Florida Shoots Two-Under to sit in Second at NCAA Championships
Ricky Castillo, who has broke par in five of his six rounds this postseason, stands on the 18th green at Grayhawk Golf Club in round two.
Photo By: Ashley Ray
Saturday, May 27, 2023

Florida Shoots Two-Under to sit in Second at NCAA Championships

Matthew Hutchison
The Gators round two of 278 (-2) topped the program's best round set yesterday and the lowest at nationals since 2007.

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - The Florida men's golf team shot a round two score of 278 (-2) to leap into second place at the NCAA Championships on Saturday. 

After setting its Grayhawk best with a 283 (+3) in round one, the Gators were one of two teams (Illinois, -7) to go under-par today. The -2 performance by UF is the best round at the NCAA Championships since the opening round in 2007. The Orange and Blue were part of the afternoon wave with its tee time at 11:30 a.m. ET today as the next closest round was +6 by Auburn, Georgia Tech and Colorado. 

Florida tees off round three tomorrow, which will feature a top-15 cut after 54-holes, at 9:10 a.m. ET and will be paired with leader Illinois (-2) and T3 North Carolina (+4). Monday will feature the final round of stroke play as the top-8 teams advance to match play. The Gators are seeking its first-ever appearance in the match play portion, which was added in 2009. 

Earning PING All-Regions for the multiple time in their career earlier today, both Fred Biondi and Ricky Castillo turned in 68s (-2). The duo knocked down birdies on the par-5 11 (650 yards) to put Florida -1 on the day. The seniors teamed up again with Biondi a birdie on 16 followed by Castillo adding his third on 17. 
 

Biondi was bogey-free for the round and only has three bogeys through 36 holes in the desert. He is solo fourth at 3-under overall and is three shots off the individual lead. Tied for 8th, Castillo erased an early +1 on hole four with three birdies and 11 pars. He is -1 on the weekend. 
 

Staying consistent was John DuBois with his second straight round of 70 (E). He started the round with par-birdie-par-birdie-par in the first five holes. The 2022 SEC Individual Champion is tied for 13th.
 

Improving a shot from yesterday, Yuxin Lin was the Gators final counting score with a 72 (+2).

Florida Head Coach J.C. Deacon
On the team's first two rounds at the NCAA Championships:
"I think you look back historically at the national championship at Grayhawk and playing in the afternoons are really difficult, and for some reason this team loves difficult circumstances. They don't back down. They don't flinch, and today was certainly no exception to that. To shoot under-par, to have Ricky (Castillo) and Fred (Biondi) to shoot 68 (-2) in those conditions is great, mature, and very smart golf and I'm proud of them but only half of stroke play is done and we got to go get some rest and some hydration and get back to work."

 
On the message to the team going into round three:
"Luckily, the way they do the draw here we're going to get to play in the morning tomorrow which will make it a little softer and hopefully a little less wind. We earned the right to play in better conditions tomorrow. But we have to stay patient but I think we got a chance to go low and put up a good number tomorrow morning and distance ourselves from the pack."
 
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