Biondi claims individual title to lead host Florida to team crown in VyStar Gators Invitational

    Southeastern Conference power Florida had a disappointing spring a year ago.

   The Gators were seeded third in the NCAA’s Cle Elum Regional and had to rally in the final round to get the fifth and final berth to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. Florida never really got into the mix for a one of the final eight spots in the match-play bracket at Grayhawk.

   Playing on its home turf, the Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla., Florida, No. 31 in the latest Golfstat rankings, looked like its gearing up for a big spring as the Gators rolled to a 12-shot victory over perennial Big 12 power Oklahoma State, ranked third, to capture the team title in the 45^th VyStar Gators Invitational, which wrapped up with a single round on a Super Bowl Sunday.

   It was the second straight tournament win for Florida to start the spring portion of the wraparound 2021-2022 season. The Gators won the Sea Best Invitational two weeks ago at the Dye’s Valley Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

   Getting a 1-2 finish, respectively, from Fred Biondi, a redshirt junior from Brazil, and Ricky Castillo, a junior from Yorba Linda, Calif. and No. 20 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), the Gators built a big lead with a spectacular 36 holes in Saturday’s double round.

   Florida opened with a 13-under-par 267 over the 6,701-yard, par-70 Mark Bostick layout and added an 11-under 269 in Saturday afternoon’s second round to get it to 24-under. Oklahoma State, coming off an impressive team title with a 50-under showing in The Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii, was the only team in the same zip code as the Gators as the Cowboys added a 9-under 271 to their opening-round 278 that left them with an 11-under 549 total and 12 shots behind Florida after Saturday’s double round.

   Florida cooled off a little in Sunday’s final round with a 4-under 276, but that still gave the Gators a sparkling 28-under 812 total. Oklahoma State, which reached the semifinals in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk last spring before falling to eventual national champion Pepperdine, closed with a solid 5-under 275, but had to settle for second place with its 16-under 824 total.

   Perennial American Athletic Conference power South Florida, ranked 35^th, was 14 shots behind Oklahoma State in third place with a 2-under 838 total. After matching par in the opening round with a 280, the Bulls posted a 4-under 276 in Saturday afternoon’s second round before finishing up with a 2-over 282.

   Reigning Sun Belt Conference champion Georgia Southern, ranked 91^st, was a shot behind South Florida in fourth place with a 1-under 839 total. Georgia Southern bounced back nicely from an opening-round 290 with a 5-under 275 in Saturday’s second round and a final round of 6-under 274.

   Host Florida put its depth on display as the Gators’ B team finished in fifth place with a 3-over 843 total. Florida’s B team added a 2-under 278 to its opening-round 279 before backing off a little in the final round with a 6-over 286.

   No. 72 Florida Gulf Coast, out of the ASUN Conference, sandwiched a 282 in Saturday afternoon’s second round with a pair of 1-over 281s to finish a shot behind Florida’s B team in sixth place with a 4-over 844 total.

   No. 23 LSU, an SEC rival of Florida’s, finished three shots behind Florida Gulf Coast in seventh place with a 7-over 847 total. The Tigers added a 1-under 279 in Saturday afternoon’s second round to their opening-round 281 before closing with a 7-over 287.

   No. 78 Penn State got solid showings from junior Patrick Sheehan, the 2018 District One Class AAA champion as a senior at Central Bucks East, and graduate student Lou Olsakovsky, who starred scholastically at Upper St. Clair, both of whom finished in a tie for 13^th place at 1-under 209, and ended up in a tie for eighth place with No. 93 Jacksonville, each landing on 15-over 855, eight shots behind LSU.

   The Nittany Lions, who went 0-3 in the Big Ten Match Play at Hammock Beach in Palm Coast, Fla., opened with a 4-over 284, added a 6-over 286 in Saturday afternoon’s second round and closed with a 5-over 285.

   Jacksonville, another ASUN Conference entry, added a pair of 7-over 287s in the final two rounds to its opening-round 281 to join Penn State at 15-over.

   The VyStar Gators Invitational turned into a coming-out party for Florida’s Biondi, who tied the tournament’s single-round record with his opening round of 7-under 63 and tied another tournament record with his 14-under 196 total. Biondi added a 4-under 66 in Saturday afternoon’s second round to his sizzling start and closed with a 3-under 67 on his way to his first collegiate victory.

   Castillo is very simply one of the best players in the country. He went 4-0 for the United States in its 14-12 victory over Great Britain & Ireland in a rare spring edition of the Walker Cup Match at the iconic Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. He finished in 12^th place in the individual standings in the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk.

   Castillo was right on his teammate Biondi’s heels with a sparkling 6-under 64 of his own in the opening round. He added a pair of 2-under 68s over the familiar surroundings of the Mark Bostick layout to finish four shots behind Biondi in second place with a 10-under 200 total.

   Backing up Biondi and Castillo for the Gators was Yuxin Lin, a junior from China and No. 42 in the WAGR who finished alone in seventh place with a 4-under 206 total. Lin registered a pair of 2-under 68s in Saturday’s double round before matching par in the final round with a 70.

   John Dubois, a junior from Windermere, Fla., finished among the group tied for 34^th place for the Gators with a 4-over 214 total as he added a pair of 1-over 71s in the final two rounds to his opening-round 72. Dubois’ final-round 71 was a counter for Florida.

   Rounding out the Florida lineup was Tyler Wilkes, a sophomore from Tampa, Fla. who ended up in the group tied for 38^th place with a 5-over 215 total. After opening with a 73, Wilkes contributed a 3-under 67 to the Gators’ solid second round Saturday afternoon before closing with a 75.

   A couple of really strong players, Oklahoma State’s Eugenio Chacarra, a senior from Spain and No. 5 in the WAGR, and South Florida’s Albin Bergstrom, a junior from Sweden and No. 65 in the WAGR, finished two shots behind Castillo in a tie for third place with an 8-under 202 total.

   Chacarra, coming off a spectacular individual victory that led the way for the Cowboys in The Amer Ari, added a 69 to his opening-round 68 in Saturday’s double round before closing with a sparkling 5-under 65.

   Bergstrom, who won the AAC’s individual title last spring at Southern Hills Golf Club in Brooksville, Fla., was in lockstep with Chacarra, adding a 69 to his opening-round 68 and finishing up with a 5-under 65.

   Chacarra’s Oklahoma State teammate, Rayhan Thomas, a junior from India, and LSU’s Garrett Barber, a senior from Stuart, Fla., were three shots behind Chacarra and Bergstrom in a tie for fifth place, each landing on 5-under 205.

   After opening with a 3-under 67, Thomas posted a pair of 3-under 69s in the final two rounds. After opening with a 71, Barber ripped off a 6-under 64 in Saturday afternoon’s second round before matching par in the final round with a 70.

   Georgia Southern’s Ben Carr, a senior from Columbus, Ga., and Missouri’s Yu-Ta Tsai, a junior from Taiwan, finished a shot behind Florida’s Lin in a tie for eighth place, each ending up at 3-under 207.

   Carr struggled to a 74 in the opening round, but bounced back with a 67 in Saturday afternoon’s second round and closed with a 4-under 66. Tsai opened with 3-under 67 and backed off with a 71 in Saturday afternoon’s second round before finishing up with a 69.

   West Virginia fifth-year player Mark Goetz, a product of The Kiski School, headed a group of three players tied for 10^th place, each landing on 2-under 208. Goetz returned to Morgantown for the fifth year offered to the NCAA players to make up for the 2020 season cut short by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

   Goetz shared second place with Penn State’s Sheehan in the Pennsylvania Amateur at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course last summer, both ending up a shot behind the winner, John Peters, a freshman at Duke who quite memorably holed out for eagle on Merion’s classic finishing hole from 193 yards away.

   A few weeks later, Goetz, a Pittsburgh area home boy from Greensburg, was the medalist in qualifying for match play in the U.S. Amateur at the Longue Vue Club and Oakmont Country Club, another iconic Pennsylvania layout. Goetz carded back-to-back 1-under 69s in Saturday’s double round on the Mark Bostick layout before matching par with a 70 in Sunday’s final round.

   Goetz was joined at 2-under by Florida’s top B-team finisher, Quentin Debove, a redshirt sophomore from France, and Florida Gulf Coast’s Jon Hopkins, a junior from England.

   Debove sandwiched a 72 in Saturday afternoon’s second round with a pair of 2-under 68s. Hopkins opened with a 68 and struggled a little with a 73 in Saturday afternoon’s second round before closing with a solid 3-under 67.

   Sheehan got off to a strong start for Penn State with an opening round of 3-under 67 before adding a 72 in Saturday afternoon’s second round. He matched par in the final round with a 70 to join the group tied for 13^th place at 1-under.

   Olsakovsky joined his teammate in that group as he sandwiched a 3-under 67 of his own in Saturday afternoon’s second round with a pair of 71s.

   James Allen, a sophomore from Scarsdale, N.Y., got a little better in each round for the Nittany Lions as he finished among the group tied for 49^th place at 8-over 218. Allen added a 73 to his opening-round 76 before closing with a solid 1-under 69.

   Junior Jimmy Meyers, a member of Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s 2018 PIAA Class AAA championship team, finished in the group tied for 65^th place at 12-over 222. After opening with a 71, Meyers struggled to a 76 in Saturday afternoon’s second round before finishing up with a 75.

   Rounding out the Penn State lineup was James McHugh, another graduate student from Rye, N.Y. who finished in a tie for 76^th place with a 19-over 229 total. McHugh added a 74 to his opening-round 75 before struggling to an 80 in the final round.

   ASUN power Liberty, ranked 24^th by Golfstat, struggled in Gainesville, finishing last of the 15 teams with a 39-over 879 total. The Flames reached the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk last spring, advancing with a third-place finish as a three seed in the Tallahassee Regional.

   Junior Austin Barbin, of the golfing Barbin family of Elkton, Md., has joined older brother Zach with Liberty as Austin Barbin transferred after two seasons at Maryland.

   Austin Barbin highlighted a Golf Association of Philadelphia 2019 Junior Player of the Year campaign by beating Sheehan in the final of the Junior Boys’ Championship at Coatesville Country Club. Austin Barbin struggled at the Mark Bostick layout, adding a 76 to his opening-round 75 before closing with a 2-over 74 as he finished alone in 74^th place with a 225 total.

   Zach Barbin, a senior, was not in the lineup for Liberty in Gainesville. Zach Barbin had himself quite a GAP campaign in the pandemic summer of 2020, winning two of the association’s major championships, the BMW Philadelphia Amateur at Lancaster Country Club and the Patterson Cup at The 1912 Club.