Florida Gators
Southern Highlands Collegiate
Gators in Fifth at Southern Highlands Collegiate
Sunday, March 15, 2009 | Men's Golf
Senior Billy Horschel (Grant, Fla.) and junior Tim McKenney (Scottsdale, Ariz.) each shot even-par 72 in the second round and the University of Florida men's golf team shot five-over par 293 on Saturday at the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship in Las Vegas. The Gators are in fifth place at seven-over par 583 heading into Sunday's final round.
Horschel is tied for ninth on the leader board at one-under par 143 for the tournament. Senior Will Strickler (Charlottesville, Va.) shot a 74 (+2) in the second round and is tied for 14th at even-par 144 after 36 holes. McKenney is tied for 24th at 147 (+3) heading into the final round.
Senior Toby Ragland (Jacksonville, Fla.) rounded out the scoring on Saturday with a three-over par score of 75. He is tied for 51st at eight-over par 152 for the tournament.
Freshman Max Kieffer (Duesseldorf, Germany) struggled in the second round, finishing at seven-over par 79 Saturday afternoon. He is in a tie for 57th at nine-over par 153 after 36 holes.
“We had a very similar day today as we had yesterday,” said head coach Buddy Alexander. “Oklahoma State had an unbelievable day and we got buzz sawed, so that just makes winning a little more difficult.”
The day looked promising in the early going, as the Gators had three players under par through the first nine holes. Horschel birdied his first two holes on the day and Strickler had four birdies on the front nine. McKenney sat at two-under par when he made the turn and pushed it to three-under with a birdie on the eleventh hole. That's when the struggles on the back nine started, where the team combined for 15 bogeys and just five birdies.
Oklahoma State shot an amazing 18-under par in the second round to move from sixth place and eight shots back on Friday to first place and 12 shots ahead on Saturday. The Cowboys were led by Morgan Hoffman, who carded eight birdies, an eagle and no bogeys on his way to a 62 (-10). He is on top of the leader board at 10-under par 134 heading into Sunday's final round.
The Gators are scheduled to tee off at 10:15 local time on Sunday. Live scoring is available online at www.golfstatresults.com.
Team Results
| School | Rd. 1 | Rd. 2 | Total | To Par | |
| 1 | Oklahoma State | 291 | 270 | 561 | -15 |
| 2 | UNLV | 285 | 288 | 573 | -3 |
| 3 | Arizona | 287 | 289 | 576 | E |
| 4 | Clemson | 283 | 298 | 581 | +5 |
| 5 | FLORIDA | 290 | 293 | 583 | +7 |
| 6 | Georgia Tech | 289 | 295 | 584 | +8 |
| 7 | Georgia | 303 | 284 | 587 | +11 |
| T8 | UCLA | 296 | 293 | 589 | +13 |
| T8 | Southern California | 295 | 294 | 589 | +13 |
| 10 | Arizona State | 309 | 285 | 594 | +18 |
| 11 | Charlotte | 300 | 300 | 600 | +24 |
| 12 | Auburn | 302 | 300 | 602 | +26 |
| 13 | California | 298 | 305 | 603 | +27 |
| 14 | Texas | 312 | 293 | 605 | +29 |
| 15 | Texas A&M | 308 | 299 | 607 | +31 |
Individual Top-10
| Player | School | Rd. 1 | Rd. 2 | Total | To Par | |
| 1 | Morgan Hoffmann | Oklahoma State | 72 | 62 | 134 | -10 |
| 2 | Cameron Tringale | Georgia Tech | 67 | 70 | 137 | -7 |
| 3 | Matthew Giles | Southern California | 67 | 71 | 138 | -6 |
| 4 | Ben Martin | Clemson | 67 | 72 | 139 | -5 |
| 5 | Colby Smith | UNLV | 67 | 73 | 140 | -4 |
| 6 | Jeremiah Wooding (ind.) | UNLV | 73 | 68 | 141 | -3 |
| T7 | Phillip Mollica | Clemson | 69 | 73 | 142 | -2 |
| T7 | Tyler Neal | Arizona | 68 | 74 | 142 | -2 |
| T9 | Billy Horschel | Florida | 71 | 72 | 143 | -1 |
| T9 | Brett Kanda | UNLV | 72 | 71 | 143 | -1 |
| T9 | Trent Leon | Oklahoma State | 74 | 69 | 143 | -1 |
| T9 | Bernhard Neumann | Oklahoma State | 74 | 69 | 143 | -1 |
| T9 | Minghao Wang | Georgia Tech | 71 | 72 | 143 | -1 |
Florida Results
| Rd. 1 | Rd. 2 | Total | To Par | ||
| T9 | Billy Horschel | 71 | 72 | 143 | -1 |
| T14 | Will Strickler | 70 | 74 | 144 | E |
| T24 | Tim McKenney | 75 | 72 | 147 | +3 |
| T51 | Toby Ragland | 77 | 75 | 152 | +8 |
| T57 | Max Kieffer | 74 | 79 | 153 | +9 |
