SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — J.C. Deacon is likely still speechless.
He walked off the 10th green at Grayhawk Golf Club’s Raptor Course searching to find words. He couldn’t describe what had unfolded in the past hour during his Florida Gators semifinal match against rival Florida State. He thought his team was going home. Instead, it’s playing for a national title.
The Gators pulled off an improbable comeback, rallying from 2-0 to beat the Seminoles 3-2 and advance to Wednesday’s match play final, where the second-seeded Gators will battle No. 5 Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets beat top-seed North Carolina 3-2 to advance.
NCAA: Photos
Florida’s Ricky Castillo earned the clinching point by beating Florida State’s Brett Roberts on the 21st hole, and that happened after Castillo was 2 down with three to play.
“Ricky is in the bunker on 16, and all I’m thinking is how are we going to win this,” Deacon said. “All due respect to Brett Roberts. He’s an incredible player. But when the match got to all square and it’s Ricky Castillo, he’s winning that. This is what he does.”
Castillo got up-and-down from the bunker on 16 for par, and Roberts made bogey. Then Castillo drove the green on the par-4 17th and made birdie, getting the match to all square.
After halving the 18th, they went to No. 10. Then to 18 again and back to No. 10, where Roberts missed a birdie putt. Castillo then made his and clinched the Gators’ spot in the match play final.
“I’m still in shock,” Castillo said. “I’m just really excited that I was able to get us in the final tomorrow.”
Improbable comeback complete.
Florida beats Florida State 3-2 after being down 2-0. Ricky Castillo with the winning putt on the 21st hole #NCAAGolf pic.twitter.com/vnu42a6bzP
— Cameron Jourdan (@Cam_Jourdan) May 31, 2023
Fred Biondi, who won medalist honors Monday, beat Cole Anderson 1 up, and John DuBois added a 1-up victory to clinch it for Florida. Frederik Kjettrup and Jack Bigham clinched the two points for the Seminoles.
Meanwhile, in the second semifinal, North Carolina’s Dylan Menante made quick work of Georgia Tech’s Christo Lamprecht, winning 6 and 5. However, at the time Menante closed the match, Georgia Tech led in the other four.
Bartley Forrester then beat Ryan Burnett, 4 and 2, with Georgia Tech coach Bruce Heppler saying Forrester couldn’t have played better Tuesday. Connor Howe beat Austin Greaser by the same score, giving the Yellow Jackets a 2-1 lead.
However, North Carolina’s David Ford won his match on the 18th green, making it 2-2 and leaving it up to Georgia Tech’s Ross Steelman and the Tar Heels’ Peter Fountain.
Steelman led after the first three rounds of stroke play but bogeyed his final three holes Monday to lose by one stroke. Down the stretch Tuesday, Steelman was electric.
“He’s a beast,” Heppler said. “You couldn’t put a better guy back there if you had to.”
Steelman hit long putts on 16 and 17 to remain 1 up in his match. Off the 18th tee, he blasted a drive way down the fairway while Fountain found a bunker and had to lay up. Steelman hit the green with his second and comfortably two-putted to send Georgia Tech to the championship match. It was his second victory of the day, and match play is something Steelman enjoys.
“I like that you know what you need to do and when you need to do it,” Steelman said. “Just kept in mind all the good golf I’ve played and not the final three holes yesterday. Just have fun with it.”
Top-seed trend continues
Another trend that continued is the top-seeded team didn’t make the final, losing in the semis for the fourth straight year. Only Oklahoma State (2018) has won stroke play portion and gone on to win the national title.
“I’m just really happy in the fight our guys showed,” UNC coach Andrew DiBitetto said. “They battled all day.”
Florida will seek its fifth national title and first since 2001. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech has never won a title but has finished runner-up four times, all in the stroke-play era. It’s the first time the Yellow Jackets and Gators have made a match play final.
Championship match
No. 2 Florida vs. No. 5 Georgia Tech
Yuxin Lin vs. Christo Lamprecht (4:35 p.m. ET)
Matthew Kress vs. Bartley Forrester (4:45 p.m. ET)
John DuBois vs. Connor Howe (4:55 p.m. ET)
Fred Biondi vs. Hiroshi Tai (5:05 p.m. ET)
Ricky Castillo vs. Ross Steelman (5:15 p.m. ET)
Editor’s note: Scottsdale is PT, three hours behind ET.