Back-to-back national titles are now in the past for The University of Alabama men’s golf team. A new season has arrived and the Crimson Tide is ranked No. 1 in the nation ,again. With three seniors leaving, the team is inexperienced but hopes to start the season off well at the Carpet Capital Collegiate in Dalton, Georgia.
“I’m excited about starting a new year,” coach Jay Seawell said. “I’m very concerned as a coach that we are putting them in the deep end. The golf course and the competition are going to be great, so we need to be really good.”
The Crimson Tide will face stiff competition in its first tournament of the year. There are a total of 14 teams in the tournament with four other nationally ranked teams including No. 3, Georgia Tech. Alabama will face some familiar foes with six SEC teams traveling to the tournament. The Carpet Capital Collegiate begins Thursday and will end the following Sunday.
“For the team, I want the guys who haven’t played in the tournament. I think there will be three guys who haven’t played in a college tournament yet. I want them to see what it is like to play for each other,” junior Tom Lovelady said. “It’s just exciting and I want them to kind of soak it in and compete.”
Lovelady is the oldest player on the team this year. Trey Mullinax, Cory Whitsett and Bobby Wyatt have all graduated. Without them, Seawell has called on Lovelady and sophomore Robby Shelton to lead the young group.
“I just want to help [the freshmen] out as much as I can,” Shelton said. “To build them up, and see them on the next stage would be great, and to take them to the national championship would be cool.”
There may be a lot of hype, but Seawell does not want it to affect his players this season. Seawell wants
