“Mr. Rudolph, who the tournament is named after, was a very good friend of mine,” Seawell said. “He lived here in Tuscaloosa. [He was] a great man, great wisdom. It is an honor to play in a tournament in his honor.”
The Crimson Tide will take part in the Mason Rudolph Championship this weekend, the last tournament for Alabama before the SEC Championships.
Besides the waves of nostalgia Seawell said he feels, he will get to meet up with his former assistant coach, Scott Limbaugh. Limbaugh is now the head coach of Vanderbilt’s golf program.
Although the tournament is technically on home turf for Vanderbilt, Seawell said he wouldn’t be surprised if the team broke out of its shell and became the unit it can be.
“This will give us a chance to challenge to see if we’re up to the challenges that are up in front of us,” Seawell said. “I want to put our guys in tough places to see how they respond.”
Robby Shelton, Tom Lovelady, Jonathan Hardee, Dru Love and William Sellers will represent Alabama this weekend. Lovelady is the only player on the team who said he remembers playing under Limbaugh’s instruction.
“I expect for our team to play well,” Lovelady said. “I expect for everybody individually to play well. I feel like the past week eased up. I can tell we’re starting to get the feeling of just let it happen, don’t force it. Don’t do something to where you could make a big number, kind of keep the ball in front of you. In our practices and our workouts we’ve gotten better.”
