Biondi nails down clinching point as Florida edges Georgia Tech to claim a national championship

   For the second day in a row Wednesday, Florida was on the incoming nine at Grayhawk Golf Club’s Raptor Course in Scottsdale, Ariz. in tense matches on several fronts.

   The Southeastern Conference Gators did have a point on the board, courtesy of an impressive 4 and 3 victory from leadoff batter Yuxin Lin, a senior from China and No. 30 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking, over Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht, a junior from South Africa and No. 8 in the WAGR.

   But the talented Atlantic Coast Conference champion Yellow Jackets appeared to be on the verge of taking control of the matches in the middle. And then they weren’t.

   Instead it was Florida making the big shots, particularly on the tough par-4 finishing hole at the 7,289-yard, par-70 Raptor Course, at the right times. It was Florida evening those close matches with the final holes looming.

   And then it was Florida gutting out the two more points it needed to claim a 3-1 victory in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match.

   It was the program’s fifth national championship, but its first since 2001. It was certainly its first NCAA crown since the match-play layer was added to the championship. This was the first time the Gators had been one of the eight teams still standing for match play.

   And, let’s face it, match play is much more about grit and toughness than it is about talent. The eight teams that earned spots in the match-play bracket at Grayhawk this year were oozing with talent. There were guys in the top 100 in the WAGR all over the place.

   When the SEC added a match-play layer of its own to its conference championship, it was with this very scenario in mind.

   Florida’s first SEC crown since match play was added to the conference championship came against the No. 1 team in the country in Vanderbilt in April at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course on St. Simons Island, Ga.

   The toughness you saw the last two days at Grayhawk was undoubtedly born from that experience at Sea Island.

   “These guys don’t give up,” head coach J.C. Deacon told the Florida website following the Gators’ epic victory Wednesday. “They are tough sons-of-guns and I’m proud to be their coach.”

   Florida’s Matthew Kress, a redshirt freshman from Saratoga, Calif., had battled from behind to send his match against Bentley Forrester, a redshirt senior from Gainesville, Ga. and No. 53 in the WAGR, to extra holes.

   With that match in extra holes, there was a point when all four remaining matches on the golf course were tied. Doesn’t get any tighter than that.

   But John DuBois, a senior from Windermere, Fla., got it up and down from in front of the green at the tough 18^th hole for a par that gave him a 1-up victory over Conner Howe, a senior from Ogden, Utah and No. 50 in the WAGR, and Florida had a second point.

   Then Fred Biondi, a senior from Brazil and No. 16 in the WAGR, found the 18^th green in regulation with two solid shots while Hiroshi Tai, a freshman from Singapore and No. 87 in the WAGR, struggled on the hole.

   Biondi, the newly-minted NCAA individual champion, lagged his birdie putt to within gimmee range and Tai conceded the par putt and it was over, another hard-fought 1-up victory for Florida and a national championship.

   In the midst of all that drama on the 18^th hole, Forrester finally pulled out a victory over Kress on the 20^th hole to give Georgia Tech a full point, but it would prove to be too little. It had been a tremendous run to the Final Match by the Yellow Jackets.

   The anchor match, a wonderful matchup between Ricky Castillo, Florida’s veteran senior from Yorba Linda, Calif. and No. 26 in the WAGR, and Georgia Tech’s Ross Steelman, a senior from Columbia, Mo. and No. 21 in the WAGR who was so solid for six days in the desert, had been close throughout.

   But Castillo had put a nose in front by winning the 17^th hole and had a 1-up lead over Steelman when Biondi clinched the title for the Gators.

   It had been Castillo who had staged a tremendous rally from 2-down with three to play to defeat Florida State’s Brett Roberts, a freshman from Coral Springs, Fla., in 21 holes to get Florida to the Final Match.

   Castillo was a younger man two springs ago when he went 4-0 for captain Nathaniel Crosby’s United States Walker Cup team when it pulled out a 14-12 victory over Great Britain & Ireland at the iconic Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla.

   Nobody has ever doubted Castillo’s talent. His performance on some huge stages in match play is proof that he can be a tough guy, too. And Florida’s national championship proves that that toughness wore off  on his fellow Gators.