Florida needs a playoff to edge Liberty for team crown in Timuquana Collegiate

   Florida played in three tournaments during the fall portion of the wraparound 2020-2021 college golf season, which is a lot more than most teams did.

   The majority of college golfers from schools large, small and everywhere in between, didn’t get to play any competitive golf as the coronavirus pandemic continued unabated across America in the fall.

   But as players in the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12 proved, golf was one sport that could be played safely. Some long trips were called off as a concession to the pandemic, but if you could get your kids to a tournament safely, you could play.

   The good news is that it seems most of the top Division I programs are going to play some golf this spring with an eye toward having the postseason that was denied to college players in 2020 by the pandemic. My reaction to that news is simple:Yay!

   Florida, led by Ricky Castillo, a sophomore from Yorba Linda, Calif. and No. 3 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), might make some noise when the top teams gather for the first NCAA Championship in two years at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. in May.

   The SEC’s Gators were No. 23 in the Golfstat rankings when the 2019-’20 season was shut down in March. They looked pretty sharp in the Timuquana Collegiate, which wrapped up Tuesday at Timuquana Country Club, a Donald Ross classic in Jacksonville, Fla. that hosted the 2019 U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship.

   Florida wiped out a seven-shot deficit to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Virginia with a final round of 4-under 284 over the 6,949-yard, par-72 Timuquana layout and then edged Liberty on the second hole of a playoff to get its spring campaign off on a winning note.

   The Gators got off to a solid start with an 8-under 278 in the opening round of Monday’s double round before adding a 5-under 281 in the afternoon round. Their final-round 284 left them with a 21-under 843 total.

   Liberty trailed Virginia by eight shots going into Tuesday’s final round after the Flames had the best team round of the tournament Monday afternoon, a sparkling 15-under 273. Liberty finished up with a solid 5-under 283 to catch Florida at 21-under 843 before falling on the second hole of the playoff.

   Liberty had snuck in a dual match with Charleston Southern two weekends ago, the first action for the Flames since last spring as their fall campaign was a victim of the pandemic.

   The ACC called off the fall campaign, but Virginia got off to a blazing start, firing rounds of 13-under 275 and 11-under 277 in Monday’s double-round. The Cavaliers stumbled a little in Tuesday’s final round with a 4-over 292 that left them a shot out of the playoff in third place with a 20-under 844 total, but if Virginia was concerned about being rusty, it didn’t seem to be a problem.

   More likely the Cavaliers, like the rest of the field, couldn’t wait to get back out on the golf course and compete again.

   Tournament co-host North Florida, one of the most underrated programs in Division I, shared fourth place with a member of college golf’s royalty, Oklahoma State, at 17-under 847, three shots behind Virginia. The Ospreys and the Cowboys each closed with a 9-under 279, the low team round of the day Tuesday, to move up the leaderboard.

   Florida was No. 15 in the final Golfstat rankings of the fall in November. Oklahoma State, which won the latest of its 11 NCAA crowns in 2018 on its home course at Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, stood at No. 23 in November. Looks like Golfstat didn’t rank any of the teams that didn’t compete in the fall, which makes sense.

   Virginia’s ACC rival, Florida State, got into contention with a sizzling 14-under 274 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 2-under 286 to finish alone in sixth place at 16-under 848, a shot behind North Florida and Oklahoma State.

   American Athletic Conference power South Florida closed with a solid 4-under 284 to finish alone in seventh place at 9-under 855, seven shots behind Florida State. Another ACC entry, Notre Dame, finished with a 1-over 289 to finish two shots behind South Florida in eighth place in the 11-team field with a 7-under 287 total.

   Notre Dame was one of the hottest teams in the country during the fall portion of the 2019-’20 season and the Irish were still No. 20 in the Golfstat rankings when the season was halted in March. They were likely headed to the best season in the history of the program. It will be interesting to see if Notre Dame can recapture some of that magic it had conjured up in the fall of 2019.

   Castillo led the way for Florida as a 5-under 67 in Monday afternoon’s second round got him into contention for the individual title. He faded a little in the final round with a 1-over 73 that the Gators had the luxury of tossing, but his 6-under 210 total left him in the group tied for eighth place.

   Castillo’s spring might also include a little team competition known as the Walker Cup as the United States and Great Britain & Ireland will tee it up at iconic Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. He was among a group of top American amateurs invited for a Walker Cup practice session last month in Orlando, Fla.

   The event, being played in the spring in the United States for the first time in its storied history, will be jammed in the middle of the NCAA postseason. But hey, Walker Cup, Seminole … everybody seems to be very much on board. The top three Americans in the WAGR at some point this spring will be automatic qualifiers for the U.S. team. Castillo is one of those three at the moment.

   Backing up Castillo for the Gators was Manny Girona, a redshirt junior from Windermere, Fla. who sandwiched a 2-under 70 in Monday afternoon’s second round with a pair of 1-under 71s to finish among the group tied for 15^th place at 4-under 212.

   Yuxin Lin, a sophomore from China and No. 20 in the WAGR, and Joe Pagdin, a freshman from England, gave Florida four players in the top 20 as they were part of the group tied for 19^th place at 3-under 213. They shared low-Gator honors in the final round, each closing with a crucial 2-under 70.

   Tyler Wilkes, a freshman from Tampa, Fla., finished among the group tied for 37^th place with a 2-over 218 total, but that’s a little misleading. The kid fired a 5-under 67 in the opening round that was easily Florida’s low round of the day and had as much to do with the Gators winning the tournament as anybody.

   Florida State’s Vincent Norrman, a graduate student from Sweden and No. 16 in the WAGR, birdied the final hole to earn a one-shot victory in the individual chase. You’re going to see a lot of this this spring as Norrman took up the NCAA’s offer of an extra year of eligibility after losing the spring of his senior season at Division II Georgia Southwestern.

   Popping up on the Florida State roster, Norrman opened with a 4-under 68 and added a sparkling 6-under 66 in Monday afternoon’s second round. Somehow that still left him a shot behind Purdue’s Joe Weiler, a junior from Bloomington, Ind. who blitzed the Tamuquan layout with rounds of 67 and 66 in Monday’s double round.

   Norrman closed with a 3-under 69, the birdie at the last leaving him with a 13-under 203 total, one shot clear of Oklahoma State’s Eugenio Chacarra, a sophomore from Spain whose final-round 68 left him alone in second place at 12-under 204.

   The Europeans seemed to find Tamuquan to their liking as South Florida sophomore Albin Bergstrom, Norrman’s fellow Swede, finished alone in third place at 9-under 207, three shots behind Chacarra. Bergstrom added a 1-under 71 to his solid opening round of 5-under 67 in Monday’s double round. He closed with a 3-under 69.

   Weiler cooled off with a final-round 75 and was joined by three other players in a tie for fourth place at 8-under 208, a shot behind Bergstrom.

   Also landing on 208 were North Florida’s Nick Gabrelcik, a freshman from Trinity, Fla., Liberty’s Kieran Vincent, a redshirt junior from Zimbabwe and Virginia’s George Duangmanee, a freshman from Fairfax, Va.

   Gabrelcik made the biggest move in the final round, firing the low round of the day with a 5-under 67. Vincent closed with a 3-under 69. Duangmanee was very much in the hunt for the individual title when he went 67-69 in Monday’s double round before matching par in the final round with a 72.

   Liberty is so good that junior Zach Barbin, the oldest of the golfing Barbins of Elkton, Md, didn’t make the first five for the Flames. Liberty did bring Barbin along to compete as an individual and he finished among the group tied for 60^th place at 8-over 224. Barbin opened with a 1-under 71 before falling back with rounds of 77 and 76.

   All Barbin did last summer was win two of the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s major championships, capturing the BMW Philadelphia Amateur Championship at Lancaster Country Club and the Patterson Cup in a four-hole aggregate playoff with a couple of GAP heavyweights in Jeff Osberg and Gregor Orlando at The 1912 Club.

   Notre Dame was led by Davis Chatfield, a senior from Attleboro, Mass. who bettered par in all three rounds and finished in the group tied for 12^th place at 5-under 211. Chatfield, who reached the round of 16 in last summer’s U.S. Amateur at Bandon Dunes, opened with a 3-under 69 and added a pair of 1-under 71s.

   Sophomore Palmer Jackson, winner of the PIAA Class AAA crown at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort in 2018 as a senior at Franklin Regional, closed with a 2-over 74 to finish among the group tied for 26^th place with a 1-under 215 total for the Fighting Irish. Jackson, who reached the quarterfinals of the 2019 U.S. Amateur at Pinehurst before ever hitting a shot at Notre Dame, got off to a solid start with a 2-under 70 and a 1-under 71 in Monday’s double round.