TEAM SCORES
PLAYER SCORES
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, FEB. 21, 2016 – USF men's golf defended its SunTrust Gator Invitational title by running away from the field in record-breaking fashion Sunday afternoon.
Head coach Steve Bradley's Bulls broke the program's 18-hole record with a 13-under 267 in the final round and finished at 22-under, eight shots ahead of No. 19 Vanderbilt and nine ahead of No. 12 Florida.
Rigel Fernandes capped off USF's spring season-opening weekend by carding a school record 13-under 197 and winning the individual title by four shots.
USF (282-269-267—818) topped last season's winning Gator Invitational score by 17 strokes and broke the school's 54-hole record. The Bulls' previous top mark was 826 (-14) in the NCAA New Haven Regional victory last season.
“We were one shot down heading into today's round, playing with UF in the final group on their home golf course. They had a lot of fans out there today,” Bradley said. “I challenged the guys to try to block all that stuff out as much as they could, and concentrate on their golf shots and them playing the course.”
All five players in the lineup shot in the 60's in the final round to secure the sixth tournament win under Bradley in less than two seasons.
“They got off to a nice start and they never looked back. It was awesome to watch,” Bradley said.
Fernandes set a new USF 18-hole record with a 63 in the second round and topped the program's top 54-hole score by seven shots (70-64-63—197). Fernandez tied for the tournament lead with 17 total birdies and made par or better on each of his last 39 holes.
“One of the more difficult things to do in golf is to play a great round and to follow it back up with another good round,” Bradley said. “He just did a great job of focusing on his game, committing to every golf shot and really staying in the present.”
Senior Aksel Olsen carded a career-best 67 in the final two rounds and tied for eighth place with a 5-under 205. Olsen led all players with 43 made pars over the weekend at Mark Bostick Golf Course (par-70, 6,701 yards).
Sophomore Cristian DiMarco posted his second top-25 finish as a Bull by tying for 19th place with an even-par 210 (70-71-69).
Just a shot behind DiMarco were teammates Claudio Correa and Chase Koepka, who tied for 26th place at 1-over. Correa (71-72-68) saved his best performance of the weekend for the final round. Koepka (75-68-68) collected 10 birdies in the final two rounds.
USF is back on the course next week in Mexico at the Querencia Cabo Invitational that takes place Sunday, Feb. 28 through Tuesday, March 1.
