Oct. 27, 2015
ESTERO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) - Sophomore Manuel Elvira picked up his first career victory Tuesday, sharing medalist honors at the Hilton Homewood Airport Invitational.
Elvira was tied for the lead coming into Tuesday's third and final round. He birdied three holes on the front nine, surrounded by one bogey. He carded one bogey on the back nine to finish the round 1-under. That was good enough to go 5-under for the event, sharing medalist honors with Florida's Alejandro Tosti.
"We are very happy for Manuel," head coach Bryce Wallor said. "He did a great job leading our team this week. Our coaching staff has been waiting for this breakout event for Manuel for some time. We feel he has the game to be successful and we are very proud of what he acomplished this week. You could see this success story coming. We felt it was only a matter of time until he put it all together."
In team competition, the Knights finished seventh. Florida was 13-under to win the tournament. Georgetown (+29) was second and the host school Florida Gulf Coast was third at 33-over. UCF was 44-over par.
Freshman Donnie Trosper finished tied for 30th at 14-over. Sophomore Juuso Kahlos tied for 36th at +18. Freshman Andrew Arft was tied for 41st and finished 19-over. Junior Ryan Stovash finished 27-over and tied for 58th. Playing as an individual, freshman Thomas Le Berre finished the tournament 13-over par and tied for 28th.
The Knights have now completed the fall portion of their season. UCF will begin the spring season Feb. 20 at the Gator Invitational.
| UCF Results - Homewood Hilton Airport Invitational | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Total |
| T1 Manuel Elvira | 71 (-1) | 69 (-3) | 71 (-1) | 211 (-5) |
| T30 Donnie Trosper | 75 (+3) | 82 (+10) | 73 (+1) | 230 (+14) |
| T36 Juuso Kahlos | 79 (+7) | 75 (+3) | 80 (+8) | 234 (+18) |
| T41 Andrew Arft | 78 (+6) | 75 (+3) | 82 (+10) | 235 (+19) |
| T58 Ryan Stovash | 81 (+9) | 80 (+8) | 82 (+10) | 245 (+29) |
| T28 Thomas Le Berre | 75 (+3) | 75 (+3) | 79 (+7) | 229 (+13) |
| Team Results - Homewood Hilton Airport Invitational | ||||
| School | Rd 1 | Rd 2 | Rd 3 | Total |
| 1. Florida | 286 | 280 | 285 | 851 (-13) |
| 2. Georgetown | 305 | 292 | 296 | 893 (+29) |
| 3. FGCU | 311 | 297 | 289 | 897 (+33) |
| 7. UCF | 303 | 299 | 306 | 908 (+44) |