The Alabama women’s golf team will travel to Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark., to compete for the Southeastern Conference Championship on Friday.
The Crimson Tide won the conference title in 2010 but finished second last season. The Tide — ranked No. 2 by the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and the Golf World/NGCA College Poll — comes into the championship with three tournament wins this season, including two of its last three, and three runner-up finishes. The road to an SEC title will not be easy with eight SEC teams in the top-25 — tied for most with the Pac-12 — including No. 5 LSU and No. 7 Auburn.
Head coach Mic Potter said the team doesn’t let rivalries affect its performance on the course.
“Golf is a game where we play against the golf course, we don’t worry about anybody else, and our girls have bought into that and have worked to improve themselves and work on course management and the things it takes to shoot their lowest score,” Potter said. “They’ve become very good at eliminating the outside things that get in the way and concentrating on what they’re doing.”
This mindset is reflected in Alabama’s 124-12-2 record this season, with a 43-6-1 record against conference opponents, including going 5-0 against Auburn. Potter said he warned the team not to get complacent.
“When we get there, everybody’s even,” Potter said. “The No. 12 ranked team in the conference has as good a chance as anybody else.”
As for the course, Blessings Golf Club has a reputation for being a difficult course to play, with a lot of undulation. Adding to the difficulty, neither the players nor Potter have played the course before. Potter said the high difficulty of the course could work in his team’s favor, though.
“It’s a course that demands that you hit accurate shots, or you’re in big trouble,” said Potter. “I like to see us playing a course that separates the really good players from the average players, and this course will definitely do that.”
One of those really good players is senior Brooke Pancake, the SEC Women’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year in her sophomore and junior years and last year’s winner of the Edith Cummings Munson Golf Award, given to the All-American with the highest GPA.
Pancake, who tied for fifth overall when Alabama won the conference in 2010 and tied for sixth last year, said she is very excited about her last opportunity to win an SEC Championship.
“It definitely makes me eager and hungry for it. I had one my sophomore year, the first in our program as Alabama women’s golf, and I definitely want to have another one,” Pancake said.
As the only senior on the team, Pancake said she tries to lead by example, especially going into the postseason with five freshmen on the team.
“You try to give them a calm sense of composure and confidence,” Pancake said.
Pancake also said she is excited to play such a challenging course and that it will give the team a good chance to win.
“We’re a really great ball-striking team through and through, and we’re going to play a really hard golf course, so if we just feed off that positive energy, I think everything will go really well,” Pancake said.
