Barbin heads foursome of recent GAP junior standouts in the individual standings at Gators Invitational

   Got a chance to catch some of the final of the 2019 Golf Association of Philadelphia Junior Boys’ Championship at Coatesville Country Club.

   It featured a battle between Austin Barbin and Patrick Sheehan, neither of whom hit it like juniors. The cozy confines of Coatesville, a really neat old-style layout, but one that only measures a little over 6,200 yards, was nearly too short to contain the games Barbin and Sheehan put on display.

   When Barbin, a member of the golfing Barbin family of Elkton, Md., went off in the middle of the scheduled 18-hole match, going 6-under for a stretch of six holes, he rolled to a 5 and 4 victory, just one of several trophies Barbin put his name on in a dominant summer of junior golf.

   Not that Sheehan, who had claimed the District One Class AAA crown the previous fall as a senior at Central Bucks East, had a bad summer. He would win the title in the Jock MacKenzie, another of GAP’s major championships for junior players, at Sandy Run Golf Club and earned the Harry Hammond Award, a stroke-play crown for juniors that combines scores from qualifying for match play for the Junior Boys, the Christman Cup and the Jock MacKenzie.

   The next three GAP Junior Boys crowns went to Norristown’s Josh Ryan, the last of which happened last summer at Bala Golf Club. Ryan, who followed Sheehan as the District One Class AAA individual champion in 2019, defeated Morgan Lofland, a two-time Central League champion at Conestoga, in the GAP Junior Boys final in 2021 at Overbrook Golf Club.

   That foursome of recent stars on the GAP junior circuit and local scholastic scene were all in action in the VyStar Credit Union Gators Invitational, which wrapped up Sunday at host Florida’s Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla.

   Barbin and Ryan were in the lineup for Liberty, No. 37 in the latest Golfstat rankings, helping the Flames, an ASUN power, finish in fourth place in the team standings with a 5-over-par 846 total over the 6,701-yard, par-70 Mark Bostick layout.

   Sheehan shared medalist honors for Penn State, ranked 93^rd, while Lofland struggled a little as the Nittany Lions, out of the Big Ten, finished in a tie for seventh place with No. 59 Stetson, each landing on 27-over 867.

   Barbin began his college career at Maryland, but then followed older brother Zach, winner of two of GAP’s major championships, the BMW Philadelphia Amateur and the Patterson Cup in the coronavirus pandemic summer of 2020, to Liberty. Zach and Austin both contributed to Liberty’s run to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. last spring.

   Austin Barbin opened with a 4-under 66 in the first round of a scheduled double round Saturday in the Gators Invitational. The weather started to turn considerably cooler and windier with lightning forcing the suspension of the second round.

   Barbin completed a 1-over 71 in the second round before closing with a 75 that left him among the group tied for 11^th place with a 2-over 212 total.

   Ryan took a gap year before joining the Liberty program last fall and by the end of the fall portion of the wraparound 2022-2023 season, he had earned a spot in the starting lineup for the Flames.

   Ryan got the spring portion of the season off to a nice start with a 3-under 67 in Saturday’s opening round. He struggled in the second round with a 76 before closing with a 73 that left him in the group tied for 24^th place with a 6-over 216 total.

   Liberty was right there with eventual champion Florida, the Southeastern Conference power that is No. 8 in the Golfstat rankings, with an opening round of 9-under 271. The Flames struggled a little in the last two rounds, posting a 3-over 283 in the second round before finishing up with an 11-over 291. Their 845 total was 29 shots behind Florida.

   The Gators are so deep that their B team finished second with an even-par 840 total.

   Sheehan, a senior who represented Penn State as an individual in the NCAA’s Columbus Regional last spring, also got off to a good start at the Mark Bostick Golf Course with a solid 2-under 68. He added a 2-over 72 in the second round before closing with a 73 that left him in the group tied for 14^th place with a 3-over 213 total.

   Lofland, a sophomore, struggled a little in the Gators Invitational. After opening with a 5-over 75, he added a 79 in the suspended second round and ended up with an 82 in the chilly and windy conditions of Sunday’s final round as he finished alone in 74^th place with a 236 total.

   Penn State opened with a solid 2-under 278 in Saturday morning’s first round, but the Nittany Lions struggled in the deteriorating weather conditions, adding a 293 in the second before finishing up with a 296.

   Of course, nobody was going to really challenge host Florida, which won its home tournament for the 29th time with a 14-under 826 total. The Gators matched Liberty’s solid opening round with a 9-under 271 and held it together with a solid 4-under 276 in a second round that started Saturday afternoon and finished up Sunday.

   A final round of 1-under 279 enabled the Gators to finish at 14-under.

   Florida was led by its star senior Ricky Castillo, the Yorba Linda, Calif. native who is No. 27 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and who won the individual crown in a playoff with Georgia Southern’s Mason Williams, a fifth-year player from Bridgeport, W.Va. who is No. 92 in the WAGR.

   Castillo went 4-0 for the United States in a hard-fought 14-12 victory over Great Britain & Ireland in a Walker Cup Match staged in the middle of the college postseason at the iconic Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla. in May of 2021.

   It was Castillo’s second win in the Gators Invitational – he made it bookends at Mark Bostick having captured the title as a freshman in 2020 – and his third individual college victory overall.

   Castillo matched the 7-under 63 he shot when he won the event in 2020 in the second round after opening with a 3-under 67 and took a one-shot lead over Williams into the final round.

   Castillo closed with a 1-under 69 and Williams registered a 2-under 68 to catch Castillo and force the playoff. Castillo’s par on the first hole of the playoff gave him the title, the 18^th time a Florida player has won the individual crown in the Gators Invitational.

   Florida’s B team was the closest pursuer for the Gators’ first five. After matching par with a 280 in the opening round, the second-stringers put together the best team round of the weekend with an 11-under 269 that drew it within two shots of Florida’s first five heading into the final round.

   Florida’s B team closed with an 11-over 291 to finish 14 shots behind Florida’s first five in second place with an even-par 840 total.

   It is that kind of depth that makes the Gators a player on the national scene every spring. Florida fell to eventual national semifinalist and current No. 1 team in the country Vanderbilt in the SEC title match last spring and then advanced to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk out of the Palm Beach Regional.

   Florida made it to the final day of qualifying for match play at Grayhawk, but came up a little short of earning a spot among the eight teams in the match-play bracket.

   Behind individual runnerup Williams, No. 25 Georgia Southern finished four shots behind Florida’s B team in third place with a 4-over 844 total.

   The Eagles lost to Little Rock in the Sun Belt Conference match-play final last spring and then earned a ticket to Grayhawk with a fifth-place finish as an eight seed at the New Haven Regional.

   Georgia Southern only trailed Florida’s first five by six shots going into the final round of the Gators Invitational after adding a 4-under 276 in the second round to its opening-round 277. The Eagles closed with an 11-over 291 to end up at 4-over.

   Behind Liberty in fourth place were a couple of solid Florida entries, No. 35 North Florida, one of Liberty’s ASUN rivals, and American Athletic Conference power South Florida, ranked 88^th, in fifth and sixth, respectively.

    The always underrated ASUN champion Ospreys, coming off a runnerup finish to Vanderbilt as the host team in The Hayt last weekend, opened with a 2-over 282 and added a 5-under 275 in the second round before struggling in the final round with a 296 that left them eight shots behind Liberty with a 13-over 853 total.

   South Florida finished a shot behind North Florida with a 14-over 854 total as the Bulls added a 1-under 279 in the second round to their opening-round 285 before closing with a 290.

   North Florida and South Florida both made it to the NCAA Championship at Grayhawk last spring, the Ospreys advancing out of the New Haven Regional as a seven seed and the Bulls, the runnerup to SMU in the American, advancing out of the Palm Beach Regional as a seven seed.

   Stetson, another ASUN entry, shared seventh place with Penn State in the 14-team field, both teams finishing 13 shots behind South Florida at 27-over. The Hatters added a 2-over 282 in the second round to their opening-round 285, but struggled to a 300 in Sunday’s final round.

   Backing up Castillo for Florida’s top team was Yuxin Lin, a senior from China who finished alone in fourth place with a 4-under 206 total. After opening with a 2-under 68, Lin posted back-to-back 1-under 69s in the final two rounds.

   Fred Biondi, a senior from Brazil and No. 16 in the WAGR, finished in a tie for sixth place in the individual standings with a 1-under 209 total. Biondi, the individual champion in Gators Invitational a year ago, opened defense of his title with a sparkling 5-under 65. He backed off with a 73 in the second round before finishing up with a 1-over 71.

   John DuBois, a senior from Windermere, Fla., finished alone in 23^rd place with a 5-over 215 total as he added a 3-over 73 in the second round to his opening-round 72 before matching par in the final round with a 70.

   Rounding out Florida’s first five was Matthew Kress, a redshirt freshman from Saratoga, Calif. who finished among the group tied for 24^th place with a 7-over 217 total. Kress carded back-to-back 1-over 71s in the first two rounds before closing with a 75.

   Tyler Wilkes, a junior from Tampa, Fla., led the way for Florida’s B team, finishing in third place in the individual standings with a 6-under 204 total that was five shots out of the playoff between Castillo and Williams for the title.

   Wilkes, though, made his case for a spot in Florida’s starting lineup as he contributed a sparkling 4-under 66 to the Florida B team’s second-round surge after he had matched par in the opening round with a 70. Wilkes finished up with a 2-under 68.

   North Florida’s Nick Gabrelcik, a junior from Trinity, Fla. and No. 14 in the WAGR, finished a shot behind Florida’s Lin in fifth place with a 3-under 207 total. Gabrelcik, coming off a runnerup finish in The Hayt at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., only trailed Castillo by three shots going into the final round after adding a 5-under 65 in the second round to his opening-round 68.

   But Gabrelcik struggled a little in the final round with a 4-over 74.

   Gabrelcik’s fellow Osprey, Robbie Higgins, a junior from Bradenton, Fla., joined Florida’s Biondi in a tie for sixth place at 1-under 209, two shots behind Gabrelcik.

   Higgins opened with a solid 3-under 67, matched par in the second round with a 70 and finished up with a 2-over 72.

   South Florida’s Sam Nicholson, a junior from Atlantic Beach, Fla., finished alone in eighth place, ending up at even-par 280 as he added a 1-under 69 in the second round to his opening-round 68 before closing with a 3-over 73.

   Nicholson’s South Florida teammate, Jake Peacock, a graduate student from Milton, Ga., and another member of Florida’s B team, Giovanni Manzoni, a fifth-year player from Italy, rounded out the top 10 in the individual standings as they finished in a tie for ninth place, each landing on 1-over 211.

   After opening with a 1-over 71, Peacock twice matched par with a pair of 70s in the final two rounds. Manzoni matched those splits, adding back-to-back even-par 70s in the final two rounds to his opening-round 71.

   Jake Griffin, a sophomore from Kensington, Md., shared medalist honors for Penn State with Sheehan for the weekend as he ended up in the group tied for 14^th place with a 3-over 213 total.

   Looks like Griffin was tied for the lead with Florida’s Biondi following the opening round as Griffin got off to a fast start with a sparkling 5-under 65. Griffin backed off with a 76 in the second round before finishing up with a 2-over 72.

   Backing up the top two for the Nittany Lions was James Allen, a junior from Scarsdale, N.Y. who finished among the group tied for 34^th place with a an 8-over 218 total. Allen carded a pair of 1-over 71s in the double round that wasn’t completed until Sunday morning and then finished up with a 6-over 76.

   Senior Jimmy Meyers, a member of Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s 2018 PIAA Class AAA championship team, finished in a tie for 54^th place for Penn State with a 223 total. Meyers registered a pair of 4-over 74s in the double round that started Saturday and finished up Sunday and then closed with a 75.

Lofland rounded out the Penn State lineup with his finish in 74^th place with a 236 total.