RICH TOWNSHIP, Ill.—The No. 3 Alabama men’s golf team finished fourth at the Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational at 27-over-par 867 on Sept. 18. Sophomore Bobby Wyatt said he felt that his team didn’t perform as well as they should have in the tournament. Wyatt led the Crimson Tide in the tournament, scoring a 4-over-par 214 to finish tied for fifth individually.
“We’re fortunate that it’s very early in the year,” Wyatt said. “As a unit, we were definitely disappointed with finishing fourth. We feel we’re a better team than that.” The Tide finished the first round 5-over-par 285 on the first day of competition and shot 18-over-par 298 on the second day to enter the last round tied for fifth. Alabama had its best round on the last day of competition, shooting 4-over-par 284 as a team. Wyatt and sophomore Cory Whitsett rounded out their scores on Sunday at even-par 70. Whitsett finished tied for 36th at 13-over-par 223, along with senior Hunter Hamrick. Freshmen Justin Thomas and Tom Lovelady finished 22nd and tied for 25th overall, respectively.
Alabama has competed in two tournaments so far this year, finishing fourth in both.
“The play hasn’t been what we’ve expected yet,” Whitsett said. “You have to be patient, especially in golf. We just have to keep plucking away, working on the right things, and good things will happen.”
Head coach Jay Seawell said the team is still learning to be a unit.
“It takes a little time for some teams to gel,” Seawell said. “I think this team needs a little bit of chemistry. Everyone needs to trust that everyone is going to do their job.”
Seawell said the team is learning to compete in tournaments every day.
“We have three rounds,” Seawell said. “Not only do you want to try and win a title, but you want to try and be the best you can be each shot. The more we can do that, the better we will be.”
The team said they are not doing anything drastically different this year to prepare for the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate on Monday. The tournament is hosted by Alabama. Last year, the team finished 3rd at the Jerry Pate Intercollegiate. Wyatt finished 2nd at 6-under-par 204.
“We’re learning lessons from the first tournaments,” Seawell said. “We’re paying more attention to detail and trying to get that winner’s attitude. We’re going to relax a bit and let our talent come out.”
“This is definitely a track that you can make a lot of birdies on,” Wyatt said. “We got a good feel this year, so it will be interesting to see what happens.”
