Juniors Tyler
McCumber (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) and T.J. Vogel (Cooper City, Fla.) each
posted third place finishes, leading the No. 23 University of Florida men’s
golf team to a third place finish in the 2012 SEC Championship at Sea Island
Golf Club. The Gators finished the tournament in 841 (+1) strokes, 13 behind
Alabama.
“I’m
proud of my team,” said head coach Buddy Alexander. “We battled hard all
week and were pretty competitive all weekend. I feel that we have improved immensely
from where we were at in the fall.”
McCumber
led the Gators on the day with a three-under, 67. McCumber got off to a rocky
start with back-to-back bogeys on the second and third to drop from the red
(-1) into the black (+1) for the tournament. The junior was able to get back to
even for the tournament with a birdie at the par-4 fifth. After a par at the
par-3 sixth, McCumber caught fire running off three-consecutive birdies to make
the turn in 33 (-2). McCumber opened his back nine with a pair of pars before
posting another birdie on the par-3 12th to get to three-under for his round.
McCumber added his sixth birdie of the day on the par-5 15th but gave it back
with a bogey on 18 to finish his tournament in 206 strokes, good for a tie for
third, three strokes behind Justin Thomas of Alabama.
Joining
McCumber at three-under for the tournament was Vogel, who shot a one-under, 69,
in his final round. Vogel went out in one-under, 34, after a bogey on the par-3
third and birdies on the par 4 fifth and the par-3 sixth. After the turn, Vogel
hit a rough patch making three-straight bogeys on 10, 11 and 12. Vogel kept his
composure after the bogeys and responded strongly with birdies on the 13th,
14th and 15th to get back to one-under for the day and four-under for the
Championship. After closing out the day with a trio of pars, Vogel earned his
sixth top-five finish of the season.
“I’m
really proud of T.J. and Tyler,” Alexander said. “They did what All-Americans
do, turn things around when they aren’t playing their best and post good
numbers for their team.”
Senior Michael
Furci (Sayville, N.Y.) added a second straight round of one-over, 71, to
the team score for UF. Furci had a relatively quite first 13 holes, shooting 12
pars and a bogey. On his final five holes, Furci was more up-and-down with two
bogeys countered by a pair of birdies, including one on the difficult par-4 18th.
Furci finished the tournament in 215 strokes, a five-over total, good for a tie
for 23rd place.
Recording
the last score for Florida was freshman J.D. Tomlinson (Gainesville,
Fla.) who shot a 73 (+3). Tomlinson, who used a birdie against four bogeys in
his third round, finished the tournament in a tie for 27th place after a three
day total of 216 (+6).
Freshman
Eric Banks (Truro, Canada) rounded out the Gator lineup with a
five-over, 75, for a three day total of 224 (+14).
