Florida Battles on the Back, Three Finish in Top-20 at NIT

When Florida made the turn, they were 10-plus shots clear of the lead. The Gators (-14) battled on the back nine and shot 5-under today to cut the deficit to low as six strokes on two different occasions, but host Arizona (-24) pushed ahead and won. UF finished 14-under overall for the fifth straight tournament of shooting under par by double digits and seventh under par performance this season. 

The charge at the turn was led by Fred Biondi who was 3-under on the back with a final round of 69 (-3). He bounced back after a bogey on nine with a stretch par-birdie-birdie-birdie-par-birdie. His final birdie on 15 (par 5, 610) pulled Florida into six back from the lead. He finished 4-under at T16 for his sixth tournament under par.  

Matthew Kress recorded his second 3-under 69 this weekend on the final day. He only had bogey on the day, which came on 17 as he wrapped up his second outing the lineup with a birdie on 18 to jump 16 spots and finish T20. 

Also tied for 20th was Ricky Castillo. He shot 3-under to tie with Biondi for the team-leading sixth tournament under par. A stroke behind was Ryan Hart in T27 as he was 2-under overall while making his debut in the lineup. Giovanni Manzoni rounded out the lineup at T55.

The Orange and Blue finish the regular season at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational (April 1-2) then begin play at the SEC Championship on April 19 at Sea Island.

Florida Individual Scores  

 

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