Florida Gators
NCAA Regionals
Gators Use Solid Second Round to Climb Up Leaderboard at NCAA East Regional
Friday, May 18, 2012 | Men's Golf
After a disappointing opening 18 yesterday, the University of Florida men's golf team bounced back on the second day of the 2012 NCAA East Regional at the Grandover Resort East Course by firing a 287 (-1), the best round of the day by four strokes. UF currently sits in third place overall, 10 strokes behind Liberty. The top-5 teams after tomorrow's final round advance to the NCAA Championship.
“A round like this is what I hoped for yesterday, what I hope for tomorrow and what I hope for all week,” said head coach Buddy Alexander. “After the round yesterday we challenged the team to shoot the low round of the day and they responded pretty darn well so I'm happy about that but we have a long way to go and can in no way celebrate yet. It's a big day tomorrow and we just have to go out and play our game.”
For the day, the Gators were led by a trio of golfers, junior T.J. Vogel (Cooper City, Fla.), freshman J.D. Tomlinson (Gainesville, Fla.) and junior Tyler McCumber (Ponte Vedra, Fla.), who shot rounds of even par or better.
“T.J. played solid all day. Tyler had a good round, just one bad shot that cost him two strokes and J.D. was J.D. He just plodded around a put together a really solid round,” Alexander explained.
Vogel led the Orange and Blue on the day with a two-under round of 70. After a slow start of one-over through seven holes, Vogel got his round going with birdies on the par-4 17th and the par-5 18th to make the turn in one-under, 35. After dropping a stroke at the third, Vogel again responded with back-to-back birdies, this time on the par-4 fifth and par-5 sixth. Vogel was able to par out from there to post his team-best 21st round at or under par on the season.
Joining Vogel in the red was Tomlinson, who is in a tie for seventh overall after a one-under round of 71. After a bogey on his opening hole, the par-4 10th, Tomlinson caught fire making a trio of birdies on the back nine to turn in two-under, 34. On hi s homeward half, Tomlinson carded a birdie against two bogeys to sit at even par (144) for tournament after the second round.
McCumber got off to a quick start playing his first eight holes in two-under before dropping a shot at the 18th to turn in 35. On the front nine, McCumber was more up-and-down tallying two birdies against a bogey and a double to finish his day at even par, 72. McCumber sits in a tie for 12th heading into the final day of competition.
Freshman Eric Banks (Truro, Canada) used a trio of birdies, including one on his closing hole, against five bogeys to post a 74 which also counted for the Orange and Blue's team score. Banks sits in a tie for 24th after a two round total of 149 (+5).
“Eric made some adjustments on his back nine and was able to piece together a score which ended up being really important for us. So I'm proud of how he responded out there today,” Alexander said.
Senior Michael Furci (Sayville, N.Y.) rounded out the UF lineup with a 79.
The Gators will return to the course tomorrow morning when they tee off at 8:45 a.m. Live scoring for the final round will be available through GolfStat.
Team Results After Round Two
| Place | Team | To Par | Round One Score | Round Two Score |
| 1 | Liberty | E | 283 | 293 |
| 2 | SMU | +6 | 288 | 294 |
| 3 | Florida | +10 | 299 | 287 |
| T4 | Auburn | +12 | 296 | 292 |
| T4 | Lamar | +12 | 295 | 293 |
| 6 | Texas Tech | +13 | 294 | 295 |
| 7 | Tulsa | +14 | 293 | 297 |
| 8 | Indiana | +15 | 298 | 293 |
| 9 | Duke | +16 | 301 | 291 |
| 10 | UNLV | +21 | 293 | 304 |
| 11 | Louisiana Lafayette | +24 | 295 | 305 |
| 12 | Charlotte | +31 | 303 | 304 |
| 13 | George Washington | +45 | 312 | 310 |
| 14 | Mount St. Mary's | +52 | 311 | 317 |
Top 10 Individuals After Round Two
| Place | Player (School) | To Par | Round One Score | Round Two Score |
| 1 | Matt Schovee (SMU) | -7 | 67 | 70 |
| 2 | Robert Karlsson (Liberty) | -5 | 70 | 69 |
| T3 | Vaita Guillaume (Campbell) | -3 | 70 | 71 |
| T3 | Blayne Barber (Auburn) | -3 | 73 | 66 |
| T5 | Blake Biddle (UNLV) | -1 | 70 | 73 |
| T5 | MJ Daffue (Lamar) | -1 | 70 | 73 |
| T7 | J.D. Tomlinson (Florida) | E | 73 | 71 |
| T7 | John Young Kim (Tulsa) | E | 69 | 75 |
| T7 | Adam Sumrall (Duke) | E | 73 | 71 |
| T7 | Corey Ziedonia (Inidana) | E | 71 | 73 |
Florida Results After Round Two
| Place | Player | To Par | Round One Score | Round Two Score |
| T7 | J.D. Tomlinson | E | 73 | 71 |
| T12 | Tyler McCumber | +2 | 74 | 72 |
| 23 | T.J. Vogel | +4 | 78 | 70 |
| T24 | Eric Banks | +5 | 75 | 74 |
| T63 | Michael Furci | +12 | 77 | 79 |
--UF--
