Tate storms to New Year's Invitational victory
Kyler Tate (UCF Athletics/Twitter photo)
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Jan. 6, 2018) – The lead changed hands after every round of the New Year’s Invitational, but in the end UCF senior
Kyler Tate went home with the title.
Tate’s win is a product of a mad final-round birdie run that vaulted him from T-6 after 54 holes to first after 72 holes. He started with a bogey at No. 2, then went 4 under from Nos. 5-9. He also had three birdies in his final four holes to reach 5-under 67 at St. Petersburg Country Club.
Tate was T-26 at the Orlando International Amateur at the end of December. Last spring, he finished T-3 at the NCAA Southeast Regional.
At 5 under for the week, Tate clipped runner-up
Sampson-yunhe Zheng by two shots.
William Wann, a Mississippi State commit, was third another shot back.
Third-round leader
Gordan Brixi, who entered the final round with a three-shot lead, tied for fourth with
Greyson Porter, last year’s runner-up. Brixi, 16, fell to 77 on Sunday while Porter, a Florida State junior, rallied with a 71 to rise from sixth to his T-4 position.
Graysen Huff and
Jordan Batchelor tied for sixth at even par.
Joe Lyons won the mid-amateur division with rounds of 73-73-69-78. Lyons was six shots ahead of
Joe Alfieri.
In the senior division,
Robert Bechtol won by a two-shot margin over Dennis Monahan.
ABOUT THE New Year's Invitational
Historic invitational golf tournament that
originated
on the Lakewood golf course in 1927. This
same
amateur invitational tournament -- which
attracts
top Florida amateurs and a strong group of out-of-
state players as well --
continues,
unbroken, each year although the club
name was
later changed to St. Petersburg Country
Club.
View Complete Tournament Information