Florida Gators
Sea Best Invitational
Gators’ A.J. Crouch Leads Field at Sea Best Invitational
Tuesday, February 3, 2015 | Men's Golf
After a windy opening day at the Sea Best Invitational, University of Florida men's golfer A.J. Crouch is in the lead and the Gators are holding down the third-place spot in the team competition.
Crouch, a junior, is the only golfer in the 81-player field to finish the first two rounds at TPC Sawgrass below par. Crouch shot rounds of 69 and 70 on the par-70 course to record a 1-under 139. He holds a three-stroke lead over Coastal Carolina's Ben Wheeler and North Carolina's Ben Griffin, who are tied for the runner-up position.
As a team, the Gators recorded a 28-over 588 and trail No. 2 Florida State by one stroke and leader No. 12 North Carolina by three shots, as the Tar Heels tallied a 24-over 584 on Monday. The competition is tight, with a mere six strokes separating the top 11 golfers.
In addition to Crouch, three other Florida golfers grabbed top-25 spots. Senior Eric Banks, competing as an individual, shot a 3-over 143 to tie for fourth. Senior J.D. Tomlinson recorded a 7-over 147, good for a share of 16th place, and freshman Alejandro Tosti, in his Florida debut, finished the day with a 10-over 150 and portion of 25th place.
Florida returns to Dye's Valley Course tomorrow for the third round of the Sea Best Invitational, which begins at 8 a.m.
Head Coach JC Deacon:
On the team's performance:
“To be honest, it wasn't great. I didn't think we had our best day, but the guys just grinded and had awesome attitudes all day long and fought for every shot. All six of them did not quit at any point today in really, really tough conditions. That's what great teams are made of, and we showed that today.”
On the conditions at the course:
“This morning was cold, rainy and windy, so you had all three aspects that make conditions tough. We talked about it last night, about being prepared, and they all came out and did it. Not one of them complained, not one of them said a word about it. We were just going to embrace it and try to make it our advantage, and I really believe they did that. The wind was blowing about 25 miles per hour, and the rain was coming down, and they weren't fun conditions to play in, but they put their hard hats on and went to work and did a heck of a job.”
On A.J. Crouch's performance:
“I'm just so happy for him as a person. He's come so, so far, just as a human being. He's a lot happier, he's getting along really well with the guys and he's having a good time. His success on the golf course is coming along with that.”
On his thoughts entering the final round:
“It's going to be cold in the morning. We want to get up early and get there and really embrace the cold conditions and not let that affect us or our attitudes. We're just going to keep doing what we're doing. We're working hard at home on coming together as a group and being prepared for tough days like tomorrow. We're in the final group again, and that's where you want to be. We have a chance to win, and that's what our goal is.”
The Orange and Blue Crew:
| Sea Best Invitational – Florida Players after Round 2 | ||
| Place | Player | Score |
| 1 | -1 (69-70-139) | |
| T4 | +3 (72-71-143) | |
| T16 | +7 (71-76-147) | |
| T25 | Alejandro Tosti | +10 (78-72-150) |
| T36 | +12 (77-75-152) | |
| T51 | +15 (78-77-155) | |
*Denotes playing as an individual
Tournament Field Results:
| Sea Best Invitational – Team Scores after Round 2 | ||
| Place | Team | Score |
| 1 | North Carolina | +24 (288-296-584) |
| 2 | Florida State | +27 (292-295-587) |
| 3 | FLORIDA | +28 (295-293-588) |
| 4 | North Florida | +32 (301-291-592) |
| T5 | McNeese State | +34 (302-292-594) |
| T5 | UNLV | +34 (296-298-594) |
| 7 | Tennessee | +41 (302-299-601) |
| 8 | Coastal Carolina | +44 (295-309-604) |
| T9 | Texas A&M | +45 (305-300-605) |
| T9 | Jacksonville State | +45 (304-301-605) |
| 11 | Jacksonville | +47 (299-308-607) |
| T12 | Old Dominion | +51 (308-303-611) |
| T12 | Winthrop | +51 (307-304-611) |
| T12 | Liberty | +51 (303-308-611) |
| 15 | USC Upstate | +61 (316-305-621) |
| Sea Best invitational – Individual Top 10 after Round 2 | ||
| Place | Player (School) | Score |
| 1 | A.J. Crouch (FLORIDA) | -1 (69-70-139) |
| T2 | Ben Griffin (North Carolina) | +2 (68-74-142) |
| T2 | Ben Wheeler (Coastal Carolina) | +2 (70-72-142) |
| T4 | John Oda (UNLV) | +3 (71-72-143) |
| T4 | Eric Banks* (FLORIDA) | +3 (72-71-143) |
| T6 | Rowin Caron (Florida State) | +4 (69-75-144) |
| T6 | Andrew Dorn (Coastal Carolina) | +4 (69-75-144) |
| T6 | Jack Maguire (Florida State) | +4 (72-72-144) |
| T9 | Tomasz Anderson (Jacksonville State) | +5 (73-72-145 |
| T9 | Joey Petronio (North Florida) | +5 (73-72-145) |
| T9 | Cameron Champ (Texas A&M) | +5 (75-70-145) |
Follow the Gators: Play will continue Tuesday with the third and final round of the Sea Best Invitational at TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley Course, where tee times begin at 8 a.m. Live scoring will be available on GolfStat.com. A complete recap with full results will be posted on GatorZone.com following the day's play.
For complete coverage of the Gators' men's golf program, visit GatorZone.com, follow @GatorZoneGolf on Twitter and 'like' the University of Florida Men's Golf page on Facebook.
