Alabama concluded its regular season on Tuesday with the second-best round of the day to finish in sixth place at the Mossy Oak Collegiate.
Despite a rain delay that caused suspension of play due to darkness, the Crimson Tide vaulted up the leaderboard with an eight-under par final round – only bested by No. 15 Tennessee’s 13-under round.
“Overall, I am pleased with this result and pleased with the progress the guys have made this season. They have really worked hard and it shows,” said head coach Jay Seawell.
The Tide were able to put together a solid finish, even with a less-than ideal week on the greens according to Seawell.
“I wish we had putted better this tournament, but that’s just golf. We’ll move on from that.”
Competing as an individual, freshman Jonathan Griz fired rounds of 66-69-71 to card the best finish of any Alabama player (T6, -10). Griz’s opening 66 included a back-nine 30 (-6), featuring five birdies and an eagle on the par-four 10th hole.
Canon Claycomb led the team with a T11 finish at two-under par. Claycomb improved each day, shooting 70-69-68. The senior’s final round included five birdies and just a single bogey.
Senior Thomas Ponder played all three rounds in even-par or better, finishing T32 (-4). Ponder saved his best for last, firing a three-under 69 in the final round.
Freshman Nick Dunlap and sophomore Jones Free both finished T38, just behind Ponder at three-under par. The pair combined to make 24 birdies and an eagle over the course of 54 holes.
Rounding out the team was Junior JP Cave, who finished T55 at one-over with rounds of 73-72-72.
No. 15 Tennessee won the tournament with a total score of 40-under, with No. 4 Auburn just a shot behind.
Having completed regular season play, Alabama will now begin preparing for the SEC Championships which will be held at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course in Sea Island, Ga.
”It’s time to reset as we get into championship season, which is the really exciting part of college golf,” Seawell said.
“I am looking forward to starting that journey when we compete at the SEC Championships in a couple of weeks. We need to continue to work hard because we’ll be facing the best golfers and golf teams in the best conference in the nation, so we are really looking forward to it.”
As of the time of publication, nine SEC teams were inside the top 20 of Golfweek’s NCAA team rankings, including No. 1 Vanderbilt.
Follow Nicholas Pursley on Twitter for 24/7 coverage of Alabama men’s golf.
