The Alabama men’s golf team placed fourth last weekend at the Schenkel E-Z-Go Invitational in Statesboro, Ga. One of the key athletes for the Crimson Tide during the tournament was sophomore Hunter Hamrick, who carded 2-under-par 70 in the last round, finishing tied on the individual leader board.
Because Hamrick ended up tying for first, he competed against North Florida’s Jordan Gibb and Mississippi’s Jonathan Randolph in a playoff round. Randolph won the playoff with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
“We had a pretty solid tournament,” said sophomore Bud Cauley. “A lot of guys played well. Hamrick played well. We have some momentum going into next week. We’ll just see if we can keep on improving. Our scores are starting to come in more as a team, last semester we had some good scorers. We’re getting more consistent now; our scores are dropping and starting to get better.”
As a team, Alabama shot even-par 288 finishing fourth on the par-72, 6,947-yard layout.
“We’re starting to come together as a team,” said head coach Jay Seawell. “Each round we are starting to do the little things we need to do to become a better team, so I’m proud of that. We need to get better at each position and score a little better on the par fives, then we’ll have a good week.”
Alabama drives on to the Linger Longer Invitational March 26-28 at the Reynolds Landing Golf Club in Greensboro, Ga., where the Tide will try to earn its third top-four finish this season.
“You don’t want to peak too early in the season,” Cauley said. “Everything is aimed at the post-season — regionals and NCAAs. I think the pace we’ve started at is pretty good. We’re really slow and starting to get some momentum, so we’re starting to get better and better each week, then we’ll be good to go.”
Alabama’s team might be a young team, with four sophomores, two freshmen and one junior on the roster, but Seawell said the Tide is learning and improving with each tournament it competes at.
“[We need improve] on a little bit of chemistry, but also experience,” Seawell said. “We’re starting two sophomores and three freshman, so there’s an experience gap on our team. They’re all starting to get comfortable with each other, so it’s a newer team than the years past, so a little bit of chemistry, but mostly experience on the road. We’re starting to get the small things that I like as a coach. We need to be the best we can be on each day with each shot.”
Although there are only two invitationals left until the SEC Championships, which will be followed by the NCAA Regionals, Alabama is keeping its head high and just focusing on what it enjoys the most: golf.
“Everyone’s excited about how we are playing as a team,” Hamrick said. “We struggled in our first two tournaments and none of us really played well, [but] we’re all starting to play a little better, so I’m happy about that. We just have to continue doing what we’re doing – working hard and trying to have fun out there, relaxing, and gaining confidence leading into the postseason.”
