Sea Best Invitational with Robbie on the green

Men's Golf Fights to Second Through 36 Holes at Sea Best Invitational

Both Gabrelcik and Higgins Sit Top Five Overall

1/29/2024 7:00:00 PM

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - North Florida men's golf struck late on the first day of play to start the spring season, as they moved from the middle of the pack into second overall through two rounds at the Sea Best Invitational hosted by Jacksonville on Monday afternoon.

The Ospreys fought through windy conditions early on with Robbie Higgins starting in the top three with five birdies for a 1-under opening round. Nick Gabrelcik caught fire in the back half of the day with seven total birdies, including five on the front nine, to join Higgins in the top five overall.

COURSE REPORT

TPC at Sawgrass - Dye's Valley Course (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.)
Par 70 | 6,790 Yards
Monday, Jan. 29 | 36 holes

SCORECARD (Osprey lineup)

TEAM STANDINGS: 15 Teams

Florida (2-over), North Florida (9-over), Louisville (14-over), UTSA (17-over), FGCU (18-over), Lipscomb (21-over), Cal Poly (22-over), Jacksonville (25-over), Louisiana Tech (25-over), Kennesaw State (26-over), Liberty (27-over), Florida Atlantic (29-over), UCF (36-over), Campbell (36-over), USC Upstate (46-over)

ROUND REFLECTIONS

Gabrelcik turned up the head in the second round with back-to-back-to-back birdies, followed with a 3-under score on the final six holes to jump into a tie for second overall.
The senior currently leads the pack for most birdies overall with 10 total and a top-four mark on par-four holes (1-under).
Higgins stayed at the top of the leaderboard consistently through all 36 holes with five birdies in the first round, along with 14 pars and a pair of birdies in the second round to be tied for fifth at even-par.
The fellow senior followed Gabrelcik tied for sixth in birdies with seven combined through two rounds and has the sixth-best average on par-four holes (even-par).
Andrew Riley finished his day with a pair of birdies in each round to sit within the top 22 at 5-over combined.
Jason Duff joined Riley tied for 22nd overall after carding six birdies, including four in the second round, to also notch a score of 5-over.
Davis Lee had third-most pars among all players with 26 total to round out the group at 10-over on Monday.
Filippo Serra played as an unattached individual with six birdies to stay within the top 50 overall, including a top-10 mark on par-three holes (even-par).
Five UNF players were top-eight in scoring average on par-five holes led by Gabrelcik at 3-under, followed by Serra, Riley, Duff and Lee for 2-under.
The Ospreys joined Florida as the only two teams with two players in the top five and four in the top 22 on the player's leaderboard.
UNF had the advantage on par-four (18-over) and par-five (9-under) holes with a top-two average for each.
They also had the second-most pars with 28 total to go along with 112 pars on day one.

STATEMENT FROM SCHROEDER

"Nice playing by Nick [Gabrelcik] and Robbie [Higgins] today. Just a few too many mistakes or we could be closer to the lead. Solid first day of the semester."
-- head coach Scott Schroeder

UP NEXT

North Florida wraps up its final round of its spring season opener at Sea Best Invitational starting at 9:12 a.m., on Tuesday, Jan. 30, at TPC Sawgrass.

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