volunteer assistant coach. He was a four-year (2006-09) member of the Gator golf team, three-time (2006-07, 2009) first-team All-American and two-time (2007 & 2009) SEC Player of the Year with over 282 professional outings.
OFF-SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Fred Biondi rode the momentum into the off-season and finished tied for runner-up at the 2022 Latin Ameria Amateur Championship (LAAC). In his fourth consecutive appearance at the tournament, his 65 (-7) in round three on moving day tied the tournament course record and moved him into second on the final day, jumping 14 spots. With the performance, Biondi will be exempt into the final stages of qualifying for The Open and the U.S. Open Championship.
Concluding his 2021 strong, Quentin Debove had a runner-up finish at the Dixie Amateur and T3 outing at the Sunshine State Am. Freshman Matthew Kress started the new year with a 5-under top-15 placement in the Saguaro Am Series and a trio of Gators had rounds in the 60’s to make the cut at the South Beach Am in John DuBois (67), Biondi (68) and Tyler Wilkes (69).
Both Joe Pagdin and Wilkes got to compete in marque tournaments as Pagdin represented Team England at The Spirit and Wilkes competed in the Patriot All-America, honoring fallen heroes.
PRESEASON RANKINGS & RECOGNITION
The Gators earned preseason recognition and were selected 8th in the Golf Channel/Golf Weekly and T17th by GCAA Preseason Polls. Ricky Castillo was 4th overall in the Top 30 Preseason Players by Golf Channel/Golf Weekly.
NEW GATORS
The Florida men’s golf team added two new faces this season in Miguel Leal (Guatemala City, Guatemala) and Matthew Kress (Saratoga, Calif.) Leal won the 2020 Billy Horschel Junior Championship and was a two-time winner (2019-20) of the Central American Junior Tournament. Kress attended Bellarmine College Prep and shot 11-under par to win the FCG Encinitas Junior Championship. He was a 2018 First Team All-League WCAL and helped his school win the 2018 WCAL Championships.
THE TURN
Florida looks to advance to its 54th NCAA Championship and fifth time under head coach J.C. Deacon. 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.
Florida has appeared in the NCAA Championship tournament 53 times in program history, tying Stanford for fifth in the nation behind Oklahoma State (73), Texas (65), USC (58) and Arizona State (56)