The UF men's golf team teed off Thursday morning in the NCAA Southeast Regional as the home team.
Well, sort of.
Hosting an NCAA Tournament event for the first time since serving as host of the 1990 NCAA Championships at Innisbrook – a tournament won by future PGA Tour star Phil Mickelson – the Gators are sleeping in their own beds as the rest of the 14-team field calls Ocala-area hotels home.
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The event is being held at Golden Ocala Golf Course, which meets NCAA postseason requirements. The Gators have played the course the past two years in the regular season, so while it might not be quite as friendly as the Mark Bostick Golf Course they normally call home, it's still like playing at your best friend's house.
“This is a little new for us,'' Florida head coach Buddy Alexander said. “I think we feel pretty good about how we've played on the golf course. We're pretty comfortable. That's the one positive thing we've got going for us.''
The Gators will spend the next three days shooting for a top-five finish and berth in the NCAA Championships later this month in Stillwater, Okla. Florida is coming off an impressive win in the SEC Tournament led by individual champion Andres Echavarria.
Still, Alexander had his concerns as the Southeast Regional approached.
First, Florida's No. 4 player, sophomore Tyler McCumber, is out after breaking his finger recently. That forced junior Michael Furci to move into the lineup at a critical juncture.
Next, Echavarria came down with food poisoning earlier this week and did not participate in practice rounds in Ocala. However, Echavarria did tee off Thursday morning and was even through 14 holes.
The one player Alexander isn't concerned about is Bank Vongvanij, who has been Florida's most consistent player the past couple of seasons.
“Bank is an unusually competitive guy,” Alexander said. “He is a very smart player. He is absolute awesome inside 50, or even 100 yards. I expect Bank to be pretty solid all week.''
While Alexander said regional week “is always a nervous time,'' the fact his team is in familiar surroundings is a bonus. They may not be home, but they are close enough to where it feels like it.
“We do know the golf course well,'' he said. “We've competed on that course a couple of times in recent years and we've done pretty well. It's not an unbelievably difficult golf course. The greens are terrific; they've got some speed to them. The course is a fun one to play. It's got some par-5s that you can take advantage of. It's a solid test of golf.
“I think it will produce five teams deserving of the NCAA Tournament.''
