Let’s face it, when the spring portion of the college golf season gets under way, the Florida guys obviously have an advantage when the snowbirds leave their simulators behind and start playing on a real golf course again.
That was never more apparent than with this weekend’s VyStar Credit Union Gators Invitational, hosted by reigning national champion Florida at its Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville, Fla. The Gators Invitational wrapped up Saturday.
Technically, Florida’s B team was not eligible to be counted in the team standings, but the Gators are so good their first five captured the team title for the fifth year in a row and 30th time in 47 playings and the second-stringers were just three shots behind their teammates.
The individual crown went to Nick Gabrelcik, the wonderful North Florida senior from Trinity, Fla. and No. 7 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), with fellow Osprey Andrew Riley, a junior from St. Johns, Fla., just a shot behind Gabrelcik in second place.
Of the top 10 finishers, nine were from Florida schools. The exception? None other than Norristown’s own Josh Ryan, a sophomore at Liberty who was right there in fifth place with a 6-under-par 204 total over the 6,701-yard, par-70 Mark Bostick layout that left him seven shots behind Gabrelcik.
That would be Josh Ryan, the dominating winner of the District One Class AAA crown at Turtle Creek Golf Course in 2019 who went on to finish in a tie for third place in the PIAA Class AAA Championship at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort that year.
That was his third appearance in the state championship and it would have been four, but he was not allowed to participate in the 2020 postseason due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ryan was home-schooled through the Commonwealth Charter Academy, but represented Norristown on the golf course.
It was the Norristown Area School District that forbade Ryan from playing golf that fall. Oh well, a lot of bad things happened that year.
Ryan won the Golf Association of Philadelphia’s Junior Boys’ Championship three years in a row from 2020 to 2022 and was GAP’s Junior Player of the Year in 2020 and again in 2022.
During that time, Ryan would play up and challenge his elders, contending in the Philadelphia Open at the Country Club of York before finishing in a tie for third place and in the Pennsylvania Amateur at Merion Golf Club’s historic East Course before finishing in a tie for fourth in the summer of 2021.
The Gators Invitational was originally scheduled to be three days of 18-hole rounds a day, but with the weather forecast looking bleak for Sunday, the field played 36 holes Friday and finished up with early tee times Saturday.
Sounds like the players got rained on in Saturday’s final round, but I don’t think it bothered Ryan much. Not sure I’ve ever seen Ryan look bothered on the golf course.
Ryan added a 1-under 69 in Friday afternoon’s second round to his opening round of 2-under 68 that left him six shots behind Florida’s Ian Gilligan, a junior from Reno, Nev. and No. 34 in the WAGR, going into Saturday’s final round.
Ryan had a routinely excellent four-birdie, one-bogey final round of 3-under 67 that left him in fifth place at 6-under. The Liberty website informed that it was Ryan’s third top-five finish of the wraparound 2023-2024 season. More on the Flames later.
It may have been the Gators Invitational, but Florida, which plays in the ultra-competitive Southeastern Conference, did not play the role of genial host, at least not on the golf course.
Florida’s first five actually trailed the second stringers by six shots following an opening round of 4-under 276, but quickly restored order with an 18-under 262 in Friday afternoon’s second round, fueled by a sizzling 8-under 62 by Gilligan.
The Gators’ first-stringers the closed with another 4-under 276 to finish with a 26-under 814 total.
Florida was coming off a title in the Sea Best Invitational at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. last month.
Florida’s B team, three of whom finished among the top 10 in the individual standings, put together back-to-back 10-under 270s in Friday’s double round before closing with a 3-under 277 that left it three shots behind its teammates with a 23-under 817 total.
The Gators’ team qualifying events for tournaments must be absolutely insane.
North Florida, behind the 1-2 finish from Gabrelcik and Riley, was the official runnerup as the Ospreys, the ASUN runnerup last spring, were under par in all three rounds, adding a 4-under 276 in Friday afternoon’s second round to their opening-round 273 before closing with a 2-under 278 that left them with a 13-under 827 total, four shots behind Florida’s B team and 13 shots behind the Gators’ first five.
North Florida failed to advance to the NCAA Championship last spring as an eighth seed in the NCAA’s Norman Regional.
Gabrelcik is, very simply, one of the best players in the country. He was a member of Captain Mike McCoy’s U.S. team that staged a furious rally to retain the Walker Cup with a 14.5-11.5 victory over Great Britain & Ireland at the Old Course at St. Andrews in September.
After opening with a 2-under 68, Gabrelcik carded a solid 5-under 65 in Friday afternoon’s second round that left him two shots behind Gilligan going into the final round. Gabrelcik made eight birdies to offset a double bogey in a final round of 6-under 64 that left him with a 13-under 197 total and his ninth collegiate victory.
Riley registered a 6-under 64 in Friday afternoon’s second round after opening with a 68 and was a shot ahead of his teammate and one behind Gilligan going into Saturday’s final round. Riley closed with a 4-under 66 to finish a shot behind Gabrelcik in second place with a 12-under 198 total.
It was another 14 shots back to South Florida, an American Athletic Conference entry, in third place with a 1-over 841 total. After opening with a solid 3-under 277, the Bulls added a 1-over 281 in Friday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 3-over 283.
Florida Atlantic, in its first season in the AAC after moving over from Conference USA, and Furman, out of the Southern Conference, finished four shots behind South Florida in a tie for fourth place, each landing on 5-over 845.
The Owls added a solid 7-under 273 in Friday afternoon’s second round to their opening round of 1-over 281 before struggling in the final round with a 291.
The Paladins had the highest team finish for a non-Florida team as they opened with a solid 1-under 279 and added a 5-over 285 in Friday afternoon’s second round before finishing up with a 281.
Furman failed to advance to the NCAA Championship as a 10 seed out of a tough Salem Regional last spring.
UCF, which moved out of the AAC to the Big 12 in the ever shifting sands of conference affiliations these days, finished seven shots behind Florida Atlantic and Furman in sixth place with a 12-over 852 total. The Knights added a 3-over 283 in Friday afternoon’s second round to their opening-round 285 before closing with a 284.
Ryan led Liberty to a ninth-place finish in the Gators Invitational as the Flames matched par in Friday afternoon’s second round with a 280 after opening with a 5-over 285 before struggling to a final-round 292 that gave them a 17-over 857 total.
Liberty failed to advance to the NCAA Championship as a seven seed in the Bath Regional last spring.
It was the season opener for Penn State and the Nittany Lions, out of the Big Ten, struggled to a 14th-place finish in the 15-team field with a 31-over 871 total. Under first-year head coach Mark Leon, Penn State bounced back from an opening-round 295 with a 3-over 283 in Friday afternoon’s second round before finishing up with a 293 in the final round.
Gilligan led the way for Florida’s first five as his scintillating 62 in Friday afternoon’s second round on the heels of an opening-round 69 gave him a one-shot lead in the individual standings going into the final round. He closed with another 1-under 69 to finish two shots behind North Florida’s Riley in third place with a 10-under 200 total.
Joe Pagdin, a redshirt junior from England, backed up Gilligan as he was one of four players, including a pair of the Gators’ B-teamers, who finished in a tie for sixth place at 5-under 205. Pagdin contributed a 5-under 65 to Florida’s surge in Friday afternoon’s second round and sandwiched that round with a pair of even-par 70s.
Matthew Kress, a sophomore from Saratoga, Calif., finished in a tie for 11th place with a 2-under 208 total. Kress carded a pair of 3-under 67s in Friday’s double round before closing with a 4-over 74.
Tyler Wilkes, a senior from Tampa, Fla., was the picture of consistency, matching par in all three rounds with three straight 70s to finish among the group tied for 18th place with an even-par 210 total.
Rounding out Florida’s first five was Quentin Debove, a senior from France who finished in the group tied for 21st place with a 1-over 211 total. After struggling to a 76 in the opening round, Debove bounced back with a 68 in Friday afternoon’s second round and closed with a solid 3-under 67.
Kress was the only player among Florida’s first five in the Gators Invitational who was in the lineup for the Gators’ 3-1 victory over Georgia Tech in the NCAA Championship’s Final Match at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz. last spring.
Florida lost Fred Biondi, the NCAA individual champion at Grayhawk, and a tremendous player in Ricky Castillo, but the Gators certainly had a ton of talent on display over the weekend on their home course. They don’t rebuild in Gainesville, they just reload.
Finishing alone in fourth place in the individual standings was UCF’s Egor Eroshenko, a junior from Russia who ended up three shots behind Gilligan and a shot ahead of Ryan with a 7-under 203 total. Eroshenko added a sparkling 4-under 66 in Friday afternoon’s second round to his opening-round 68 before closing with a 1-under 69.
Joining Florida’s Pagdin in the tie for sixth place at 5-under were a pair of his fellow Gators playing on the B team, Parker Bell, a sophomore from Tallahassee, Fla., and Jack Turner, a freshman from Orlando, Fla., as well as South Florida’s Jake Peacock, a senior from Milton, Ga.
Bell got off to a great start with a 5-under 65, struggled a little with a 2-over 72 in Friday afternoon’s second round and closed with a 2-under 68. Turner was strong in Friday’s double round, adding a 4-under 66 in the afternoon to his opening-round 68 before finishing up with a 1-over 71.
Peacock matched par in Friday afternoon’s second round with a 70 after opening with a 3 -under 67 before closing with a 68.
Rounding out the top 10 in the individual standings was a third Florida B-teamer in Ryan Hart, a junior from Buffalo, N.Y. who finished alone in 10th place with a 4-under 206 total, a shot behind the quartet tied for sixth place. Hart signed for a sparkling 5-under 65 in Friday afternoon’s second round after opening with a 68 before struggling a little in a final-round 73.
Ryan was one of three former GAP Junior Player of the Year honorees in the field in the Gators Invitational. One of them was his Liberty teammate, Austin Barbin, a graduate student from Elkton, Md. and the 2019 GAP Junior Player of the Year while playing out of the defunct Loch Nairn Golf Club in Toughkenamon, Chester County.
Austin Barbin added a 2-over 72 in Friday afternoon’s second round to his opening-round 71 before closing with a 75 that left him in the group tied for 45th place with a 6-over 216 total.
Sophomore Evan Barbin, the third of three Barbin brothers to play for Liberty (Zach Barbin, the oldest, won two GAP major championships, the BMW Philadelphia Amateur and the Patterson Cup, in the pandemic summer of 2020), was in the lineup for the Flames, but didn’t submit a scorecard for Friday afternoon’s second round. Evan Barbin opened with a 1-over 71 and finished up with a final-round 78.
Leading the way for Penn State was graduate student Patrick Sheehan, the District One Class AAA champion in 2018 as a senior at Central Bucks East. Sheehan added a solid 1-under 69 in Friday afternoon’s second round to his opening-round 72 before closing with a 73 to finish in the group tied for 32nd place with a 4-over 214 total.
Watched Sheehan fall to Austin Barbin, who was in the midst of a scorching run in his final summer of junior golf, in the final of the GAP Junior Boys’ Championship in 2019 at Coatesville Country Club.
Sheehan has been one of the top players in Pennsylvania amateur circles the last few years, most notably finishing second to the epic hole-out for eagle by Duke junior and Carlisle native John Peters on the 18th hole in that 2021 Pennsylvania Amateur Championship at Merion. Yeah, that 18th hole at Merion, the Hogan picture and all. Yeah, Peters holed out for eagle from 193 yards away. Kind of a tough beat for Sheehan, you’d have to admit.
Backing up Sheehan for Penn State was Jake Griffin, a junior from Kensington, Md. who finished among the group tied for 45th place with a an 8-over 218 total. After matching par in the opening round with a 70, Griffin struggled to a 76 in Friday afternoon’s second round before finishing up with a 2-over 72.
The third GAP Junior Player of the Year in the field in the Gators Invitational was Penn State junior Morgan Lofland, a two-time PIAA Class AAA qualifier at Conestoga. Lofland was the GAP Junior Player of the Year in 2021 in between the years Ryan nabbed the honor in ’20 and ’22.
Lofland bounced back from an opening-round 78 with a solid 1-under 69 in Friday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 4-over 74 to finish in the group tied for 61st place with a 221 total. Nice to see Lofland get a spot in the starting lineup for the Nittany Lions.
Sophomore Billy Pabst Jr., who lost in a playoff to Downingtown West’s Nick Gross in the 2021 PIAA Class AAA Championship at Heritage Hills as a senior at North Pocono, finished in a tie for 70th place with a 224 total.
Pabst also started slowly with an opening-round 79, but contributed a 1-under 69 to the Nittany Lions’ solid second-round showing Friday afternoon before closing with a 76.
Graduate student Jimmy Meyers, a member of Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s PIAA Class AAA championship team as a senior in 2018, rounded out the Penn State lineup as he finished among the group tied for 72nd place with a 225 total. Meyers added a 6-over 76 in Friday afternoon’s second round to his opening-round 75 before closing with a 74.
Also in the group at 225 was Navy sophomore Jack Tarzy, a product of The Hun School of Princeton who was a regular on Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour leaderboards as a junior player. Tarzy added a 76 in Friday afternoon’s second round to his opening round of 4-over 74 before finishing up with a 75.
The Midshipmen, a Patriot League entry, finished 21 shots behind Penn State in 15th place with a 53-over 893 total.
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