The last time Florida was under par through the first three rounds of the National Championship was 2001 when the Gators won both the individual (Nick Gilliam) and team titles. 

UF earned a spot in the final round of stroke play for the seventh time in program history for the fourth consecutive season and fifth time under head coach J.C. Deacon since the match play era that began 2009. Entering his 11th season, he was named one of five finalists for the National Coach of the Year.

Tomorrow Florida tees off at 2:26 p.m. ET and is paired with Oklahoma State (+5) and Texas (+5), who are both tied for fifth-place. The Gators are one of four teams under par along with Auburn (-10), Arizona State (-6) and Oklahoma (-6). Coverage of the final round can be watched live on Golf Channel beginning at 6 p.m. ET as the network will cover all three rounds of match play action. 

In the final match play spot sits Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Texas Tech at +12 as there are also six teams are within five or less strokes as tomorrow, Georgia Tech and Wake Forest will be in a playoff tomorrow morning for the final 15th advancing spot at +17.

The Gators had a round three of 4-over 292, their highest score this week and first over-par round since the opening round of the Calusa Cup on April 6. Following tomorrow’s final round of stroke play, the top-8 teams will advance to match play as the NCAA Individual Champion is also determined after 72-holes. Florida looks to reach match play for the second time in three seasons and enter tomorrow 13 strokes ahead of eighth-place as they made the top-15 cut today by 18 shots. 

After two bogeys in his first three holes, Kress finished 5-under behind eight birdies and a 4-under mark on the final nine holes. In his 11th career stroke play round at the National Championship, he notched his fourth under par today. He closed in the final six holes with three straight birdies on holes 4-6, including a 20-foot plus birdie on the par5 sixth (671 yards). The Saratoga, Calif. native moved up 31 spots into T14 and is 1-under overall as his 3-under round was tied for the second-lowest of the day. 

Sophomore Jack Turner had the second-lowest round in the lineup with a 73 (+1). He was 1-over at the turn before finishing even-par on the next nine, the front as Florida teed off the back nine this morning. It was his best round through 54-holes. 

The next two counting scores were a pair of 75s (+3) in Luke Poulter and Ian Gilligan. Poulter battled back from +5 mark at the turn with three bogeys and a double-bogey with four birdies between holes 1-6. He remains one under par this week and is tied for 14th with Kress. Gilligan is tied with freshman Zack Swanwick in T31, who also had a 75. 

Also following tomorrow’s final 18-holes, the final PGA Tour University Rankings are finalized as Gilligan is currently ranked No. 3. He is projected to finish between No. 2-5, which will earn him Korn Ferry Tour membership for the remainder of the season along with Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School with 2026 membership in the PGA TOUR Americas through the Latin America Swing. In 2023, Florida had three finish in the final top-25 rankings with Fred Biondi (No. 2), Ricky Castillo (No. 9) and Yuxin Lin (No. 10).

Post Round Quotes – Head Coach J.C. Deacon

On the tournament and what has worked well so far…

“What’s going well is that we’re getting contributions from everyone. It’s kind of been the thing with our team all year long. We got five great players, tremendous depth and everyone’s been contributing this week. We saw today that with Matthew Kress today. Shooting 69, which we will see after his round, but will probably be one of the low rounds of the day. Not our best team score today. We have some things that we need to correct today, but overall, we’re in a good spot.”

Senior Matthew Kress

On what worked well the final nine holes…

“The one club in my bag, and it was the putter. Dudley (Hart) helped me a lot with the numbers getting to the greens, because that’s what’s hard about this course. But the putter definitely helped me today. I got myself in position with Dudley’s help on the greens. Then I was committed to the lines on the greens, and made a lot of putts.”

 

On does having postseason experience and playing at Omni La Costa prior help…

“I don’t think you can avoid that on this course and in this tournament. Not going through a tough stretch of six to seven holes. I got in a tough stretch pretty early on that back nine, and then turned to the front which a little bit easier from experience. So I knew there was an opportunity to turn the round in after a tough start going on to the front nine. You just have to hunker down and just get through it.”

 

On message to guys having experience getting here and trying to get to match play…

“Last year we really limped in to finish. We were basically in match play and we limped in. I think we maybe got a little comfortable. Finishing holes on how hard this course was, you can’t take it for granted. You have to forget about the top-eight and treat every hole like it’s the first hole of the tournament and try to finish really strong no matter how many shots inside or outside the cut line. We have to finish, that’s the only message that matters.”

 

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