Sea Best Invitational – Syndication Server

A chip-in led this college senior to an individual title while facing the reigning national champs

Higgins delivered the birdie that gave him his second college tournament title.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — After Ian Gilligan of Florida and Nick Gabrelcik of North Florida battled for the individual lead during the first 12 holes of the Sea Best Invitational’s final round on Tuesday, Gabrelcik’s teammate Robbie Higgins, playing in the group ahead, passed them both with short birdie putts at Nos. 13 and 15 at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course.

Higgins then hit neither fairway nor green at the toughest par-4 hole on the course and delivered the birdie that gave him his second college tournament title.

Higgins, a senior left-hander from Bradenton, chipped in from behind the 17th green and with a shout and a fist pump gave himself a three-shot lead that assured the individual title in the opening spring tournament for 15 teams.

Higgins was able to play No. 18 for a safe bogey and with a 65, finished at 5-under-par 205, one shot ahead of Gilligan (69) and three over Gabrelcik (69).

The defending national champion Gators won their third Sea Best title in a row and seventh overall at 2-over-par 842, slipping past UNF by three shots. The next nearest team was Louisville, another 15 shots behind the Ospreys.

Robbie Higgins had one bogey

Higgins nearly chipped in at the final hole, with the ball sliding past the cup on the high side and leaving an 8-foot par putt, which he missed for his only bogey of the day.

But the shot of the day was his chip at No. 17, to a tight pin from about 18 feet away.

The hole is one of two par-5 holes on the course that play as par-4s for the tournament. Higgins’ drive went into the right rough, leaving him 186 yards from the hole, with a tree in his way.

Higgins took a 6-iron and punched it under the tree, hoping to be short or have the ball roll onto the green. But he caught it heavy and the ball ran through the green to the back apron.

He hit the chip low and it skidded, checked up and then hit the back of the hole.

Higgins said he charged the hole on the chip and felt if he missed it, he would have, at worst, an 8-foot putt coming back.

“It’s so grainy around the green … I told myself I’m going to hit a great shot,” he said. “If it rolls 8 feet past, then I’ve got to make a putt for par. I executed a perfect shot and the hole got in the way.”

Ian Gilligan of the University of Florida watches a tee shot during Tuesday’s final round of the Sea Best Invitational, at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course. Gilligan finished second to lead the Gators to a third consecutive team title. (Photo: Katie Park/UAA Creative Services)

Robbie Higgins has delivered in the clutch before

Higgins has been there before. Two years ago he chipped in the last to give the Ospreys the title by one shot in The Hayt, the tournament they host at the Sawgrass Country Club.

“He doesn’t mind the moment,” said UNF coach Scott Schroeder. “He enjoys that challenge.”

Higgins said he would have preferred his chip-in meant the team title before an individual trophy.

“I’m a team-first guy,” he said. “I’m about whether we win before I worry about whether I’ll win.”

Ian Gilligan, Nick Gabrelcik traded birdies, bogeys

While Higgins was making birdie on three of five holes to charge into the lead, Gilligan and Gabrelcik had problems. Gilligan, a junior transfer from Long Beach State, began the day with a two-shot lead, still held that margin at the turn, but lost it with a bogey at No. 10 coupled with Gabrelcik’s 8-foot birdie putt.

Gilligan then found the water on the par-3 11th hole and bogeyed his fourth hole in a row to give Gabrelcik a two-shot lead.

It was Gabrelcik’s turn to give shots back. He three-putted No. 13 for a bogey while Gilligan was righting the ship with a 25-foot birdie putt, on the heels of a gutty 6-foot putt for par at No. 12. Gabrelcik then doubled the par-3 14th after pulling his tee shot long and left.

Neither player could catch Higgins but Florida coach J.C. Deacon admired Gilligan’s fortitude for rallying from five bogeys in eight holes to secure second place.

“He’s got a lot of heart … he’s a very talented player and that experience today is going to help a lot going forward,” Deacon said. “I’m excited for him.”

Gators’ depth carries them to the team title

Florida led by seven shots to start the day but when Gabrelcik and Higgins were a combined 6-under through 12 holes, with no bogeys, UNF caught the Gators and led by two shots.

With Gilligan recovering from his bogey streak, Tyler Wilkes (70) tying for fourth and freshman Jack Turner (70) tying for seventh, the Gators regained the lead and got their spring off to a satisfying start: winning a tournament on a tough course, turning back a tough opponent.

“That was huge for a young team,” said Deacon, who started two players from the national championship team this week, Matthew Kress and John DuBois. “Most of our lineups have never really been in that situation so for them to have to get out and hit shots down the stretch on such a challenging golf course should give us a lot of confidence.”

Schroeder was no less optimistic about what the second-place finish might mean for a team that is the clear favorite in the ASUN, behind seniors Gabrelcik, Higgins and Davis Lee, and junior Andrew Riley, who won the NCAA Division II individual national championship last year at Palm Beach Atlantic.

“It was good for us to get in the mix,” Schroeder said. “We got a two-shot lead at one point and then we made a lot of mistakes for about an hour. Hopefully a learning lesson and something that will motivate them for the next three months.”

The two teams will see each other soon, at the Gator Invitational in Gainesville Feb. 17-18.

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Florida rallies to win Sea Best Invitational while North Florida’s Nick Gabrelcik repeats as individual champion

It was UF’s fifth victory in the tournament hosted by Jacksonville University, first since 2017.

Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. — The Florida men’s golf team continued a spring tradition of sorts — winning the first tournament of the season on the First Coast.

And the University of North Florida’s Nick Gabrelcik has a tradition of his own going in winning college tournaments hosted by one of the two area NCAA Division I schools.

The Gators rallied with a 4-under 276 team score on Tuesday at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course and came from four shots off the lead to start the day to win the Sea Best Invitational at 6-over par 846, nudging Liberty by six shots. UNF finished third at 13-under.

It was Florida’s fifth victory in the tournament hosted by Jacksonville University and the first since 2017. The Gators beat Liberty in a playoff for the team title in last year’s Timuquana Collegiate that began the spring schedule.

John Dubois and Ricky Castillo both shot 67 for UF, with Dubois tying for second and Castillo tying for fourth. Yuxin Lin (70) and Fred Biondi (72) tied for 26th.

It trumped the Flames’ Kieran Vincent (68, tie for second), Jonathan Yaun (70), and Austin Barbin (73), who both tied for 15th. When Florida finished it had a five-shot lead over the Flames, whose players had anywhere from three to five holes left.

”It wasn’t over until their best two players were on No. 18,” Florida coach J.C. Deacon said. “Jeff Thomas is a great coach and they’ve got a lot of great players over there and it took a great final round for us to beat them. They wouldn’t go away and stop fighting.”

Deacon said the week was indicative of a team-wide effort to erase a lackluster fall season in which UF had finishes of a tie for eighth, 12th and a tie for fifth — the latter at Isleworth.

”We didn’t have a very good fall so we have been a very motivated group,” Deacon said. “I’ve been super-impressed by how hard the guys have worked this winter. It started back on Oct. 20 and the guys have had an awesome off-season. I’m so happy for that hard work to pay off.”

Castillo birdied three of his first four holes to set the early pace and Dubois had seven 3s among his last 13 holes.

Lin made a hole-in-one at the 190-yard 14th hole, using a 6-iron for his third ace in competition. Lin said he didn’t see the ball go into the hole, which was cut on the middle-left, but one witness was six-time PGA Tour winner and nearby resident Billy Horschel, a past Gator All-American.

“Dropped 3 feet in front of the hole and rolled in like a putt,” said Horschel, who was at the tournament for the Sunday practice round and the two competitive rounds to watch his college team.

University of North Florida golf coach Scott Schroeder (left) and sophomore Nick Gabrelcik (right) look over Gabrelcik’s tee shot at the 18th hole of the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course on Tuesday during the third round of the Sea Best Invitational. Gabrelcik shot 65 to win the individual title.

Speaking of familiar ground, Gabrelcik successfully defended his Sea Best individual title with a closing 65 and a 54-hole total of 7-under-par 203, six shots over Dubois and Vincent.

The UNF sophomore from Trinity, Fla., won his fourth college tournament in his 13th start and is now 3-for-3 in college tournaments hosted by UNF or JU. Gabrelcik won last year’s Sea Best by one shot and captured The Hayt, hosted by UNF at the Sawgrass Country Club, by two shots.

In those three tournaments, Gabrelcik is a cumulative 20-under and has a stroke average of 68.4. He’s the only player to have won both and said it’s a matter of preferring the difficult late winter/early spring conditions in Northeast Florida, where it can get windy and chilly.

”I’ve just developed a liking for Jacksonville golf,” Gabrelcik said. “I’ve noticed the courses around here fit my game well. Firm and fast, nice greens … I think harder conditions benefit me more because I like to flight my golf shots and work my ball in different ways, whereas when it’s calm and soft, anyone can go out and fire up pins and go low.”

Gabrelcik birdied three of his first four holes and then dropped his longest putt of the day, a 30-footer for birdie at No. 9. He birdied Nos. 12 and 15 and might have won by a touchdown and two-point conversion had he made two 8-foot birdie attempts at Nos. 16 and 18, or avoided his only bogey of the day at No. 17.

UNF coach Scott Schroeder said it’s no big mystery why Gabrelcik has done well in the area events.

”He’s really good at golf,” Schroeder said of Gabrelcik, who has eight top-five finishes in less than two seasons for the Ospreys. “He controls his golf ball really well and on both of these golf courses, you’ve got to be able to hit the ball. And he’s learned to be patient and keep the ball in the right spots.”

UNF, the defending Sea Best team champion, made the biggest move of the day, coming from 12th place (next-to-last) and getting within four shots of the lead at one point before finishing third, seven shots behind the Gators.

Davis Lee (68) and Jason Duff (69) joined Gabrelcik in shooting under par and helping the Ospreys post the low team round of the day at 6-under. Cody Carroll chipped in with a 72.

”Today we had four guys who played good,” Schroeder said. “We’ve talked a lot about how they’re going to handle themselves on the golf course and focusing on that and let the results come. We did a lot better job of that day. Golf can be a roller coaster and we want to try to not let our emotions be a roller coaster. I thought we did a really nice job with that.”

JU’s Alexandre Vandermoten, who began the day tied with Gabrelcik for the lead at 2-under, shot 73 and tied for fourth. Florida’s Tyler Wilkes, playing as an individual, had a 71 to tie for 10th at 3-over.

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North Florida, freshman Nick Gabrelcik, pass a tough test with Sea Best Invitational wins

North Florida, led by freshman Nick Gabrelcik, passed yet another early-season test with a win at the Sea Best Invitational.

The University of North Florida golf team keeps passing important tests early in the season.

Last week at the Timuquana Collegiate, the Ospreys proved they could come from behind in a birdie-fest, posting the low team score of the final round and tying for fourth, four shots out of a playoff with Florida and Liberty.

On Monday, UNF jumped out to a big lead in the first 36 holes of the Sea Best Invitational, under brutally cold conditions at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley.

On Tuesday, the Ospreys proved they could play with the lead, and after a 19-shot spread at the turn dipped to nine shots over Liberty with four holes to play, Nick Gabrelcik, Nick Infanti and Cody Carroll all birdied the par-4 15th hole and UNF went on to win by 12 shots over Liberty and Duke at 21 over.

It was the Ospreys’ first team title since the 2019 ASUN Championship and the first time they have won the Sea Best, hosted by cross-town rival Jacksonville University.

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Gabrelcik supplied the frosting on another cold, windy day when he shot 68 to win the individual championship at 3 under, one shot clear of Easton Paxton (72) of N.C. State and three shots over Adrien Pendaries of Duke (71).

“All three rounds were really hard and we knew, teeing off today, that pars were going to be good scores,” said UNF coach Scott Schroeder. “We played pretty steady. There were a few glitches at the end but generally speaking, it was pretty steady for everybody, which is all you really wanted.”

Gabrelcik, of Trinity, Florida, has tied for fourth and won in his first two college starts. When Paxton finished his round, Gabrelcik had seven holes left, and he played them bogey-free, at 2-under, with a 35-foot birdie putt at No. 12, a 4-footer at No. 15 and a testy two-putt for par from 60 feet at No. 17.

“I’m not going to lie … that was the time I was the most nervous, hoping to lag that putt up there close,” Gabrelcik said.

He cozied it up to 2 feet and tapped in.

Needing a par to win at the last, Gabrelcik split the fairway at No. 18, hit a pitching wedge to within 10 feet, and safely two-putted.

“I felt good going into this week but the conditions were very tough,” he said. “I’ve played when it’s been this cold before, and I’ve played when it’s been this windy, but never both at the same time. I just worked my ball around well.”

Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual
More: All the latest college news on the Road to Grayhawk

Gabrelcik became the first UNF individual champion since Jordan Batchelor in the 2019 ASUN Championship and the first freshman to win for the Ospreys since Joey Petronio at the 2012 Gary Koch Invitational at Old Memorial Golf Club in Tampa.

UNF had four players among the top-23, with Infanti (72) finishing 13th at 9 over, Robbie Higgins (77) tying for 14th at 10 over and Cody Carroll (76) tying for 23rd at 12 over.

Campbell finished fourth at 42 over, N.C. State fifth at 44 over and Jacksonville and Charlotte tied for sixth at 45 over.

JU was led by a 10th-place finish by Michael Sakane (76) at 6 over. Joey Sullivan birdied three of his first five holes and matched Gabrelcik’s 68 to tie for 14th at 10 over.

The Ospreys’ quick start has come with only one senior in the starting lineup and without the benefit of a fall season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schroeder said there’s still room for improvement.

“I knew we had a chance to be pretty good but I didn’t know exactly how good we’d be,” he said. “We played pretty good but didn’t putt it great. We had 20 three-putts this week. If we can clean some of that stuff up, it’s going to be really fun this spring.”

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University of North Florida grabs big lead on a long, chilly day at Dye’s Valley

A marathon day at the Sea Best Invitational required much patience and concentration from the field at TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course.

Monday’s marathon day at the Sea Best Invitational required as much patience and concentration as the field of 75 players at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course could muster.

When it was over – and the temperature had dipped into the mid-40s with the approaching dusk – one of the youngest teams in the field did the best job of managing the conditions.

University of North Florida freshmen Nick Gabrelcik and Robbie Higgins posted top-10 scores and the two other players who scored finished among the top-18 as the Ospreys took a 13-shot lead over Duke and Liberty at 11-over-par 571.

Charlotte is in fourth at 25 over, N.C. State fifth at 26 over and host Jacksonville University is sixth at 27 over. The final round will be Tuesday, and there’s good news and bad news.

The bad news is it will be even colder on Tuesday, with a forecast high of 52 degrees and more Northeast wind.

Scores: Sea Best Invitational

The good news is the field will only have 18 holes to play.

“This place is tough as it is, much less this sort of weather,” said UNF junior Cody Carroll of the Valley Course, after he shot 71 in the second round to tie for 13th at 6-over.

Gabrelcik opened with a 4-under 66 and held the lead for most of the second round until he finished bogey-double bogey to fall into a tie for second at 1-under 139, three shots behind N.C. State’s Easton Paxton (68-68—136).

Gabrelcik is tied with Adrien Pendaries of Duke (70-69), Kiernan Vincent of Liberty (68-71) and two individual competitors, Fred Biondi of the University of Florida (71-68) and Brady Madsen of Florida Gulf Coast (69-70).

Higgins (69-74—143) is tied for eighth. The only senior in the UNF lineup, Nick Infanti (74-73—147) is tied for 18th.

Ospreys coach Scott Schroeder was pleased with his team’s performance – and for showing it can contend on a difficult course under rugged conditions, after they were in the mix last week in the Timuquana Collegiate, when the temperatures were in the high-70s and scoring was low.

“The weather was totally different from last week and they showed me they know how to grind a little bit more on a tough course, on a tough day,” he said. “It was really solid.”

Concentration and patience – or at least as strong an attempt as could be mustered – were the orders of the day. Players were bundled up, every conceivable kind of cold-weather apparel was in use and since both rounds were shotgun starts, they couldn’t even huddle inside the clubhouse to warm up for a few minutes between rounds.

“You have to keep your focus but that’s impossible for more than eight hours on a day like this,” said Jacksonville’s Michael Sakane, who matched the low score of the second round with a 68 and finished solo seventh to lead the Dolphins at 1-over 141. “There have to be moments where you don’t think about golf, then right before you hit the shot, start concentrating.”

Carroll offered himself as an example of the on-again, off-again nature of trying to play golf in Florida in weather better suited to outdoor hockey.

After a first-round 75 that included a triple-bogey, followed by a bogey on a par-5, Carroll’s second-round 71 included four birdies during a six-hole stretch.

“It’s easy to make a lot of loose decisions and not commit to shots,” he said.

Easton was the only player to put together two sub-par rounds and had one sparkling stretch in his second tour around the Valley when he birdied four holes in a row, Nos. 11, 12, 13 and 14.

Biondi one of the most bizarre days, with nine birdies, two bogeys and three doubles. Vincent turned in a card for the second round that had seven birdies, one double and one triple.

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Texas A&M’s William Paysse rebounds from water-logged first round, leads Sea Best Invitational

Texas A&M’s William Paysse took the individual lead in the second round and propelled the Aggies to the Sea Best Invitational team lead.

Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. — Texas A&M freshman William Paysse had a knack for finding the water hazards of the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley Course in the first round of the Sea Best Invitational on Monday.

A mid-course correction solved the problem and Paysse fired the low round of the first 36 holes of the tournament to help the Aggies vault into the lead by one shot over Florida at 7-under-par 553.

North Carolina is third at even par, Liberty fourth at 2 over, Campbell fifth at 6 over and the University of North Florida sixth at 8 over.

Paysse birdied six of eight holes during one stretch and with a 63, grabbed the second-round lead at 6-under-par 134 by one shot over Reid Bedell (69-66–135) of Campbell College.

Leaderboard: Sea Best Invitational

Three Gator players are tied for third at 3 under: Freshmen Ricky Castillo (70-67) and Fred Biondi (66-71) and junior John Axelsen (68-69). Walker Lee (70-68) is tied for sixth at 2 under and Dan Erickson (69-71) is tied for 14th to provide A&M, No. 20 on the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, the depth it needed to barely finish ahead of the Gators entering Tuesday’s final round.

Paysse made four bogeys in the first round, three thanks to tee shots he hit into lateral water hazards off the tee.

He did a decent enough job at damage control in finding ways to make bogey after that, but admitted to some frustration.

“All the trouble on this course is the left and that’s the way I was missing,” said Paysse.

However, he remembered that in windy and cold conditions at a recent amateur tournament at the Ocean Forest Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Georgia, he had moved the ball back in his stance a bit.

In the second round, he began moving the ball up a bit and he said that helped him hit his “dominant cut,” and started hitting green grass instead of water.

Beginning on the fifth hole in a shotgun start, Paysse made two quick birdies in the second round, then kick-started his sprint to the top with a 15-foot birdie putt at No. 15. He made four birdie putts of 12 feet or less and added a chip-in for birdie at No. 17.

Aggies coach J.T. Higgins said Paysse doesn’t usually put together two marginal rounds in a row.

“He’s very steady … has an amazing work ethic,” Higgins said. “But it was pretty amazing that he’s 4-over after 13 holes, and then comes back to play the way he did.”

The Gators are trying to atone for one of the worst fall seasons in six years under coach J.C. Deacon. Florida finished no higher than seventh in four events and had a cumulative team score of 67-over.

Deacon said his team responded with “one of the best off-seasons we’ve had.”

“We got our butts kicked in the fall, no question about it,” Deacon said. “But it’s gotten to the point where they have something to prove. They’ve been closing the [UF course] at night, playing a ton of matches and I haven’t heard anything from their academic advisors so they’re taking care of that. We’re a good team. Sometimes I have to remind them how good they can be.”

The Gators have usually found the Sea Best Invitational to be a nice kick-start to the spring season. Florida is the only team that has won multiple titles in the 12-year history of the tournament, with championships in 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2017.

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Florida Gators ride young lineup to first-round lead at Sea Best Invitational

Fred Biondi holds the individual lead after the first round as his Florida Gators look for their first win in two years.

Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. — It’s been two years since the University of Florida men won a tournament.

The Gators took a big step in breaking that drought on Monday, at a tournament in which they’ve had considerable success.

Freshman Fred Biondi birdied three of his last five holes at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley course to take the individual lead at 4-under-par 66 and teammates John Axelsen (68) and John Dubois (69) also posted under-par scores as Florida took a two-shot lead over North Carolina in the first round of the 12th annual Sea Best Invitational, hosted by Jacksonville University.

Florida, 37th in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings to start the spring, won the Sea Best in 2011, 2012, 2016 and 2017. The Gators are 4-under 276 and the Tar Heels, who won the tournament in 2015, are 2-under 278.

Texas A&M is third at 1-over, Campbell College fourth at 2-over and the University of North Florida is fifth at 4-over.

The tournament field stayed on the course to begin the second round on Monday afternoon. The third round will be Tuesday.

The Gators last won a tournament at an NCAA regional in 2018, finished no better than seventh in four fall events and hasn’t had a top-five finish in seven events, dating back to last spring’s Robert Kepler Invitational at Ohio State.

Coach J.C. Deacon is searching for the right formula with a roster that has only one senior and three juniors. He started two freshmen (Biondi and Ricky Castillo), two juniors, (Axelsen and Chris Nido) and senior Blake Dyer.

Axelsen is tied for fourth with Eduardo Carrete of Jacksonville and Cody Carroll of the University of North Florida. Dubois, playing as an individual, is tied for eighth.

Jack Trent of UNLV, the highest-ranked individual player in the field by Golfweek/Sagarin at No. 10, shot a bogey-free 67 and is tied for second with Pontus Nyhold of Campbell.

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