Monday, March 21, 2011

Vongvanij Earns Third Medalist Honor of Season at Schenkel Invitational

Florida Men’s Golf senior Bank Vongvanij (Bradenton, Fla.) earned his third medalist honor of the 2010-11 season with his win at the Schenkel Invitational on Sunday in Statesboro, Ga.

With the victory, Vongvanij has three first-place finishes, three in the top five, one in the top 10 and one in the top 20 in the Gators’ first eight tournaments. His first win of the season came at the Isleworth Invitational on Oct. 26 and then followed with the Gators’ first tournament of the spring season at the JU Invitational on Feb. 1.

As a team, Florida came back from six strokes down behind leader Auburn to take the lead after the front nine holes, but let the Tigers find their way back in and tied it up at the end of the round. In the playoff, Auburn made birdie and shot four pars to seal the win.

“We had a good tournament, but a disappointing end,” said head coach Buddy Alexander. “In any sport, there’s a lot of momentum going into a playoff, but we couldn’t find a way to win. This was a big event and would have been a positive win for us.”

Sophomore Phillip Choi (Orlando, Fla.) shot all three rounds under par to finish in fourth place for the Gators. In 52 holes, Choi made 12 birdies against only four bogeys and one double bogey to finish six-under par in the tournament. He has now finished in the top 10 in the last seven of Florida’s eight events this season.

Redshirt-senior Andres Echavarria (Medellin, Colombia) and Tyler McCumber (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) both recorded top-20 finishes. Echavarria tied for 11th and McCumber tied for 20th after coming back from a tie at 48th after round two.

Junior Michael Furci (Sayville, N.Y.) made 13 birdies in the three rounds to finish in a tie for 55th place.

Playing individually for the Gators, sophomore Tommy Mou (Bradenton, Fla.) recorded a 219 and a tie for 25th.

Florida has a quick turnaround as it travels to Awendaw, S.C. for the Hootie @ Bulls Bay Invitational on March 27-29 for its last tournament before postseason play.

Final Team Results
Place
Team
Round One Score
Round Two Score
Round Three Score
Total (Par)
^1
Auburn
279
275
294
848 (-16)
2
FLORIDA
282
278
288
848 (-16)
3
Virginia
288
277
293
858 (-6)
4
LSU
287
277
298
862 (-2)
5
UNF
291
282
290
863 (-1)
6
N.C. State
292
278
295
865 (+1)
T7
UNC
292
292
296
880 (+16)
T7
Minnesota
301
280
299
880 (+16)
T7
Georgia Southern
297
285
298
880 (+16)
10
Tennessee
289
289
303
881 (+17)
11
Ole Miss
304
292
287
883 (+19)
12
Notre Dame
291
287
310
888 (+24)
T13
Vanderbilt
302
287
307
896 (+32)
T13
Kentucky
306
292
298
896 (+32)
15
Miss State
303
302
311
916 (+52)
^won in a playoff