The No. 2 Alabama men’s golf team will take on some of the top teams in the country at the Southeastern Conference Championships this weekend. The tournament, held at Seaside Golf Course in Sea Island, Ga., begins the Crimson Tide’s postseason run.
The SEC features two other top-10 ranked teams in No. 3 Auburn and No. 10 Arkansas.
Head coach Jay Seawell said his team is young but prepared for the challenge placed before them under leadership of freshman Justin Thomas.
“He’s been a true blessing,” Seawell said. “He’s a good kid, a good young man and he’s really added a lot to our program. I think he’s one of the main reasons why we’ve got a chance to do some special things.”
Thomas, ranked No. 4 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and No. 5 in the Golfstat Cup, leads the team with a 70.96 scoring average.
“We’re all really excited about SEC Championships,” Thomas said. “It’s going to be a fun week. We’ve been preparing for it all year — it’s what we’ve been practicing for. For Hunter [Hamrick], especially, our team captain, we’re hopefully going to give him a good way to go out in the SEC Championship. We’re hoping to play well, and then, we’ll see what happens.”
Last season, the Tide finished in second place, six strokes behind Florida.
“Golf’s a crazy sport,” Seawell said. “Sea Island is going to help us because usually the best teams win. If you play the best, you win. Florida beat us last year because they played better than we did. We felt like we were as good, if not better, than them, but they played better than we did, so Sea Island — if we play well — it will set up well for us because of that. There’s no flukes, it’s not an easy golf course that really anybody can play well — really good players will play well there.”
To prepare for the coastal environment, the team made a trip to the Gulf over the weekend to simulate the types of winds they will face at Sea Island.
Sophomore Cory Whitsett said though the Tide is ranked favorably, they try to remain focused and work just as hard as they have all year.
“Anytime championship season comes around, you can tell there’s something different to play for,” Whitsett said. “Obviously, there are rings at stake, and all of the work that you’ve done throughout the year is great, but it really doesn’t mean anything once you get here. The slate’s pretty much wiped clean.”
Seawell said though there is an element of excitement, the SEC Championships are just another opportunity for 18 holes of golf, no different than any other tournament.
“To be a favorite, it always adds a little bit of something more than the underdog role,” Seawell said. “But you can view it however you want to; we also know that if we play well, we’re in pretty good shape. I like being the hunter. I do like being hunted, but I also like being the best team. That’s always a better position”
