No. 21 Alabama men’s golf competed in its first tournament of the season over the weekend at the Carpet Capital Collegiate in Dalton, Georgia, finishing tied for fifth overall, 22 strokes behind champion Georgia Tech.

“I thought for the most part our team did a decent job this weekend, but we left a lot of shots out there on the course,” assistant coach Jon Howell said. “We didn’t drive the ball as well as we are capable and we finished last in the field on par 3 holes. Those are some things that we have to correct; and we will. There are a lot of positives that we can take from this as well. I thought [freshman] Thomas Ponder played well and was pleased with what I saw from [sophomore Frankie Capan] and [junior Wilson Furr] as well. We are looking forward to getting back to work this next week.”

Alabama shot an 8-over-par 296 in the first round to sit in sixth place but had a strong showing in the second round. Capan avenged his opening round 76 by shooting a 3-under-par 69 on Saturday. Both Furr and Ponder made one-stroke improvements from the first round as well.

Despite a tough third round from Alabama’s top trio, Capan, Furr and Ponder all finished in the top 20 with Ponder recording his first top-20 appearance in his first collegiate tournament.

Junior Davis Shore, playing as an individual in his first round since hip surgery during the spring, finished tied for 48th overall. Freshmen Simms Abney (T-59) and Tyler Lipscomb (T-66) also made their debuts for the Crimson Tide.

Alabama will host Army in the Bush Cup on Sept. 17th at Shoal Creek Country Club in Birmingham.