Winter golf has a way of stripping away big expectations. So despite having won his fourth career college title three days before the start of the Jones Cup, North Florida sophomore Nick Gabrelcik looked at his brother and caddie Donnie before the final round of the coveted amateur event and decided to throw scoring expectations out the window.
“They were probably the hardest conditions I’ve ever seen,” Gabrelcik said of that round at Ocean Forest Golf Club in Sea Island, Georgia, when cold winds howled. “…I went into the round, my brother was caddying for me, and I just looked at him and I’m like, ‘Let’s just go play golf and try and have the most fun we can. Whatever happens, happens.’”
Gabrelcik added a final-round 74 to previous rounds of 68-76 and tied for fourth in his first time playing the Jones Cup. But the number – particularly on Sunday – doesn’t tell the whole story. Only two players in the field broke par.
