Gators Men’s Golf Advances to Second Straight SEC Final
Matthew Kress continues to shine in his final stint with the Florida Gators men’s golf team.
The senior put himself in the driver’s seat with an eagle on hole 15 and clinched the game-winning point as the Gators took a 3-2 win against Oklahoma on Saturday afternoon at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons, Ga., to advance to the conference semifinals.
Then second-seeded Florida defeated three seed Texas 3.5-1.5 in the conference tournament semifinals later Saturday. Florida now faces four seed Ole Miss at 8 a.m. Sunday for the title with live coverage on SEC Network.
“They just continue to impress,” UF coach J.C. Deacon said. “It’s amazing what these guys do. That that Texas team is so good, and I knew it was going to take our best golf to get three points.
“I am so proud of the opportunity they have tomorrow, but the job is not done. We got a great Ole Miss team waiting now for and we’re going to have to play even better tomorrow.”
Kress’ quarterfinal win was the program-record fifth all-time at the SECs and ninth career in college match play. It also marked his third career match-clinching point at the conference championship.
Florida controlled the second straight outing vs. the Sooners, leading in three-plus matches throughout when all five pairings were two or more holes in. The Gators led in four of them and trailed only one hole in the other match.
At the turn and early into the back nine, Florida began to separate as junior Jack Turner went up five strokes and sophomore Zack Swanwick went up four through 10 holes.
Kress put himself up two strokes and sophomore Parker Sands held onto a one-stroke lead through nine holes.
Turner secured the first point for Florida with a 5 & 4 victory as he won seven holes, tied five and only lost two in 14 total holes played.
Less than 30 minutes later, making his conference championship debut, Sands made it 2-0 with birdie on the 15th for a 5 & 3 win. The Edmond, Okla. native only dropped one hole while winning six holes and tying eight, and shot bogey-free 5-under.
Oklahoma earned two points as Jase Summy was a hole ahead of Swanwick through 17 holes and Ryder Cowan was one up against junior Luke Poulter through 15holes. The losses marked the first career for both Poulter and Swanwick in conference match play.
But, it was not enough as Kress’ match-clinching performance gave the Gators their 11th win at the SEC Championships, second all-time behind Vanderbilt (13).
The momentum carried over to the semifinal outing against Texas, defeating the Longhorns 3.5-1.5.
It was the first out that grabbed the first point for the Gators. Swanwick’s eagle on the par-5 15th hole moved him three up with three to play, and his par on the next hole secured the 3&2 victory.
After Texas tied it 1-1 with Christiaan Maas’s win, Sands quickly responded with his second win of the day.
All the attention turned to the 17th for the second straight year in the semifinals for the Gators. Turner dropped the 16th hole and was two up with two to play. Both himself and his opponent Tommy Morrison each landed their tee shot on the green.
Morrison needed to make birdie and missed as Turner pushed it up as both conceded for pars and a victory for Turner. This marks the back-to-back seasons the junior sent Florida into the championship finals on the 17th. Ole Miss won 3-2 against top seed Auburn.
Florida looks to capture back-to-back conference titles for the first time since 1993-94.
SEC Championship Finals
8 a.m. – Zack Swanwick vs. Tom Fischer
8:10 a.m. – Luke Poulter vs. Daniel Tolf
8:20 a.m. – Parker Sands vs. Cameron Tankersley
8:30 a.m. – Matthew Kress vs. Collins Trolio
8:40 a.m. – Jack Turner vs. Cohen Trolio
Category: Gator Sports, Gators Men's Golf
