Florida
Florida swim improves at Florida Invitational – The Independent Florida Alligator
From Thursday-to-Saturday, the Florida men’s and women’s swimming team hosted NOVA Southeastern University in the O’Connell Center Natatorium for the Florida Invitational.
Thursday, 11 Gators participated in three events and 10 of those swimmers recorded improved times from their morning preliminary trials.
Florida claimed the top three spots in the men’s 500-yard freestyle, with junior Aryan Nehra placing first. Nehra dropped two and forty-one hundredths of a second from his preliminary time with a finish time of 4 minutes, 19.37 seconds.
Freshman Bobby Dinunzio III followed in second place, dropping 4.25 seconds from his preliminary trial with a final time of 4:21.23. Freshman Amadeusz Knop completed the event in 4:23.01, placing third and finishing .63 seconds faster than his preliminary time.
In the women’s 200 IM, sophomore Grace Gardner placed first for NOVA Southeastern, finishing with a time of 2:08.29. Florida junior Molly Golding followed behind in second with a time of 2:11.71, .55 seconds faster than her preliminary trial.
For the men’s 200 IM, freshman Caleb Maldari secured first place for the Gators with a time of 1:44.99, crushing his preliminary time of 1:48.06. Sophomore Cam Abaqueta followed in second place, dropping .85 seconds after his race in the preliminaries.
Friday, the Gators dominated in the women’s 100 back with freshman Bella Sims placing first with a 50.44 NCAA A-cut time, beating her preliminary time by 1.44 seconds. Freshman Carly Meeting placed second with a time of 54.21.
In the NCAA championships, A-cut times allow swimmers to participate in all events they have B-cut times in.
Thirty-seven of Florida’s swimmers improved their final times following the preliminaries that Friday morning. Senior Adam Chaney, junior Julian Smith, sophomore Joshua Liendo and junior Macguire McDuff swam a 1:22.95 NCAA A-cut time in the men’s 200 relay.
Saturday, the final day of the invitational, freshman Bella Sims set a new program record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 50.44. Senior Isabel Ivey also set a new program record in the 200 freestyle with a time of 1:43:03. Nehra, junior Benjamin Cote, and Dinunzio III all achieved NCAA B-cut times in the 1,650-yard freestyle.
The Gators will next compete in Auburn, Alabama, for the SEC Championships from Feb. 20- 24. The men’s team seeks a 12th consecutive championship while the women’s team aims for back-to-back conference titles.
Contact Shaine Davison at sdavison@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter @shainedavison.
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Austin Smotherman will carry a three-stroke lead into the weekend at the Cognizant Classic at The Palm Beaches.
Smotherman followed his opening 62 with a 2-under-par 69 on Friday at PGA National’s Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. That brought him to 11 under, comfortably clear of Taylor Moore, who is in second after his second straight 4-under 67.
Cognizant Classic scoreboard
“Yeah, leading a PGA Tour event, come on, pretty awesome,” Smotherman said.
Smotherman, 31, is in fine position for his first win on the PGA Tour since turning pro a decade ago. He has won three times on the Korn Ferry Tour, including last June.
Afterwards, he credited himself with playing “Austin Smotherman golf.” When asked what that meant, he responded, “as boring and simple as it can be.
“That’s what I want to do out there. I feel like I ball strike it good enough to have that kind of boring golf, a bunch of fairways ideally,” he said.
He suffered three bogeys Friday after a bogey-free opening round, but the key stretch for him after starting on the back nine was between Nos. 17 and 3. He birdied four holes in that stretch, starting with a 54-foot bomb at the par-3 17th hole.
“Anything under par I thought would have been (good) following up a round like yesterday, which was a special one,” he said, “and try not to get too far ahead of myself thinking I’m going to make every long putt I’m looking at, like kind of was the feeling yesterday, and then today I still make a 55-footer on 17.”
Moore overcame a bogey in each half of his round with three birdies on either nine, more than counterbalancing the rough patches to earn his second straight solid score.
“I think very different 67s,” Moore said when comparing his rounds. “I didn’t hit many fairways yesterday, kind of grinded a lot, had a couple chip-ins, which obviously helps. I thought I struck the ball much better today. Drove it in the fairways on the par-5s, I felt like. Yeah, still had a few up-and- downs, obviously, with the tough windy conditions this afternoon, but overall I thought it was solid.”
Canadian A.J. Ewart had the round of the day, a 64 that powered him to 7 under for the week. He’s tied with Colombia’s Nico Echavarria (72), and Joel Dahmen is in fifth at 6 under after a second consecutive 68.
Ewart, who played for nearby Barry University in college, came in with some familiarity.
“We used to come and watch this tournament when I was at school. I think I came up here twice, maybe three times and watched,” Ewart said. “I had never actually played the golf course, but I felt like I knew it just from watching it.”
Irishman Shane Lowry, one of the most recognizable players in the field, is in a large knot for sixth at 5 under after posting a 67. Defending champion Joe Highsmith made the cut on the number at even par.
Notable players who missed the cut included Webb Simpson (1 over), Gary Woodland (2 over), Matt Kuchar (2 over) and Canada’s Adam Hadwin (3 over).
Kim maintains narrow lead in Singapore
Auston Kim maintained a narrow lead over three seasoned competitors with a 3-under-par 69 on Friday at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
Kim carded five birdies and a double-bogey at the par-5 16th hole at Sentosa Golf Club to move to 9-under par, one shot ahead of major champions Minjee Lee of Australia (64 on Friday) and Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn (67) and three- time LPGA Tour winner Haeran Ryu of South Korea (68).
Lurking two shots back at 7-under in the no-cut event are Australia’s Hannah Green (66), Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen (68), Sweden’s Linn Grant (69) and England’s Mimi Rhodes (69).
Kim, an LPGA Tour member since 2024, has been knocking on the door of her first tour win. The American has eight finishes in the top 10 and was the runner-up at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship last season.
“I think just sticking to my process. I’m trying to earn each shot and win each shot and win each day,” Kim, 25, said of her strategy heading into the weekend. “I can put a hundred percent of my focus into every single shot and try my best to execute each time, I’ll do well.”
Lee soared into contention with an eagle at the par-4 second hole and six birdies in a bogey-free round.
“I think just I holed a few more putts out there,” Lee said of the difference between Friday’s play and her opening-round of 72. “I holed a few long ones and I also holed out for eagle on the second. That always helps the score.”
Jutanugarn had six birdies, including three straight from holes Nos. 5-7, and one bogey.
Ryu collected four birdies in a round free of bogeys, but not free from pain.
“Today, my neck was so bad and I cannot turn it around, it’s so hard, my neck,” Ryu said. “But yeah, golf is not perfect. I just think about it, just hit the fairway and the green. Yeah, that’s good for me. There’s a lot of birdies, and yeah, I’m so happy.”
Angel Yin matched Lee for the low round of the day with a 64 to move into a tie for ninth at 6-under.
Defending champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand (72) remained a 2-under posting four birdies and four bogeys.
World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand is tied for 33rd at 1-under after a round of 70.
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