Florida takes slim lead on host North Florida at Sea Best

After a long opening day at the Sea Best Invitational, a shoot-out has taken shape between Florida and North Florida. The Gators will have a two-shot lead at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., when Tuesday’s final round begins, but North Florida will still have the home advantage.

Gordon Neale led Florida with back-to-back rounds of 1-under 69 and at 2 under, he is tied for third individually. Manuel Girona added a second-round 67 to the Gators’ team score, which helped them keep pace with North Florida.

Florida is 1 under total after rounds of 2-under 278 and 1-over 281. North Florida started out with a 2-over 282, but had 1-under 279 in the afternoon. Phillip Knowles and Michael Mattiace helped that effort considerably with rounds of 68 and 69, respectively.

The best round of the day belonged to N.C. State, which had a 6-under 274 in the afternoon. At 4 over for the day, N.C. State is solo third. Liberty, at 8 over, is fourth and Florida State, at 9 over, rounds out the top 5.

Jacksonville’s Eduardo Carrete leads the individual race thanks in large part to an afternoon round of 64. Carrete had six birdies on his way to a front-nine 29 after lunch. At 7 over total, he has a four-shot cushion on Liberty’s Ervin Chang.