Gilligan, Turner Collect All-SEC Honors

All three golfers earned recognition in their first season with the Gators to produce 16 total conference awards (First-Team, Second-Team and Freshman Team) under head coach J.C. Deacon. Florida has a member on the second team for the last four consecutive seasons and four of the last five seasons on the freshman team.  

Gilligan adds to his resume in his first season in the SEC as he was a two-time SEC Golfer of the Week and earned GCAA/SWING U Golfer of the Month for February. The junior was also named to Team USA for the 2024 Arnold Palmer Cup. He won his first tournament as a Gator and fifth collegiate at the Southern Highlands Collegiate this spring, earning him an exemption into the PGA Tour’s Shriners Open. In his SEC Championship debut, Gilligan won his quarterfinal matchup in 20 holes vs. Gordon Sargeant of Vanderbilt.

A native of Reno, N.V., Gilligan began the spring portion with finishes of 2-3-1 and a stretch of 12 consecutive rounds of par or better, including six straight in the 60s. In his first Gators Invitational start, he tied the program record for round (by score) with a 62. His stroke average of 70.8 is tied for second on the team as he also tied for the team-leading three top-5, five top-10, and leads with nine top-25 finishes. In 30 rounds this season, 27 have counted, 18 for par or better, 10 in the 60’s, 115 made birdies and a team-best six eagles.

Leading Florida in stroke average with a mark of 70.5, Turner has put together a strong rookie campaign. After finishing T78 in his collegiate debut, he has placed T14 or better in six tournaments, including two runner-up finishes and solo third. The Orlando, Fla. native is tied for the team-high in top-10 (5) finishes and par or better tournaments (5). In 20 rounds, 13 have been for par or better. He also is 2-0 in match play.    

A two-time SEC Golfer of the Week, the freshman was in the No. 3 spot for the SEC Championship. He recorded a T2 performance, which tied the second-best finish by a Gator true freshman at the SEC Championship with Camilo Villegas, who placed T2 in 2001. He shot an opening round of 2-under 68 and followed up with a bogey-free 5-under 65 in round two to produce a 54-hole score of 204 (-6). In…