Castillo Earns Individual Qualification as Gators Season Ends in Arizona

Sunday, May 30

Scottsdale, AZ

Florida Gators

NCAA National Championship

Castillo Earns Individual Qualification as Gators Season Ends in Arizona

Sunday, May 30, 2021 | Men's Golf

Ricky Castillo will continue to tomorrow’s fourth and final round as one of the nine individuals on non-advancing teams.

By: Morgan Perry

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – The University of Florida men's golf season has come to a close after a 13-over par third round failed to bring the Gators above the first championship cut line.

Sophomore Ricky Castillo stole the show for Florida, finishing the third round at only 1-over par overall. His scorecard thrust him into the top of the individual field and although the Gators will not be moving on, Castillo will represent his teammates when he heads back out on the course tomorrow looking for an individual title as one of the nine players advancing from a non-qualifying team.

Although recording his worst score of the tournament in the third round, Castillo had by far his best shooting day, finding the fairways and greens on the majority of holes. His 2-over par card was again the lowest of the day for the Gators.

Florida was in contention for the top-15 cut for most of the round, fluctuating above and below 15th place only slightly until the treacherous last four holes of the back nine derailed any hope of a comeback.

Castillo will tee it up in tomorrow's final round with coverage airing on Golf Channel from 5 to 9 p.m. ET. Pairings and tee times will be determined following a 2 for 1 playoff for the final advancing individual and a team playoff.

Head Coach JC Deacon's Take
On the round...
"Certainly a tough way to end the year. We got close there at the end and just couldn't finish it off. I would have loved to have a chance tomorrow. Tears my heart out to miss that cut."

On what's next…
"It's a disappointing end as I hold this program up to the highest standards. We did not reach those standards and that ultimately falls on me. Golf is a tough game to be your best at every single week, but we definitely need to be more consistent. We have everyone returning next year and I'm already thinking of ways we can grow this summer."

On Ricky Castillo…
"I'm excited for Ricky and the opportunity he has tomorrow. He's playing as well as anyone and is due for a hot putting round. We will go give it our all and represent the Florida Gators as best we can!"

Team Leaderboard

Position	Team	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Oklahoma State	280	274	274	828 (-12)
2	Oklahoma	280	279	282	841 (+1)
3	Arizona State	284	278	280	842 (+2)
4	Illinois	287	279	278	844 (+4)
5	Florida State	281	294	274	849 (+9)
T6	Vanderbilt	293	280	280	853 (+13)
T6	Wake Forest	287	284	282	853 (+13)
T6	North Carolina	288	278	287	853 (+13)
9	Pepperdine	279	286	289	854 (+14)
10	Clemson	287	284	285	856 (+16)
11	Sam Houston	278	292	288	858 (+18)
12	Louisville	289	288	287	864 (+24)
T13	Arkansas	287	293	288	868 (+28)
T13	Texas Tech	276	304	288	868 (+28)
T15	Georgia Tech	289	288	295	872 (+32)
T15	TCU	292	293	287	872 (+32)
T17	Tennessee	292	293	288	873 (+33)
T17	SMU	287	294	292	873 (+33)
T17	Georgia	292	289	292	873 (+33)
20	NC State	301	289	286	876 (+36)
21	Liberty	295	300	284	879 (+39)
22	*Florida*	*288*	*299*	*293*	*880 (+40)*
23	Oregon State	286	296	300	882 (+42)
24	UAB	295	297	293	885 (+45)
T25	Texas	294	290	302	886 (+46)
T25	San Diego State	286	301	299	886 (+46)
27	San Diego	292	303	292	887 (+47)
28	East Tennessee St.	300	291	302	893 (+53)
29	San Francisco	301	299	296	896 (+56)
30	Little Rock	294	304	307	905 (+65)

Player Leaderboard

Position	Name	R1	R2	R3	Total
T16	Ricky Castillo	68	71	72	211 (+1)
T90	Yuxin Lin	72	71	78	221 (+11)
T115	Joe Pagdin	73	79	73	225 (+15)
T123	Gio Manzoni	75	78	73	226 (+16)
T151	Tyler Wilkes	79	82	-	161 (+21)
-	John DuBois	-	-	75	75 (+5)