Alabama saved their best for last at the Watersound Invitational, firing a 14-under par final round to finish the week in fourth.

 

The Crimson Tide sat just five shots back after the opening round, but fell behind on moving day after a round of 3-under as a team.

 

“I think our guys showed improvement from our first tournament in the spring,” said head coach Jay Seawell.

 

“We are going to need to continue to improve to get to the top of leaderboards like playing consistent throughout, but we certainly finished on a high note.”

 

Alabama excelled in both par-3 and par-5 scoring at the Watersound Invitational, finishing inside the top-3 in both statistics. They also had the most eagles of any team in the field with three.

 

Thomas Ponder led the Crimson Tide with a three-day total of 205 (-11, 67-71-67) and finished solo sixth as an individual. The senior went bogey-free in the final round to help Alabama maintain their position.

 

Despite not making a birdie on a single par-3 during the final 18, Ponder led the field in par-3 scoring for the week at 4-under.

 

Canon Claycomb, whose first collegiate victory came at this tournament one year ago, finished T9 at 7-under. He improved over each day of the tournament, carding rounds of 72, 69 and 68.

 

Nick Dunlap also had a nice week for the Tide, matching Claycomb’s finish of T9 with rounds of 69, 71, 69 in Florida.

 

Playing as an individual, Jones Free had one of his best appearances in Crimson, finishing T18 (-3). His second round 67 (-5) matched the low round of the week for any player in the field.

 

Jonathan Griz finished T38 (+4, 74-76-70) for the week while JP Cave finished T46 (+6) with three consecutive rounds of 74.

 

Also playing as an individual, Jack Goldasich came in at T51 (+10, 79-75-72).

 

“We learned some lessons that we will take and try to get better on and are looking forward to getting back to work and preparing for a terrific another strong field at the Cabo Collegiate in two weeks,” Seawell said.

 

Next on the Tee

Alabama will return to play March 5-7 at the Cabo Collegiate in Los Cabos, Mexico. It will mark their second tournament of the Spring season.

 

Photo credit to UA Athletics.

 

Follow Nicholas Pursley on Twitter @nicholaspursley for 24/7 coverage of Alabama men’s golf.