The Alabama men’s golf team tees off this week in the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational at the Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Ill.
After success last week in the Carpet Capital Collegiate, which saw Alabama freshman golfer Justin Thomas win in his collegiate debut, the Crimson Tide gets set for another challenging weekend on the par-70 Olympia Fields course that will play 7,205 yards long.
Senior golfer and team captain Hunter Hamrick noted that, even though the team lost golfers to graduation and turning professional, he thinks the chemistry of this year’s team is “coming along really well.”
“We’ve got two freshmen in, and they are both really good players and great guys to have on the team,” Hamrick said, referencing freshmen Justin Thomas and Tom Lovelady.
“I’ve been real impressed with both of them. I’ve played a lot with Justin over the past couple of years in amateur golf, playing practice rounds and tournaments with him. So, I knew what to expect of him, and I knew he was going to step in and have no problem competing at this level, and that’s what I think you’ll see and I expect to see. He’s a top-level amateur, a really good player,” Hamrick said.
Hamrick also noted how he has been impressed with the play of Lovelady, who shot 71-71 to open the tournament at 2-under but shot a 76 on the final day of play this past weekend in his collegiate debut.
“He’s impressed me,” Hamrick said. “I played with him the other day in qualifying, and Justin finished one in the qualifier, and Tom finished two. So, they beat all of us. They are both great players, and I think you’ll see a lot out of them all year.”
Since head coach Jay Seawell took over the program, the Tide has consistently been in the rankings, spending much of the time at or near the top.
“I think we have handled it fine and great throughout the regular season,” Hamrick said. “We’ve won tournaments every year I’ve been here. But we really haven’t done anything in the postseason. We’ve got a regional win, but that’s more of a qualifier for the big thing. I guess as far as handling things in the postseason, we haven’t done as well as we need to do. Hopefully, we can change that up, whether it’s through our mental outlook — I think we got to go into it that way, because I know we have the physical skills. We show that throughout the year, every year. So, I guess we will learn from experience from over the past few years, and hopefully we can take that into the postseason.”
As team captain, Hamrick doesn’t shy away from the goals the team has set for this year.
“We’ve always been up there as one of the best teams in the nation, and we’re just trying to get a national championship,” Hamrick said. “I think that’s our goal every year, an SEC Championship and a National Championship. That’s what we set the bar at.”
