Top-ranked Vanderbilt, defending NCAA champion Gordon Sargent lead field for The Hayt

One down, one to go for First Coast NCAA Division I men's college golf teams in tournaments they host.

The Sea Best Invitational was held last week at the TPC Sawgrass Dye's Valley, with the Florida Gators running away with their sixth team title in the event hosted by Jacksonville University. Led by co-medalists Fred Biondi and Ricky Castillo, UF placed all five starters among the top-nine and beat the University of North Florida by 23 shots.

Now on the tee is The Hayt, the University of North Florida's annual invitational, at the Sawgrass Country Club. There will be 36 holes of competition on Sunday and the tournament ends with 18 holes on Monday.

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UNF is the defending team champion and Ospreys' junior Nick Gabrelcik is the defending individual champion. Robbie Higgins (who finished third last year) got up and down for birdie at the par-5 18th hole to secure a one-shot victory over Charlotte, UNF's fifth Hayt title in history and its first since 2017.

One team will be flying into Sawgrass with a ton of momentum. The Vanderbilt Commodores are the No. 1 by Golfweek and No. 2 by Golfstat, and sophomore Gordon Sargent is first individually by both of the major college golf rankings and Vandy has two other top-25 players on Golfstat, No. 24 Cole Sherwood and No. 25 Matthew Riedel.

Gabrelcik is ranked ninth by Golfstat.

Vanderbilt won the SEC championship last year, then added victories in an NCAA regional and the NCAA tournament stroke-play, with Sargent winning the individual title. The Commodores lost to Texas in the second round of match play for the NCAA team title.

Alabama is No. 15 on Golfweek and No. 17 on Golfstat and the Ospreys are No. 35 on Golfweek and No. 42 on Golfstat.

Joining the Ospreys in the field will be Jacksonville, Alabama, Arkansas, Vanderbilt and UCF. Florida Gulf Coast and Jacksonville State join UNF and JU in representing the ASUN.

Cup Matches to begin rotation

The second turn at the San Jose Country Club for the Underwood Cup was by all measures a success. The weather was the 80s, the golf course in impeccable shape and the competition was close from start to finish, with the Northern Chapter PGA team ending the amateurs' six-match winning streak with a 14.5-9.5 victory.

They took the Underwood Cup for the first time since 2016 and it was their largest margin of victory since winning 16-8 in 1999.

The event will return to the Timuquana Country Club in 2024, where it was played for 31 years. However, plans are to rotate the event among three courses, with San Jose included.

Among the highlights:

• Will Rehberg's eagle from the right greenside bunker at No. 17 to defeat Nate Mosby 2 and 1 and provide the pros with their clinching point, was the most significant shot to win an Underwood Cup since 2006, when Alan Henderson made a 50-foot putt on the final hole at Timuquana to beat Robert Dugger 1-up and give the amateurs a 12.5-11.5 victory.

• Northern Chapter members Jennifer Borocz and Stephanie Connelly-Eiswerth combined to go 5-1, with Borocz the only player on either side to go 3-0 for the week. In winning her singles match 3 and 1 over Toby Ragland, Connelly-Eiswerth made six birdies and missed only one green, at No. 2.

• The pro team had four first-time Underwood Cup players, Borocz, Taylor Davis, Rob Lee and Mitchell Haley. They combined to go 7-5, and were 3-1 in singles. Davis defeated Kirk Irvin 7 and 6 for the most lopsided score of the matches.

• Amateur captain Steve Carter had to play because of a late withdrawal, giving himself an unexpected chance to tie Cary Splane for the most overall victories in the Underwood Cup with 43. Carter went 0-2-1 and was only one hole down to Hayes Farley with three to play when Rehberg holed out to clinch the matches. Carter and Farley was one of two matches still on the course (Gerry James vs. Chris Henderson was the other) in which the players agreed to halve their matches once the team result was decided.

Area players in PGA event

Four First Coast residents and two from the Golden Isles will play in the third annual PGA National Club Championship, with the women's tournament at the Sea Island Club on St. Simons Island, Ga., Feb. 4-6 and the men's at the Kiawah Island (S.C.) Resort Feb. 15-17.

Playing in the women's tournament will be Emma Joost (San Jose Country Club), Julie Lechner (TPC Sawgrass), Taylor Shean (Jacksonville Golf and Country Club), Carleigh Carter (Brunswick Country Club) and Melanie Lamb (Jekyll Island Golf Club, women's senior division).

Tyus Boston of Fernandina Beach (Amelia River) will play in the men's tournament.

The 520 participants qualified by winning their club championships in 2022. They represent all 50 states and 41 PGA sections and range in age from 12 to 81.

Banquet nears sell out

The Jacksonville Area Golf Association's Celebration of Golf Banquet on Feb. 22 at the Sawgrass Country Club is nearly sold out.

Fans can purchase tickets by visiting jaxareagolf.org.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Defending NCAA champion Gordon Sargent leads No. 1 Vanderbilt in The Hayt