Ragland, Knights open in Gainesville

The Knights open their spring campaign in familiar territory Saturday at the Gator Invitational in Gainesville — territory that is even more familiar to UCF assistant men's golf coach Toby Ragland.

Ragland, in his first season at UCF, played for Florida just last year and won the individual title at the Gator in dramatic fashion with a birdie on the seventh playoff hole to beat teammate Billy Horschel.

"I'm very excited to get back there," Ragland said. "It's going to be a fun event. It's going to be very different being on the other side of the fence, because every time I've been there, we've won the event hands down and expected to win from the time we teed it up."

Last year, the Gators did just that, distancing themselves by 18 shots over Ole Miss to pick up their sixth consecutive win at the 54-hole tournament. The Knights finished third at 6-over-par 846 and have either opened or competed at the Gator Invitational early on in their spring schedule five of the past six seasons.

Simon Ward, a senior, was also a part of the playoff after he found himself tied with Ragland and Horschel at 5-under-par 205, but Ward was eliminated after Ragland and Horschel each made birdie on the third playoff hole.

Ragland plans to use the knowledge he collected in his four years playing the event and the countless rounds he played at the Marc Bostick Golf Course to help the Knights in any way he can.

As a Gator, Ragland said he and his teammates played some of the holes "a little differently"  and often enjoyed watching other teams make mistakes that he and his teammates learned from very quickly as freshmen.

"I'm going to enjoy the challenge of coaching this team through this event and going there, preparing the best we can," Ragland said. "I obviously have knowledge about the golf course, so that will be fun to use, being on this side of it, preparing these guys to have the best tournament they can there."

The Knights will be one of 14 teams to tee it up at the Gator Invitational

Falling into a new way
The fall season was a transition period for the Knights under first-year head coach Bryce Wallor, who left Tennessee as an assistant to take over for Nick Clinard, who departed for Auburn.

On top of that, UCF also had to deal with the loss of its two best players in Blayne Barber, who followed Clinard to Auburn, and David Johnson, who graduated.

But now that the team has had time to adjust to the new coaching staff and learn about one another throughout the fall, Wallor expects his team to be very competitive.

"I think the thing we learned from the fall and the thing we talked about as a team is mental toughness,"  Wallor said. "Getting out and being ready to compete at any time, being ready for any adversity that's been put in front of us and how we handle and react to those things in the attitude that we take into what we do every day."

What lies ahead
The Knights hit their stride at this time last year, and though the team didn't have the greatest fall (its best finish was sixth at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate), Wallor certainly thinks his team is talented enough to win some tournaments now that everything is in place.

"I'd like to expect the opportunity to win any tournament we play in, and I think our players should think that way," Wallor said. "If you prepare properly, have a great attitude and a great mind-set, you should be able to win some college golf tournaments.

"It takes you sometime to get yourself working into playing well, and you never know when it's going to strike, but I certainly think we have a lot of talent."

After the Gator Invitational this weekend, the Knights will play in four more events before the Conference USA Championship April 25-27.

The Knights will also host the Rio Pinar Invitational March 15-16, an event the team has had a good amount of success at.  Last year, the Knights swept both the team and individual titles.

Keep an eye out for
Ward struggled in the fall but went through much of the same last year before picking it up the second half. He later went on to win the individual title at the season-ending C-USA Championship.

Nuno Henriques has played some solid golf so far this season and is playing well heading into the spring. He picked up one top-10 and two top-20 finishes in four events in the fall and is coming off a third-place finish at the New Year's Invitational, an amateur event held in St. Petersburg.