Florida Gators
NCAA Championships
Villegas Leads Men's Golf To 6th Entering Final Day At NCAAs
Friday, June 4, 2004 | Men's Golf
Senior Camilo Villegas (Medellin, Colombia) tied a season best with a three-under 67 in leading No. 1 Florida to sixth place entering the final round of play at the 2004 NCAA Men's Golf Championships on Thursday at The Homestead Resort's Cascades Golf Course.
Florida shot a four-over 284 on the third day of competition and is in sixth with a score of 858 (+18). UCLA, which carded the best round of any team during the tournament with a five-under 275 on Thursday, has a five-stroke lead on Kentucky entering the final round as the Bruins are at 847 (+7). Kentucky is second at 852 (+12), followed by California at 855 (+15) and Washington and Arizona at 856 (+16).
The Gators were in position to finish the third round under par, but Florida's five players shot a combined eight-over par on the final four holes of play to finish at four-over. Still, the Gators made the cut to the final 15 teams and are in contention to finish in the top 10 for the 26th time in school history.
"There's been plenty of good this week, but every time you think you're going to get a little momentum going, something has derailed," Florida coach Buddy Alexander said. "It's been tough to take. We're not playing poorly, we just keep killing ourselves at pivotal times when all year long we've been able to get it done at pivotal times.
"We've got to focus on us and we've got to focus on not making the mistakes that we've made for three days in a row," Alexander said. "If we had made four pars on the last hole today, we're in third place and we're seven shots back – that's not insurmountable. Is 11? Time will tell, but it's a pretty tough road ahead."
UNLV's Ryan Moore leads the individual standings after a six-under 64 left him at 201 (-9) at the par 70, 6,679-yard course.
Villegas ended the day in a tie for 13th after his round of 67 (-3) left him at 211 (+1) for the tournament. It was Villegas' team-leading 28th even-or-under par round this season and the fifth in his last seven rounds. Villegas enters the final day with a chance to become the first Florida player to finish in the top 10 in the SEC Championships, the NCAA Region Championships and the NCAA Championships in the same season.
"I played better today and I got off to a better start," Villegas said. "I hit more fairways, which always helps on this course. I left some out there today, which doesn't make me happy, but I definitely played better than I did the first two days and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
Sophomore Brett Stegmaier (Madison, Conn.) carded six birdies on the day and shot one under on the first nine holes before finishing with a 71 (+1). Stegmaier and freshman Jessie Mudd (Louisville, Ky.) are both tied for 32nd at 216 (+6) entering the fourth round. Mudd carded a one-under 34 for the first nine holes before ending the day with a 74 (+4).
Sophomore Matt Every (Daytona Beach, Fla.) finished the day with four birdies and shot a 72 (+2) to sit in a tie for 48th at 218 (+8). Sophomore James Vargas (Miami, Fla.) shot a five-over 75 and is in a tie for 81st at 221 (+11).
Florida will tee off for the final round beginning at 8:27 a.m. Live scoring can be found at www.golfstat.com
TEAM STANDINGS
| Place | Team | 1st Round | 2nd Round | 3rd Round | Total | Over/Under Par |
| 1. | UCLA | 289 | 283 | 275 | 847 | +7 |
| 2. | Kentucky | 283 | 286 | 283 | 852 | +12 |
| 3. | California | 279 | 289 | 287 | 855 | +15 |
| T4. | Washington | 289 | 282 | 285 | 856 | +16 |
| T4. | Arizona | 292 | 281 | 283 | 856 | +16 |
| 6. | Florida | 285 | 289 | 284 | 858 | +18 |
| 7. | Pepperdine | 295 | 276 | 289 | 860 | +20 |
| T8. | BYU | 280 | 290 | 291 | 861 | +21 |
| T8. | Georgia Tech | 289 | 285 | 287 | 861 | +21 |
| 10. | Texas | 288 | 286 | 289 | 863 | +23 |
| 11. | Texas A&M | 291 | 292 | 284 | 867 | +27 |
| 12. | Georgia State | 292 | 280 | 297 | 869 | +29 |
| T13. | Penn State | 289 | 290 | 290 | 870 | +30 |
| T13. | Oklahoma State | 292 | 289 | 289 | 870 | +30 |
| T15. | Georgia | 285 | 302 | 284 | 871 | +31 |
| T15. | USC | 284 | 298 | 289 | 871 | +31 |
| T15. | Purdue | 292 | 285 | 294 | 871 | +31 |
| 18. | Clemson | 285 | 290 | 297 | 872 | +32 |
| 19. | New Mexico | 291 | 291 | 294 | 876 | +36 |
| 20. | TCU | 281 | 292 | 304 | 877 | +37 |
| T21. | Arizona State | 292 | 304 | 283 | 879 | +39 |
| T21. | Auburn | 283 | 298 | 298 | 879 | +39 |
| T21. | Oklahoma | 286 | 295 | 298 | 879 | +39 |
| 24. | Kent State | 294 | 288 | 299 | 881 | +41 |
| 25. | Toledo | 294 | 292 | 298 | 884 | +44 |
| 26. | SMU | 297 | 288 | 302 | 887 | +47 |
| 27. | Wichita State | 298 | 304 | 285 | 887 | +47 |
| 28. | Vanderbilt | 294 | 303 | 294 | 891 | +51 |
| 29. | North Carolina | 294 | 291 | 307 | 892 | +52 |
| 30. | Rhode Island | 299 | 311 | 302 | 912 | +72 |
* Georgia won a three-way playoff to advance to the final round
FLORIDA RESULTS
| Place | Player | 1st Round | 2nd Round | 3rd Round | Total | Over/Under Par |
| T13. | Camilo Villegas | 72 | 72 | 67 | 211 | +1 |
| T32. | Jessie Mudd | 69 | 73 | 74 | 216 | +6 |
| T32. | Brett Stegmaier | 71 | 74 | 71 | 216 | +6 |
| T48. | Matt Every | 75 | 71 | 72 | 218 | +8 |
| T81. | James Vargas | 73 | 73 | 75 | 221 | +11 |
