TOURNEY TIDBITS: 2023 Sea Best Invitational

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - North Florida men's golf starts competition back up for the spring season when it stays on the First Coast for the Sea Best Invitational from Jan. 30-31 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
The Ospreys finished their fall season with four of their five meets placing among the top five teams, including a first-place finish at the Quail Valley Collegiate in Vero Beach, Fla. They also had two players bring home a pair of individual medalist crowns and three ASUN Golfer of the Week honors.

COURSE REPORT

TPC at Sawgrass - Dye's Valley Course (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.)
Par 70 | 6,790 Yards
54 holes (Three rounds of 18 holes)

ON THE TEE

Nick Gabrelcik (68.87)
Robbie Higgins (70.27)
Davis Lee (72.20)
Cooper Smith (71.22)
Cody Carroll (72.67)

Ind. Jason Duff (N/A)

THE FIELD: 13 Teams

#9 Florida
#32 Lipscomb
#40 Liberty
#42 North Florida
#44 Louisville
#60 FGCU
Campbell
Charleston Southern
College of Charleston
Florida Atlantic
Jacksonville
USC Upstate
UTSA

TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK

This will be the 10th season that UNF will be competing in JU's home tournament.
The Ospreys have won the Sea Best Invitational twice over the past decade, including its inaugural year in 2014.
They will look to take home their second Sea Best title in three seasons, as well as their second team title of the 2022-23 season.
It's the second par-70 course that UNF has played at this year with their first being at the Windon Memorial Classic hosted by Northwestern from Sept. 26-27.
This is the first of three consecutive tournaments played in the state of Florida and the first of back-to-back meets on the First Coast.
Nick Gabrelcik has won the Sea Best tournament twice already in his career and will look to three-peat this weekend.
He also has four medalist crowns in four collegiate tournaments played on the First Coast with two each at the Sea Best and The Hayt.
The Ospreys finished last season's Sea Best Invitational in third overall after being tied for eight through the first two rounds.
Jason Duff and Davis Lee both placed among the top 30 individuals in last season's meet.
Cody Carroll and Robbie Higgins also competed as a part of the team's score, while Cooper Smith played as unattached individuals.
The projected team lineup will include a graduate, a senior, two juniors, and a sophomore.
The tournament field consists of 13 teams with nine of those teams returning from last season's competition.
Six teams are ranked in the top 60 of Golfstat, as No. 9 Florida will be the only top 25 team in the field.
Liberty, Lipscomb and JU are ASUN teams that will be competing, while Louisville and Texas A&M joins UF as the three Power Five opponents.
The event will start on Monday, Jan. 30, and will conclude the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 31.
Two rounds of 36 holes total will be played on the first day, followed by one round of 18 holes on the final day of play.
This will be the first of four spring tournaments played over a two-day span.

FROM THE 19TH HOLE

Nick Gabrelcik enters the spring season finishing as either the individual champion or the runner-up in each of his last three collegiate tournaments. The back-to-back ASUN Golfer of the Year will look to start his three-peat efforts this upcoming weekend in his own backyard.
Robbie Higgins looks to build off his sophomore season, as well as a fall 2022 campaign where he placed top-five twice with a medalist crown at the Windon Memorial Classic. He also recorded all three rounds of the Quail Valley Collegiate in the 60s and helped the team to a first-place finish in Vero Beach, Fla.
Davis Lee once again had a stellar fall with a pair of top-30 individual finishes. His best weekend was at the Quail Valley Collegiate, where he scored in the 60s twice and tied for ninth overall at 9-under 207.
Cooper Smith played in three fall tournaments and impressed in each one of them. He placed within the top 15 individuals during his fall debut at the Windon Memorial Classic, while also carding three rounds under par combined at both the Quail Valley Collegiate and the Ka'anapali Classic Collegiate.
Cody Carroll played his best tournament of the season in the fall finale with two rounds under par in the Ka'anapali Collegiate. The graduate will look to keep that momentum going as he enters the final stretch of his collegiate career on Monday.
Jason Duff will be playing in his first tournament of the 2022-23 season as an unattached individual. Last season, he was awarded the ASUN Freshman Golfer of the Year after placing among the top 25 individuals twice with a scoring average of 74.82 per tournament.

UP NEXT

North Florida jumps into another tournament in less than a week to open the spring season when they host The Hayt from Feb. 5-6 at Sawgrass Country Club.

COURSE REPORT

ON THE TEE

THE FIELD: 13 Teams

TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK

FROM THE 19TH HOLE

UP NEXT

Players Mentioned

Cody Carroll

Jason Duff

Nick Gabrelcik

Robbie Higgins

Davis Lee

Cooper Smith

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