FSU erases 10-shot deficit for season-opening Sea Best win

After 36 holes at the Sea Best Invitational, there were two Florida teams jockeying for the top spot on the leaderboard. In Tuesday’s final round at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., a third Florida team outplayed everyone to take home the title.

Florida State went 9 under in the final round to reach the top of the leaderboard at even par for the tournament. It was the lowest 18-hole score of any team in the field.

Entering the final round, the Seminoles trailed leader Florida by 10 shots. Florida fell to a 9-over 289 on Tuesday and at 8 over, slipped to third on the leaderboard. North Florida finished in second at 3 over.

Sophomore John Pak and freshman Calvin Sierota came up big for Florida State, contributing rounds of 66 and 67, respectively, to the team score. The Seminoles also counted rounds of 69 from Jamie Li and Bennett Baker.

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Pak also won a three-way playoff on the first sudden-death hole when he tapped in a par, defeating Florida’s Gordon Neale and Jacksonville’s Eduardo Carrete. Pak’s tournament win is his third in less than two full years as a Seminole, and his second in the 2018-19 season.

“I was super nervous during the playoff,” Pak said afterward. “But Coach Duck just told me to play my game and I did just that. For us to win after being 10 back showed that we are a team that can come back from anything. I couldn’t be prouder of this team.”

This is Florida State’s first victory of the season.

Liberty finished fourth at 11 over and N.C. State rounded out the top 5 at 14 over.

Information from Florida State Athletics used in this report