Florida, Vanderbilt advance to finals in SEC males’s golf

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Matthew Kress has began to make his identify identified on the SEC Championship and at Sea Island Golf Membership. In his postseason debut, he clinched each match play matches on Saturday, sending the Florida males’s golf staff to the match play finals Sunday.

After not enjoying in his first-year, Kress has had a powerful final three days. He erased seven photographs in spherical two of stroke play with a 67 (-3) on Thursday to maneuver Florida into third-place after which adopted with a ultimate spherical of 69 (-1) on Friday. He continued his postseason debut securing the match clinching level twice at this time with the ultimate sending the Gators to a rematch with No. 4 Vanderbilt for the SEC title.

A local of Saratoga, Calif., he led off Florida within the semifinals vs. No. 2 Texas A&M, profitable the primary 4 holes with two birdies and did not drop a gap till on eight. Kress despatched the Gators into celebration with a par on 18 to win his match 2 Up as UF received the match 3-2. The victory was the second straight over the Aggies within the semifinals as eight of the ten whole gamers had been featured within the matchups final season.

Florida grabbed the primary level off the board from John DuBois. He bounced again after a 6&5 setback within the quarterfinals with a 3&2 victory over his opponent, who he defeated final 12 months in 19 holes to ship the Gators to the finals.

The Gators rapidly moved to 2-0 with one other 3&2 win, this time from Fred Biondi. After dropping his first gap, he responded with back-to-back wins and held regular on the flip. His win on 16 turned the eye to 18 the place Kress added to his postseason story.

In the meantime, Reid Davenport’s quick made putt on a nineteenth gap Saturday gave the Commodores a 3-2 win over rival Tennessee and put Vanderbilt within the SEC Championships ultimate for the third season in a row.

Tied with Josh Hill after 18 holes, Davenport gave Vandy its third win with Cole Sherwood and Gordon Sargent having already secured their respective matches. William Moll had additionally teed off behind Davenport, however the fifth-year senior’s putt left Moll’s matchup moot as Davenport and his teammates celebrated the victory up forward on the inexperienced.

“After shedding 17 there, Reid confirmed great resiliency and character to combat and make that putt on 18 after which bury that final putt to push us to the finals,” Vandy head coach Scott Limbaugh mentioned.

Tennessee was the No. 1 seed within the eight-team match play portion of the occasion.

“We got here into this week speaking about this being our alternative. It isn’t someone else’s. It is ours. You bought to have that mentality. I imagine that is what nice rivals do,” Limbaugh mentioned. “It should take one other nice effort Sunday towards a fantastic staff, one which we’re accustomed to. We simply have to go play Vandy golf and have to be play with lots of grit, lots of character and lots of combat. Will definitely be excited to have lots of our followers right here sporting black and gold.”

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Sunday’s showdown will function a rematch to final 12 months’s finals when Vanderbilt narrowly edged Florida 3-2 with the match coming right down to the ultimate gap. The battle for the convention can be stay on SEC Community with Gator Nice and former Florida golfer Steve Melnyk on the decision. The match will begin at 8 a.m.