The Gators are 3-under in seventh as eight strokes separate them from the lead.
The Gators shot a score of 277 (-3) and are in 7th place as eight strokes separate them from tournament-leader Texas A&M (-11). Florida started the day with Auburn at 3-under out of the gates for the lead and was in the top-5 all day and around four shots back until a +3 performance on 18.
After 54-holes of stroke play the top-8 teams advance to match play with the quarterfinals and semifinals taking place on Saturday and the finals set for Sunday.
Fred Biondi led Orange and Blue with a bogey-free round one 67 (-3), which marked his career-best at the conference championship. He started the postseason off with a birdie on hole one (par-4, 417) and made a clutch par put on 18 to stop the Gator skid. Tied for 5th, he is three shots out of the solo lead.
Also shooting his team-leading 16th under par round with Biondi was Yuxin Lin. He carded a score of 68 (-2) with only one bogey that came on 18. The senior made a big birdie on 13 (par-4, 408) to move Florida into T3 and only six shots out of the lead. He is tied for 11th.
The third Gator to go low was John DuBois with a 1-under 69. Tied for 23rd, the senior found his stride at the turn with back-to-back birdies on 11 (par-4, 425) and 12 (par-3, 223). Last year’s SEC Champion, got off to a better start after a +2 outing in round one last time.
The final counting round came from Ricky Castillo (73, +3) who is tied for 53rd. Making his postseason debut, Matthew Kress (+4) teed off the conference championship and recorded the first birdie on one. He is tied for 58th.
Florida is paired with Arkansas and Tennessee tomorrow and will tee off at 8 a.m.
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