Gators Fall To Vanderbilt in SEC Championship

Sunday, April 23

St. Simons Island, GA

All Day

Florida Gators

SEC Championship

Junior Alejandro Tosti had himself quite a week, winning the individual title and both of his matches.

Gators Fall To Vanderbilt in SEC Championship

Sunday, April 23, 2017 | Men's Golf

By: Turner F. Street

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The Florida's men's golf team escaped the quarterfinals of match play after a playoff on Sunday, but in the semifinal match play round, the Gators would not find the same luck.

The Orange and Blue opened the day with Alejandro Tosti going to his second playoff in as many days. After splitting with South Carolina 2-2, Tosti and the Gamecocks' Will Miles headed to a playoff to determine what team would get the final point.

After sinking a clutch par putt on the first playoff hole that held on the edge of the cup before dropping in, the junior shut South Carolina down when he carded a four and Miles carded a five on the 20^th hole of the match. By notching a par in his final hole, Tosti finished off his second-straight bogey-free round.

Following their defeat of the Gamecocks, the Gators advanced to the semifinal match play round where they faced off with Vanderbilt. After splitting 2-2 with the Commodores, attention turned to Andy Zhang. The freshman was two-down heading into the 16^th hole, one-down heading into the 18^th and managed to finish the hole all square, forcing a playoff.

Facing off against fellow freshman John Augenstein, Zhang carded a four on the first playoff hole, advancing to the 20^th hole of the match. After both players fired their drives deep down the middle of the fairway, Zhang landed his approach shot on the fringe while Augenstein placed his shot within 10 feet of the hole. Zhang missed his putt from off the green and Augenstein sank his for birdie, winning the playoff for the Commodores.

Head Coach J.C. Deacon
On the victory in the first match play round…
"The guys played great. Sam Horsfield played a great match and got it done, Andy Zhang got up early and didn't let the other guy get in it and won. Alejandro Tosti had one of the best weeks a college golfer has ever had, winning he individual title and going 2-0 in match play. He really brought it for us this week and I'm proud of him."

On the second match play round…
"The fight that our team showed was incredible. I'm heartbroken for our guys, but I'm so proud of them. Andy Zhang was an absolute warrior out there and never quit. He believed he was going to win until the end and it took a great birdie to beat us. It's too bad because we have a really, really special team and it was going to take a world-class effort like Vanderbilt put forth today to beat us and we were just one shot short. It could have gone either way."

On what the performance does for the team heading into NCAA Regionals…
"It's going to take us a little while to regroup because this one hurts pretty good. We'll regroup because that's what champions do. When they get kicked down to the floor, they get back up and they're better for it. We're going to be better for it and you better believe that we're going to be the hungriest team in the entire country for the next month."
Next for the Gators: NCAA Regional Tournament begins on May 15.

Match Play Results
Quarterfinals v South Carolina (W, 3-2)