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May 16, 2009

Florida Head Coach Buddy Alexander (regional team champion)
On Florida's victory: This is the biggest tournament that we've won in a while, and it feels good. They've all worked hard for this. It got a little muddy out there and we all had to slop through that, but we still managed to play well.

On the play of senior Billy Horschel: Billy is the heart and soul of this team. He struggled a little bit on 14 yesterday, taking an eight on that hole. But we talked about that and like a champion, he came back and played a great round today. It was a big part of us winning today.

On gaining momentum heading into the NCAA Championships: Hopefully, this will make us feel good about ourselves for a while. Golf is a strange game in that we play a lot on confidence. From a team standpoint, this should help. On an individual standpoint, they're going to have to be playing well in their own minds.

Texas junior (regional individual medalist at 4-under-par 209)
On his final-round performance: I started off pretty good with a birdie (on one). The rain delay came through right after my first hole, and that kind of slowed things down and got me out of my rhythm. I kind of fell off a little bit after that, made a couple of bogeys and didn't make enough birdies. Then the back nine came around, and I made a couple of birdies on 13, 14 and 15, and that switched my momentum and gave me a lot of confidence. I played well from there on.Lance Lopez

On playing holes five-seven: It was brutal. The wind picked up and the rain came in, so it was hard. Five was into the wind and picked up some yardage, I hit driver, then 3-wood and didn't make it on the green. On six, I didn't get up-and-down. Then on seven, I landed on the right side of the fairway. I played that stretch 1-over.

On keeping his composure following bogeys: I could have lost (composure) very easily. You just try to talk yourself through getting those shots back, and try to keep your momentum going.

Florida senior Billy Horschel (carded a final-round 3-under-par 68 to finish second in individual standings)
On his final-round performance: Staying patient was pretty key today. I've played in this kind of weather over in Ireland and Scotland, so I had a little experience to rely on. You just had to get the ball on the green today, so you didn't have to work too hard for a par. I played well, hit the ball well, putted well and had some nice up-and-downs. It was a real good day.

On Florida's victory: This is unbelievable. We haven't won a tournament away from our home course or something that we've hosted since 2006. When we came out here, I told the guys, `let's all be on the same page. We're here to win.'

Texas Head Coach John Fields (team finished in third place at 25-over-par 877)
On Texas' overall performance: We got off to a really good start, and then the delay came and the wind shifted, and we didn't handle that well. We lost our momentum. Five, six and seven were tough for us when we got back out there. We put ourselves in a position where, all of a sudden, we really had to battle. What I liked about that was even though the scores don't dictate that battle, Charlie (Holland) was 7-over through 12 holes and finished his round at 7-over. Donald was 8-over after 12 holes, and he got it back to 7-over. Lance was 4-over at a time, and he birdied 13, 14 and 15, and that's when I kind of relaxed and knew we were going to make it through.

On advancing to the NCAA Championships: At the beginning of every year, your goal is to make it to the national championship. This team has battled back. It's been difficult to watch Charlie go through this bonafied slump, but that guy is an emotional leader for this team. So to watch him go through that is really hard on everyone else. It's been one heck of a year, but we can put all of it aside and go ahead and compete in the national championship now.

Michigan Head Coach Andrew Sapp (team earned fifth and final qualifying spot)
On earning a berth to the NCAA Championships: This feels great. They all played clutch on the back nine, and that's what we needed to do. To do this on a day when we didn't even know whether we'd be able to play (due to weather), it was thrilling to see these guys come through.

On playing in 'Michigan' weather: We do get this kind of weather in the Midwest. I told the guys a lot of these teams here are not used to this, and we definitely are. We tried to use it to our advantage, and we found a way to pull it off.