Gators Battle at National Championship, Fall Short of Making Match Play - Florida Gators

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - The Florida men's golf team battled all season long and throughout the final round of stroke play at the 2022 NCAA National Championships, but came up just short of making the match play cut on Monday.

The Gators started the day in 11th place and five strokes back from eighth place as the top-8 teams advanced to match play tomorrow. Florida (+40) finished seven strokes from making the cut and finished 10th.

"Proud of how our guys fought all season," head coach J.C. Deacon said. "A lot of hard work went into this season and I am incredibly proud of them."

You couldn't ask for a better start as the lineup sank four birdies through the first eight holes. The quick start was led by Ricky Castillo recording back-to-back birdies to put the Gators 2-under and three strokes from the cut. John DuBois (T43) and Yuxin Lin (T32) each added one on 11 (par 5, 660 yards).

Castillo (-2) and Tyler Wilkes (-1) gave the lineup a boost as they made the turn shooting under on the back that brought the deficit to two strokes.

It was a four-way battle with Arkansas, Auburn and Texas Tech for that eighth and final qualifying spot. The Red Raiders secured the last spot as teams ranked 1-8 by Golfstat all made the top-8 cut for match play.

Lin caught fire and rattled off three consecutive birdies on 15-17. He placed a great approach shot on 15 that led to a short birdie part for his 100th of the season. The Junior finished as the third Gator - Castillo and Biondi - to reach triple digits this year. His fourth and final birdie pushed Florida to 4-under and into solo 8th.

However, a double bogey on 18 and a rough start to the front nine caused UF to slip back under the cut.

A birdie from Biondi brought it to six strokes, but that was the closest the Gators got. He went -2 on the front to end in T20.

DuBois was the top performer in the lineup today with a 69 (-1) as he went bogey-free on the front.

Scores

Florida Individual

*Subbed in for round three and four.

Team Leaderboard

Place	School	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Score
T1	Vanderbilt	282	282	281	289	1134 (+14)
T1	Oklahoma	287	275	277	295	1134 (+14)
T1	North Carolina	288	281	280	285	1134 (+14)
4	Texas	291	291	278	277	1137 (+17)
5	Oklahoma State	289	277	277	298	1141 (+21)
6	Pepperdine	294	282	277	293	1146 (+26)
7	Arizona State	290	292	277	289	1148 (+28)
8	Texas Tech	297	287	285	284	1153 (+33)
---	Top-8 Cut	---	---	---	---	---
9	Arkansas	294	286	286	293	1159 (+39)
T10	Auburn	285	296	288	291	1160 (+40)
T10	Florida	300	285	286	289	1160 (+40)
T12	Georgia	291	292	289	299	1171 (+51)
T12	Georgia Tech	298	289	290	294	1171 (+51)
14	Ole Miss	297	287	293	300	1177 (+57)
15	Oregon	285	300	291	306	1182 (+62)