Tide's Season Ends at NCAA Championships Central Regional
5/22/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
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May 16-18, 2002
NCAA Central Regional
Pleasant Valley Country Club
Little Rock Arkansas
Par: 72 Yardage: 7060
Hosted By: University of Arkansas-Little Rock
The University of Alabama men’s golf team ended its 2002 season at the NCAA Championships Central Regional on Saturday. The Crimson Tide finished 15th out of the 27 teams gathered at Little Rock’s Pleasant Valley Country Club all vying for a top ten finish that would advance them to the NCAA team finals on May 29.
While Alabama’s goal was to go that step further into the NCAA tournament, its season was one that it will remember for the accomplishments the team made. Out of its nine regular season tournament appearances, Alabama finished among the top five teams in five of those tournaments, even claiming one championship, Vanderbilt’s Mason Rudolph Collegiate. And among the individual success stories were freshman Clint Provost who the league’s coaches voted All-Southeastern Conference along with senior Nick Rousey. Rousey’s final season included tying the school’s 18-hole low score record with the 64 he shot en route to winning the individual championship at the University of Tennessee’s Coca Cola Tournament of Champions. Rousey set the school’s 54-hole record there as well with his final total of 200, an average of 66.67 per his three rounds.
“The rain storms from yesterday brought in real cool temperatures and high winds, thus all the scores were extremely high today,” said Alabama head men’s golf coach Dick Spybey of the final round where Northwestern’s five over par score was the low round among the 27 teams on Saturday.
“I give our guys credit. They tried hard, gave it their best and hung in there. They just fell short. The first two days we had chances but didn’t capitalize on the opportunity. When bad things creep up, it seems like bad things happen at times, and this was one of those times. But it’s been a fun year. When you are playing championship golf, you have to have your top two or three guns playing on all cylinders. We didn’t have that this week. I’m proud of our freshman, Clint Provost. He was all-conference this year and he played extremely well in this championship. We are looking at three starters returning next year led by Clint, so the future certainly looks bright for our program.”
Provost, Mobile’s Austin Hynson, and Lars Brovold, three of Alabama’s five golfers competing in the regional, all return next season.
Provost finished tied at 22nd among the field of 141 individuals. He finished three over par for the tournament, shooting 73-71-75/219. Senior Jan Are Larsen, who made three NCAA Regional appearances during his four seasons with the Tide finished tied for 37th at six over par, shooting 69-75-78/222. Nick Rousey finished tied at 63rd (76-74-76/226). Hynson finished tied at 77th (76-75-77/228), and Brovold had an uncharacteristic final round, tumbling him in the standings when he shot 84 after shooting 74-76 in the opening rounds. Brovold had a 73.27 stroke average going into the tournament.
The ten teams that advanced to Columbus, Ohio and the NCAA finals were Oklahoma (865) and Purdue (865), Tulsa (876), Illinois (879), N.C. State (880), Toledo (881), Baylor (882), TCU and Virginia Tech (885) and Colorado (886). The top 15, which included Alabama, found Kansas and Oklahoma tied at 11th (887), Northwestern 13th (888), SMU 14th (891) and Alabama 15th (292-295-306/893).
