Florida Gators men's golf
| Florida Gators men's golf | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| University | University of Florida |
| Conference | SEC |
| Location | Gainesville, Florida |
| Head coach | J. C. Deacon (3rd year) |
| Course |
Mark Bostick Golf Course Par: 70 Yards: 6,701 |
| Nickname | Florida Gators |
| Colors | Blue and Orange |
| NCAA Champions | |
| 1968, 1973, 1993, 2001 | |
| NCAA Individual Champions | |
| Bob Murphy (1966) Nick Gilliam (2001) |
|
| Conference Champions | |
| 1955, 1956, 1968, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2003, 2011 | |
| Individual Conference Champions | |
| Dave Ragan (1956) Tommy Aaron (1957, 1958) Steve Melnyk (1968) Jimmy McQuillan (1971) Gary Koch (1973, 1974) Phil Hancock (1975, 1976) Sam Trahan (1977) Larry Rinker (1978) Rick Pearson (1980) Chris DiMarco (1989) Brian Gay (1992, 1994) Guy Hill (1993) Camilo Benedetti (1999, 2002) Brett Stegmaier (2003, 2006) Billy Horschel (2009) |
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The Florida Gators men's golf team represents the University of Florida in the sport of golf. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They play their home matches on the Mark Bostick Golf Course on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus, and are currently led by first-year head coach J. C. Deacon. In the eighty-nine-year history of the Gators' men's golf program, they have won fifteen SEC championships and four NCAA national tournament championships.
The Gators men's golf program was the fifth intercollegiate sports team established by the University of Florida, having begun competition in 1925. The Gators won their first two Southeastern Conference team championships twenty years later under coach Andrew Bracken in 1955 and coach Conrad Rehling in 1956. Those two SEC championship teams produced future PGA Tour members Doug Sanders, Tommy Aaron and Dave Ragan. Rehling's Gators also produced three back-to-back individual SEC titles: Ragan (1956) and Aaron (1957, 1958).
Physical education professor and former high school football coach Buster Bishop became the new head coach of the Gators golf team in 1964. Improvement came quickly for Bishop's Gators, and they finished as the SEC runners-up in 1965. Gator Bob Murphy won the individual NCAA national title in 1966. And in 1967, the team finished second in the conference behind the LSU Tigers, and second in the nation behind the Houston Cougars at the NCAA championship tournament.
The 1968 Gators made history; they not only won the program's third SEC team championship, they won the NCAA championship tournament by edging the defending national champion Houston Cougars by two shots. The Gators' 1968 NCAA men's golf championship, won by John Darr, Steve Melnyk, John Sale, Richard Spears and Wendell Coffee, was the first national team championship in any sport ever won by a team from the University of Florida.
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